Nashville Scholars of the Three Pipe Problem ...since 1979

All Sherlockians are misplaced in the present, lost in the past, and patiently hopeful that good will overcome evil in the present world, just as it did most of the time in the Victorian world of Sherlock Holmes. More than any man of his day Holmes worked to see that justice prevailed in his time, especially for the common man and woman. We do our part to follow in his steps.

In reality we are in Nashville, TN, but only physically. In our minds it is always 1895, and "the game is afoot!" Most often, we're in a hansom cab somewhere in the fog of London, gaslights flickering as we hurry by, racing to someone's assistance. It is best described in the poem, 221B, by Vincent Starrett, a giant in the history of Sherlockiana in America.

How we got to where we are is best found in the stories (the canon) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle written between 1886 and 1927. In those stories lies the life that flows through every Sherlockian (or Doylean) society today. The game we play (that phrase coming from Holmes himself: "Watson, the game is afoot!") was begun in America by New York author and columnist Christopher Morely. We simply do not recognize that Holmes is a fictional character. We sing "God Save the Queen" as any serious Anglophile does anywhere on the globe. We dedicate ourselves to keeping green the memory of "him who never lived and so can never die." We read the 60 stories faithfully on a regular basis, meeting monthly to disucss the intracasies and inconsistencies of each. We buy and collect anything Sherlockian, spending far too much money and time, unable to help ourselves, loving every moment of it.

How we came to be in existence in 1979 and how we settled on our name: Nashville Scholars of
the Three Pipe Problem, is best told by Editor Gael Stahl, charter member and survivor of the hiatus that almost spelled the death of the group. Mr. Stahl is, in real life, Editor of Tennessee Town and Country, the newsletter of the Tennessee Municipal League.

Here is the story of our founding.

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If you are ever in Nashville, please call and allow us to invite you
for a time of remembering and celebrating. Sherlockians know how to have fun!

Click graphic for Our Invitation to Visit Nashville

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Created February 12, 2002 -- www.nashvillescholars.net/beginnings.html