Departments
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Week of 25 September 1998 |
Vol. II, No. 7 |
Feature Article
The Bull-Terriers
A Sherlockian kennel of criminaughts
by Joshua Shafer
There's not one mystery behind BU's Bull-Terrier Club -- in fact, there are 60. That's because the Bull-Terriers meet to celebrate the 56 short stories and 4 novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which he created one of the most recognized fictional character of all time: Sherlock Holmes.
Founded in 1994, the Bull-Terrier Club, like most other Sherlockian societies, takes its name from one of the stories. In "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott," a bullterrier pup belonging to a classmate latched onto the ankle of an unsuspecting college-age Holmes. The dog's owner and Holmes formed a friendship, and as a result Sherlock found himself thrown headlong into a mystery, which he brought to a successful conclusion. The bullterrier is not exactly a Boston terrier, like BU's mascot, Rhett, but the similarities are substantial enough to provide the group with its name.
The Bull-Terrier Club is also unique among organizations of its kind, which often require extensive knowledge or achievement that makes becoming a member difficult or creates an exclusive membership roster. The Bull-Terriers, on the other hand, pride themselves on maintaining one of the most inclusive Sherlockian groups anywhere. While sponsored by the Student Activities Office, the club's membership is not limited to individuals affiliated with the University. The only prerequisite is an interest in Sherlock Holmes. There is no membership fee, and no special knowledge is required.
Bull-Terrier Club founder W. Scott Monty (CAS'92, MED'96, GSM'96) explains: "I wanted to open the Boston Sherlockian world up to people of all ages and both genders. At BU I saw the opportunity to bring together bright young minds and the older, more experienced Holmes enthusiasts, who know the social scene as well as the stories. That, in my mind, was a recipe for success." Monty, who continues to be the driving force behind the club, is well acquainted with the mentoring process. While conducting research for a high school English course, he met members of the Connecticut-based Sherlockian group the Men on the Tor, who quickly took him under their collective wing. He was hooked, and began studying Conan Doyle's stories and attending any Sherlockian gatherings he could find. The paper earned Monty an A, and the Sherlockian world gained one of its most avid young members.
If diversity of membership is any indicator, Monty's vision of success has been realized. The Bull-Terrier Club boasts a membership of over 100, whose ages range from 18 to 83, and over half of whom are women.
While there are no prerequisites to becoming a member save one -- enough interest in Sherlock Holmes to attend meetings -- the Bull-Terrier Club is not an organization without motives or a mission. Members place a high value on scholarship, and older, more established Bull-Terriers encourage their newer Sherlockian counterparts to combine their love for Sherlock Holmes with a scholarly approach to the stories. "Most clubs at BU are either based upon a social interest or focus on academics -- we've managed to combine the two," Monty says. "Through studying, writing, presentations, and debate, we maintain a high value for scholarship. By engaging in those practices with people who share a common love for Sherlock Holmes, we add a social component to the scholarship."
In that spirit the Bull-Terriers have become extremely active, holding numerous events throughout the year. Past group outings have included Suffolk Downs (a race horse was a key player in the short story "Silver Blaze"), the New England Aquarium (to view a specimen of Cyanea Capillata -- a jellyfish and murder culprit in "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane"), and even a trip to the polo grounds in Newport, R.I., to watch a match in the Newport International Polo Series. In May 1995, the club held its first annual dinner at The Castle, on Bay State Road -- a lavish formal banquet complete with Victorian dress, where attendees matched wits on a written quiz as well as viewed and discussed presentations.
According to Monty, Sherlockians everywhere generally enjoy three things: good books, good friends, and good conversation. But while Victorian dinners, debates, and excursions to polo matches might seem to indicate an organization with more than its fair share of starched-collar events, newcomers should not feel intimidated. "Most of our meetings involve a bunch of friends sitting in the common room of a Bay State Road brownstone and discussing, over coffee or tea, whatever little Sherlockian subject comes to mind," assures Monty. "Frankly, those have always been my favorite events."
For more information about the Bull-Terrier Club, contact Scott Monty at (617) 464-4153 or e-mail wsmonty@bu.edu.
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To find out more about Sherlock Holmes on the Web, investigate these sites: The Sherlockian home page -- links to everything the Web has to offer about Sherlock Holmes: http://watserv1.uwaterloo.ca/~credmond/sh.html 221B Baker Street -- with links to stories, illustrations, and a word search of the Canon: http://members.tripod.com/~msherman/holmes.html Sherlocktron -- listings of Sherlockian societies, publications, and purveyors: http://members.home.net/sherlock1/Sherlocktron.html Or join the Hounds of the Internet, an e-mail group devoted to discussion of Sherlock Holmes and related subjects, by sending an e-mail to listserv@listserv.kent.edu with the subject line of the message blank and the text reading "subscribe hounds-l Your Name." |