Westminster Detective Library
The Westminster Detective Library is an ongoing project to identify, catalog, edit, and publish online all short detective fiction published in the United States before the first Sherlock Holmes short story, "A Scandal in Bohemia.”
The Library’s current bibliography and online holdings include more than 1,500 stories from approximately 800 to 12,000 words in length—as well as several poems. These include stories found in 25 books, from Recollections of a Policeman (1852) to 42 Famous Stories of Detective Adventure (1896); in 62 magazines (from The Albion to The Youth’s Companion); and in family story papers (from The Flag of Our Union to The New York Ledger); as well as in 365 newspapers from 38 states, 5 territories, and Washington, D.C.
The earliest story in the collection, “The Brother’s House,” dates from 1818; the latest is “The Silver Bullet,” which appeared in The Sandusky [OH] Daily Register on June 30, 1891, just days before The Strand Magazine published “A Scandal in Bohemia” in London. Collectively they document the rise of detective fiction from circumstantial evidence stories, through fictional detective’s notebook pieces, and puzzle stories. Additionally, they reflect the rise of detective fiction as it moved from magazines like Graham’s Magazine and Harper's Weekly, to the New York Ledger, The Flag of Our Union and other story papers, and then to weekly and daily newspapers across the nation. The Library contains stories from Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Brander Matthews, Mary Kyle Dallas, Sylvanus Cobb Jr., and other American writers as well as foreign writers including Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Émile Gaboriau.
The Library is also a resource for research on a wide range of topics. As literature, the stories make available unrecovered material, help map the history of detective fiction, and sketch the relationship of detective fiction with love romances and gothic stories. They demonstrate the significance of newspapers in shaping public taste. The materials in the library also reflect attitudes toward crime and criminals; detectives, lawyers, and the courts; women and minorities; and most aspects of 19th century life.
The Westminster Detective Library is produced and edited by Mary M. Bendel-Simso and LeRoy Lad Panek along with undergraduate research associates. It is hosted at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland.
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Westminster Detective Library[edit]
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- ↑ "The Westminster Detective Library". Retrieved July 13, 2018.
- ↑ "McDaniel College / Undergraduate / McDaniel Plan / Departments / English / Writing Center / McDaniel College". McDaniel College. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
- ↑ Alisha George (July 8, 2012). "Faculty, students work on compiling The Westminster Detective Library database". Carroll County Times. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
- ↑ "English professors' new book examines early detective fiction". McDaniel College. March 13, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
