Brogdon, Blackness and the BSI: Archiving race in Sherlock Holmes fandom

Abstract

Philip R. Brogdon is an avid Sherlock Holmes aficionado and the first Black American ever inducted into the exclusive – and predominantly White – Sherlock Holmes society, the Baker Street Irregulars. His small monograph, Sherlock in Black (1995), brings a wealth of archival information and insight into the Black history of Sherlock Holmes fandom, ranging from famous fans of colour to Black fan creators and a history of both professional and amateur fan art, film and music. This article argues that Brogdon’s Sherlock in Black archive provides an important counter-history to White establishment fan narratives popularized by the Baker Street Irregulars and raises important questions about the roles race and identity play in collecting, fandom and identity. How does Brogdon define Black Sherlockian fandom? What did it mean to him, and to other fans, to see this long history of Black Sherlockians in American film and media? What kinds of activities and creations are included? Brogdon’s Black Sherlock Holmes archive illuminates how fans of colour construct their own fan identities and how they see themselves in relation to large, often primarily White, cultural constructs.