The Rosenbach Podcast

With cohost Anastasia Klimchynskaya A distraught client bangs his head on the walls at Baker Street. Holmes must follow many footprints in the snow to recover the missing gems from the priceless beryl coronet.

With cohost Monica Schmidt and special guests Scott Monty and Burt Wolder from I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Watson stops by to wish Holmes "the compliments of the season," only to faced with a mystery about a Christmas goose and the scintillating blue jewel found in its crop. You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in The Strand Magazine here .

With cohost Curtis Armstrong The pompous Lord Robert St. Simon can’t imagine why his bride would disappear at their wedding breakfast. Perhaps the idea of marrying someone as lofty as he drove her mad?  Sherlock has his own deductions. You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in The Strand Magazine here .

With cohost Mary Alcaro Victor Hatherley finds himself in a creepy, remote house in the country chased by an axe-wielding maniac. It's nothing a glass (or two) of brandy and a visit to Sherlock won’t cure.  You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in The Strand Magazine here .

With cohost Monica Schmidt Gothic goings on in Stoke Moran as Holmes tangles with the evil Grimesby Roylott. You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in The Strand Magazine here .

With cohost Anastasia Klimchynskaya Sherlock visits an opium den, smokes an ounce of tobacco and washes the face of a beggar.   You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in The Strand Magazine here .

With cohost Mary Alcaro and special guest Ray Betzner Sherlock Holmes matches pips with the KKK and then needs to pursue them on a midnight ship to Georgia. Ray Betzner joins us to talk about the history of the Baker Street Irregulars organization. You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in The Strand Magazine here .

With cohost Anastasia Klimchynskaya Sherlock finally dons his deerstalker hat when he and Watson visit Boscombe Valley to solve a murder with a link to Great Britain’s colonial empire. Cooee! You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in The Strand Magazine here .

With cohost Mary Alcaro Holmes and Watson are visited by Miss Mary Sutherland, whose fiancé, Hosmer Angel, has disappeared.  They met at the gasfitters ball and after a whirlwind romance, his carriage arrived empty at the church for the wedding. Sherlock smokes his pipe, then picks up his whip. Seriously, an actual whip. You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in The Strand Magaz...

With cohost Curtis Armstrong A league for redheads? Paying a man just for his ginger tendency? Holmes roars with laughter, then realizes he is faced with a “three-pipe problem.” After noticing the dirty knees of the pawnbroker’s assistant, Holmes tells Watson to bring his army revolver. In the end, only a daring capture saves Sherlock from ennui. You can find a pdf of the story as it originally ap...

With cohost Monica Schmidt Watson, now married, drops in on Holmes at Baker Street. A mysterious masked man visits with a case. And Sherlock must go up against “THE woman.” Of course, Holmes will solve the case.  Or will he? You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in The Strand Magazine here .

With cohost Mary Alcaro Sherlock gets some four-legged help to follow scent of Jonathan Small (and his “small” companion), then enlists the “Baker Street Irregulars” for help. Watson, pining for Mary Morstan, secretly dreads finding her treasure, as this will make her unattainable for marriage.  By the end, Sherlock will say goodbye to good dog Toby and hello again to his cocaine syringe. You can...

With cohost Monica Schmidt and special guest Leslie S. Klinger The Sign of Four was first published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in February 1890 in both Philadelphia and London. Sherlock is high on cocaine until Mary Morstan arrives with a “singular case” for him to solve. Watson is more interested in Mary than in finding the Great Agra Treasure. Leslie Klinger joins us to talk about annotate...

A Study in Scarlet was first published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887. With cohost Curtis Armstrong. Doyle takes us to his fantasyland version of the American west for Jefferson Hope's backstory, then we return to London to hear Hope’s account of his “crimes.” Was it justice or murder? You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in Beeton’s here.

With cohost Dr. Anastasia Klimchynskaya . A Study in Scarlet was first published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887. In this episode, we’ll cover part one of the story (Part I Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of JOHN H. WATSON, M.D., late of the Army Medical Department) and next week we’ll cover part two. You can find a pdf of the story as it originally appeared in Beeton’s here: https://r...

Modernist poet Marianne Moore was a national celebrity in the mid-20th century—a status she achieved through an effort at self-fashioning grounded in her authorial achievements, but shaped by the rich media landscape in post-war America.  Moore’s entire adult life and career were influenced by difficult family relationships.  In this episode of The Rosenbach Podcast, join host Dr. Alexan...

Once referred to as a “furious lesbian” by her friend the celebrity photographer Cecil Beaton, the poet, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and memoirist Mercedes de Acosta lived a life unlike any other in early 20th-century New York and Hollywood.  A gifted writer and passionate artist, de Acosta never received the level of fame and success that her creative work merited. Rather, she became noto...

Born into a middle-class family and stricken by tragedy early in life, Pennsylvanian Harriet Lane ascended to the summit of American and British social life as the official hostess of her uncle, U.S. President James Buchanan. In this interview with Patrick Clark, director of James Buchanan’s Wheatland estate in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, we consider Lane’s remarkable public life—and how delaying mar...

Content Note: This episode involves discussion of physical and cultural violence against Indigenous peoples, especially Indigenous children. Modernist poet Marianne Moore, whose papers and personal effects reside at the Rosenbach, spent an early part of her career teaching at the “Carlisle Indian Industrial School,” an institution sponsored by the United States federal government as part of a larg...

Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach was more than a businessman.  He and his brother (and business partner) Philip were also civic activists who played an important role in American national life, and Jewish-American life in particular.  What is more, Dr. Rosenbach wielded his bookish connections to help him make a difference in the world.  In this episode of The Rosenbach Podcast, we’ll talk with...

What does history sound like?  It’s an intriguing question, and one we may not ask ourselves enough.  In this episode of The Rosenbach podcast, join host Dr. Alexander L. Ames in the West Library of the Rosenbach with musicologist and baritone Dr. Christopher Dylan Herbert for a discussion of the sounds of the Ephrata community of eighteenth-century pious mystics.  Herbert will disc...

Capitulo 23: Cruz Dorado: Reliquias del Imperio Español y México Independiente en el Museo y Biblioteca Rosenbach. 

The Rosenbach Museum & Library is home to a large and important collections of rare books and manuscripts documenting the history of colonial New Spain and early independent Mexico.  Ithis episode of The Rosenbach Podcast, Carlos G. Obrador Garrido Cuesta, Head Consul of the Consulate of Mexico in Philadelphia, joins podcast host Dr. Alexander Lawrence Ames and Rosenbach Development Assoc...

Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach enjoyed global fame as a rare book dealer and cultivated important connections—including in Washington, D.C.  When he acquired a remarkable volume that survived the torching of the United States Capitol during the War of 1812, Dr. Rosenbach donated it back to the nation, and the volume resides in the Library of Congress today.  It marks the important role that Dr. Ro...

The Rosenbach Museum & Library welcomes hundreds of researchers from all around the world to its reading room, to make use of the institution’s rich and diverse collections.  Those researchers help us learn more about our holdings and contribute to our vibrant community. In this special Rosenbach Podcast episode, we’ll talk with author and historian Heather Darsie about how she discovered...