Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created one of the most popular fictional characters in modern literature, the detective Sherlock Holmes.  Doyle was probably well aware that a great detective novel needs more than a great detective, there should also be an intriguing crime. By exploring The New York Public Library's Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture database—a digital archive that presents a broad history of crime in the 19th century with over 2 million pages of primary source materials, including manuscripts, books, broadsheets, and periodicals—we can begin to understand what might have inspired the most iconic detective books of all time. 

The 19th century was a time of fascination with all things criminal, especially in Britain and the United States, and the press and publishing industry did not hesitate to sensationalize the latest criminal trials.  Take for example, the coverage of the trial and execution of Robert Blakesley, who was accused of murdering the gentleman Robert Burdon, and then attempted to murder his own wife.  The Blakesley trial was covered extensively, and creatively with illustrations and poems. Perhaps it was stories like this one that inspired Doyle in his crime writing.

Fortunately, for anyone who is curious about crime writing in the 19th century, Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture is filled with interesting stories, along with its illustrations, such as the Blakesley case.  But there may have been many other sources that could serve as inspiration for great crime writing in the 19th century. Maybe Sir Doyle in his leisure time liked to read periodicals similar to The National Police Gazette, a publication that covered all forms of illegal activity, and could often be found in places like barber shops. Not only are issues of The National Police Gazette available in this digital archive starting from 1845, but one can also read issues of The Bristol Police Gazette,  The Victoria Police Gazette, The Boston Police Gazette, and other versions of this publication from around the world.

However, it may be no coincidence that the same time period when Sir Doyle wrote his first Sherlock Holmes novel coincided with the rise of the private eye profession and detective agencies, for example the famed Pinkerton Detective Agency, known for catching Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, and the Wild Bunch. Through the Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture online archives, we have access to information that Sir Doyle would probably have loved to get hands on. Anyone can log-in and access the personal papers of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, as well as other important detective agencies during the 19th century, such as the Wood Detective Agency, known for catching the murderers Jesse Pomeroy and Russell Noble.

 Although, Sir Doyle did not have access to the manuscripts from these well known detective agencies, perhaps he relied on sources such as Revelations of a Lady Detective by George Vickers, published in London in 1864, which is also available in Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture.

For anyone interested in Sherlock Holmes, or any form of crime writing or history of crime and punishment this electronic archive is a perfect source. This time period saw the development of the police force, the reformation of the judicial system, and evolution of the penal system, and this archive includes a wealth of fact and fiction, with primary documents including: police force reports, trial transcripts, prison postcards, true crime fiction and Penny Dreadfuls. No one can know for sure all of the sources that served as inspiration for Sir Doyle, but by exploring this expansive digital archive one can imagine that he only had to look around him.  This blog post was researched entirely using NYPL's electronic resources. With more than 500 online research options available, many accessible from home with a library card, we challenge you to go beyond the search engine and dig deeper online with NYPL.

Resources

Life, Trial a Execution of Robert Blakesley, for the Murder of James Burdon. H Paul, Printer, 1852?. Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture 1790-1920, tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/4rMKJ1. Accessed 19 May 2017.

"The National Police Gazette the Leading Illustrated Sporting Journal in America." National Police Gazette, 20 Aug. 1887, p. [1]. Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture 1790-1920, tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/4rN3KX. Accessed 19 May 2017.

Revelations of a Lady Detective. George Vickers, 1864. Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture 1790-1920, tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/4rMjw5. Accessed 19 May 2017.

Researching 19th Century Crime Online Resources

Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture

Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society

19th Century UK Periodicals

Illustrated London News Historical Archive

ProQuest Historical Newspapers

Ballistics (Crime Scene Investigation Ballistics)

The Cambridge Companion to Crime Fiction

Crime and Criminals

Crime and Punishment in American History

The Prison Journal