Sherlock Homes – The Exhibition recently opened at the Science Museum Oklahoma. A few days before the public opening I was invited to a pre-opening event and got to run through the exhibit with an exhibits colleague from the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. It’s a wonderful little exhibit with an added interactive component that puts a notebook in guests’ hands and puts them on the case. You then move through the exhibit learning about botany, ballistics, blood-spatter, and even things that aren’t alliterative.
The great thing about the layout is that you don’t need to participate in the game in order to get something out of the exhibit. There are chunks of History of Science in teh form of early forensics and Doyle’s time as a medical student. There is some fun literary displays featuring some handwritten pages of A Study in Scarlet and The Hound of the Baskervilles as well as the Poe-etic inspiration for Holmes coming from Edgar Allan Poe’s own C. Auguste Dupin who debuted solving the murders in the Rue Morgue.
I am also using this to test out a new website layout and the new editing features for the galleries within these posts. But I will add that if this every comes within visiting distance do yourself a favor and go!
The press release for the SMO installation is as follows:
“The great Sherlock Holmes has summoned you – and his is an invitation not to be refused. In Sherlock Holmes – The Exhibition you will be transported into Sherlock Holmes’ London to solve a mystery in a world newly introduced to his groundbreaking methods. You’ll discover clues, interpret them and work to solve the mystery. You’ll meet some suspicious and not-so-suspicious characters who may be of help. Who to believe is entirely up to you! Once you’ve completed your investigation you’ll be whisked back into the present day with a pop culture gallery that shows Sherlock Holmes in all his manifestations from books to movies.
This interactive experience will delight audiences of all ages as it showcases areas of forensic science that enabled Sherlock Holmes to solve crimes, and brings to life the historic underpinnings of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s rich and vibrant stories.”
SPOILER ALERT: I took a photo of the entire explanation of the case after we had solved it in order to read it closer later, as we were pushing the closing of the museum pretty closely when we finally left.
