Contact: Marlo Welshons, University Libraries, welsh066@umn.edu, (612) 625-9148

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (09/01/2010)--The University of Minnesota Libraries have announced the appointment of Timothy J. Johnson as the first E.W. McDiarmid Curator of the Sherlock Holmes Collections. Johnson has served as the Curator of Special Collections and Rare Books for the Libraries since 1998.

The Sherlock Holmes Collections comprise the world's largest collection of material related to Sherlock Holmes and its creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The collections contain over 60,000 items, including books, journals, and a wide variety of other forms, through which the transformation of the Holmes character from the printed page to a cultural icon can be traced. It is an invaluable resource to students and admirers of Sherlock Holmes and has been consulted by scholars and screenwriters alike.

The curatorship was created in honor of E.W. "Mac" McDiarmid, former University Librarian and a Holmes enthusiast since boyhood. The Sherlock Holmes Collections are housed in the Elmer L. Andersen Library at the University of Minnesota and are open to the public upon request.