Much has been written regarding the parentage and origins of Nero Wolfe. Below are links to some of them. Rex Stout's presentation, Watson Was a Woman, at the January 31, 1941 Baker Street Irregulars (BSI) meeting may have started the commotion. His tongue-in-cheek humour did not fare well in that venue. Various BSI members over the course of time have investigated the parentage of Nero Wolfe.
In chronological order, some of the documents of the case concerning Wolfe's parentage:
- Bernard DeVoto, in "The Easy Chair - Alias Nero Wolfe" - Harpers Magazine, July, 1954, expounds on the theory of Mr. Wolfe's parentage
- John D. Clark, "Some Notes Relating to a Preliminary Investigation into the Paternity of Nero Wolfe" - Baker Street Journal, January, 1956 (Reprinted in "Sherlock Holmes by Gas-Lamp," Phillip Shreffler, 1989)
- The New York Times, August 19, 1990, "The Irene Adler Story, Continued"
- Flyer announcing a presentation, "Nero Wolfe -- Trenton's Native Son?" at Classics Used and Rare Books on April 14, 2007 by Jean Quinn, Editor of the Wolfe Pack'sThe Gazette
- The Princeton Packet covers the story of Wolfe's Trenton birth, Dr. Joan Ruddiman, April 26, 2007
Jean Quinn presents "Nero Wolfe Trenton's Native Son?" to the Wolfe Pack Black Orchid Weekend Assembly, December 1, 2007 (audio recording in MP3 format)- On September 6, 2010, Thucydides, aka Jon Lellenberg, answers a question posed by David E. Cote, "What is the history of Rex Stout and the BSI?" He also expounds on the theory that Wolfe is the son of Holmes. For more information about the history of Rex Stout and the Baker Street Irregulars. You can read the article at either:
- the Baker Street Journal Archival pages (scroll down to Cote's question & the response), or
- the Wolfe Pack's copy.
- "Watching the Detective or The Family Tree of Sherlock Holmes", a Wold Newton contribution, 2002. The first line states, "The purpose of this article is to collect all of the available information about the family of Sherlock Holmes." [It includes Wolfe references.] Read a PDF copy of the article on this site or see the original at: http://pjfarmer.com/secret/contributors/holmes-family-tree.htm.
Read more about Rex Stout's Bakers Street Irregular activities:
- Rex Stout was invested in the BSI in 1949 with the "investiture" of The Boscombe Valley Mystery. [Baker Street Irregulars are given a name when they are invested with membership, hence "investiture."]
- In 1961 the BSI honor known as the Two-Shilling Award "for extraordinary devotion to the cause beyond the call of duty," was created. The first one went to Rex Stout.
- Click here for more information regarding Rex Stout's BSI activities
- Click here to read the transcribed speech of Watson Was A Woman. It was also published in:
- The Saturday Review of Literature, Vol 23, No. 19 (March 1, 1941)
- Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Issue #29, April, 1946
- Misc. BSI and Sherlockian publications
