In addition to his medical specialty in rheumatology, Dr. Hench had wide-ranging interests that included music, photography, tennis and medical history. From the early 1930s through his death in 1965, Dr. Hench established what a biographer described as “one of the most notable Arthur Conan Doyle collections ever assembled.”

It consists of approximately 1,800 books and about 1,500 publications, photographs, illustrations, manuscripts and related materials. Today, the Hench collection, along with Holmes artifacts from other sources, is owned by the University of Minnesota. Highlights are featured in Sherlock Holmes – The Exhibition at the Minnesota History Center through April 2.

The extensive collection was donated to the University of Minnesota in 1978 by Dr. Hench’s wife, Mary Kahler Hench, daughter of John Kahler, the Rochester hotel developer and civic leader who collaborated with the Mayo brothers.