The current estate directors, all family members, were interested in the exhibition because it took the canon seriously, Mr. Lellenberg said. They saw it as an opportunity to bring Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes “to new readers and showcase the science in the stories and their influence on forensics.”

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension provided factual information about modern-day forensics and consulted on the accuracy of the exhibition. “Many of the techniques used by the Sherlock Holmes character all those years ago are now real techniques used today by forensic scientists and crime scene personnel,” said Catherine Knutson, director of the bureau’s forensic science services.

Mr. Lellenberg said that with any new venture, the estate liked to see Holmes depicted with his stalwart friend Dr. Watson. “It’s one of the great friendships in literary history and a key to the success of the stories,” he said. “One complements the other.” The exhibition pays homage to the famous pair throughout and features a recreation of their 221B Baker Street sitting rooms. Steeped in the singular milieu of late 19th-century Victorian England, which produced both Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper, the exhibition owes its immersive setting to Alex Werner, head of history collections at the Museum of London. He worked with exhibition designers to select “the most evocative and relevant photographs of London to help visitors imagine what London was like at the time Conan Doyle began writing his Sherlock Holmes stories,” Mr. Werner said.

Late 19th-century London was a hotbed of social and economic change and prime fodder for the Holmes stories and their popularity, Mr. Werner said. “There was a growing gap between the rich and the poor in the rapidly expanding industrialized western cities; this led to strikes and demonstrations,” he said. “There was fear of revolution, and levels of crime were a concern for many.” He added that newspapers and magazines like The Strand, which published the Holmes short stories, fed an insatiable appetite for content, while the telegraph allowed sensational news, like the Ripper murders, to circle the globe quickly.

The reasons for Sherlock Holmes’s continued appeal are routinely debated. His adaptability for science institutions, however, might be rooted in the fact that he is first and foremost a thinking man in search of the truth, something central to his creator, said Richard Doyle, grandnephew of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. “My great-uncle was always keen that people should not be afraid to think for themselves and be confident to seek the truth in life, whatever that may be.”

The exhibition made its debut at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in 2013 and is traveling internationally through 2017.