Happy 150th Birthday
to Edward Stratemeyer!
Today we celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the creator of children's series books like Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, and Tom Swift. Edward Stratemeyer's literary career was something to marvel at! Called the Father of the fifty-center by Fortune Magazine in 1934, they also stated "As oil had its Rockefeller, Literature had its Stratemeyer."
He formed the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1905, which produced many of the above series and so many more. He had a great knack for capitalizing on what was popular and making it exciting for kids--from aviation series, to mystery series to sports series. Stories ran the gamut from rags to riches tales to far away adventuring, but always stayed "safe and sane" - a Stratemeyer mantra. His use of pen names and ghostwriters was a very successful strategy which allowed the Syndicate to produce a great number of series and stories.
One of his most famous creations, Nancy Drew, went on to achieve great success and longevity--which he never got the chance to realize for he passed away in May 1930, just two weeks after the Nancy Drew series debuted. His daughters Harriet and Edna went on to run his Syndicate and continue to make it a successful venture. It was eventually sold in 1984 to current owner and publisher Simon and Schuster.
For more information on Edward Stratemeyer you can visit the "Nancy Drew History" section of my website and I recommend Stratemeyer Expert James Keeline's website as well. He's a great resource for anyone wanting to learn more about Stratemeyer as well as series like Tom Swift. James is in the process of reproducing various Stratemeyer works and has some books and stories available for purchase at LuLu - Palmer Street Press Store like Stratemeyer's infamous story, Victor Horton's Idea.
Jenn:)
1 comment:
Happy birthday, Ed! You gave so many children a great imaginary world to play in :)
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