91 YEARS OF NANCY DREW
HOW DO YOU NANCY DREW?
As we pass the 91st Anniversary of Nancy Drew, I often wonder how we're all celebrating the milestones that keep coming. Are we collectively celebrating or are we individually doing our own Nancy thing in our own Nancy way as we Sleuths often do. What do you do to celebrate Nancy Drew? What do you know about the series and how it began and those who created it? Are you interested in the history or are you more into the collecting aspect? What level of a collector are you and how do you collect? These are some questions that intrigue me as I meet new collectors and interact with many of you online.
It's often said, that if we don't learn from history we'll be doomed to repeat it. But what of Nancy Drew's intricate history over the years? What is the history there, lessons to be learned, things one should know about? What's that mysterious Stratemeyer Syndicate and who was Edward Stratemeyer?
If you think about the mystery behind Stratemeyer, his businesslike demeanor, his ability to create and put out a lot of stories through ghostwriters employed by his Stratemeyer Syndicate, even with what we know, he still has an air of mystery about him. One can picture Stratemeyer commuting to NYC to his office, stories running through his head, characters all around him in the lively streets of New York. His days at work spent churning out story ideas capturing the latest adventures in the world and capitalizing on popular themes and farming out manuscripts to publishers around such beloved characters as the Bobbsey Twins, The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift and Nancy Drew. After whipping up adventures with the stroke of a pen, off he went back to New Jersey to his storybook home and family, most unassuming in his manner and what he did and all those amazing ideas on his mind. His was certainly a storybook life. I think he's quite fascinating. To many, he's a mystery of sorts. One which you can get a sense of by picking away at the puzzle pieces throughout the Syndicate's business files at the New York Public Library. Letters, plots, manuscripts, and news clippings all tell part of the tale there.
What about his untimely death nearly two weeks after Nancy Drew debuted
in May 1930? The fate of the Syndicate in the hands of his daughters, Harriet and
Edna. It was a cliffhanger that Stratemeyer might never have imagined. One
that would engage the publishing world for over 50 more years until the
Syndicate closed its doors and sold to Simon & Schuster in 1984.
And
what of the ghostwriters who have churned out over 600 Nancy Drew books
since 1930? Most have vanished into the literary netherworld, without a
trace. Some more infamous, we know about today. Including the original
Carolyn Keene, Mildred Wirt Benson, who I'm writing a biography about.
There
have been so many real life characters involved in creating Nancy Drew
and in ensuring her enduring appeal over the many generations of loyal
fans. It's a very fascinating history and it's a very important history
to study and not sweep under the annals of history rug.
There
are websites dedicated to Nancy Drew, like mine at nancydrewsleuth.com and other similar series and Stratemeyer.
Numerous essays, articles and books have been published over the years
that touch on various aspects of this literary history. Many were
published before the Stratemeyer Syndicate records were available for
research and those records have cleared up a lot of mysteries and some
misconceptions in print over the years like some of the more slanted
versions of facts put out by the Syndicate in later years in an effort
to keep some of its history a mystery. Who wants to think Carolyn Keene
is a "dour-looking naval captain," after all, ghostwriter Walter Karig
once joked. Nancy's history though, is full of some of Nancy's best
mysteries waiting to be fully solved and revealed. There's missing
pieces of the puzzle, real life ghosts, real life Nancy Drews,
conspiracies, legal threats to "stay off the case or else," even court
room drama. Nancy's journey over the last 91 years has included some
real cliffhanger moments just like in a Nancy Drew mystery. Some you've
read about, some you've no clue about, but that will soon change.
The
gist of this history, who the creators behind Nancy Drew were, and
highlights of her history along the past 91 years are subjects I focus
on in a nice overview in Nancy Drew History & Collecting Zoom talks
I've been giving - mostly for libraries - about Nancy Drew for fans who
want to learn a little more about their favorite sleuth. Growing up with
these wonderful mysteries we solved along with Nancy Drew, for some of
us, we're intrigued about the real life mysteries behind America's
favorite teenage sleuth. I like to keep that history alive and give fans
something more to think about and perhaps intrigue them enough to go
sleuth a bit and learn even more. Donating my Nancy Drew collection to
the Toledo Public Library is another way to enhance everyone's knowledge
of the history behind Nancy Drew but also to showcase another aspect of
my Zoom talks - Collecting Nancy Drew 101. With over 600 books to
collect since 1930, many of which went through numerous formats, cover
art changes, some with text changes, plus various types of editions from
library to book club to foreign editions, there's a lot to learn and I
like to give a nice overview of it all. Visiting my collection in Toledo
is a great way to visually see it all and be inspired about what you
can sleuth for out there to add to your collections. In addition to
beloved books, there's a whole other category of Nancy Drew collectibles
and paper ephemera one can collect. One can view the many hundreds of
known items at my Nancy Drew Pinterest in various collectible board categories.
However you celebrate Nancy Drew's anniversary today and whatever your connection is to this intrepid heroine, take a moment today to reflect on what you love about this character and these books. How did a fictional sleuth like Nancy Drew inspire so many of us in all walks of life even all the way on up to our lady justices on the US Supreme Court? Read a Nancy Drew book. Stop by your favorite local book haunt and sleuth for something fun to add to your collections. Join us at our Facebook group "Nancy Drew Book Fans" and meet other fans. Ultimately, it's the fans and their loyalty and love of this character and her timeless history that will keep Nancy Drew alive for generations to come.
