Happy Birthday
to Millie Benson aka Mildred Wirt Benson – first Carolyn Keene, author of over
130 published books, among other fine feats. I sit here fondly thinking about
her legacy – and she wore so many hats! From author to journalist to aviatrix
to Mayan temple adventurer and many other things in between. She’s most
famously known as being the original Carolyn Keene and a real-life Nancy Drew
in many respects and we’re going to celebrate her most famous literary character
– Nancy Drew – in Toledo, OH this week at a series of events at the Toledo
Public Library. The dedication of my Jennifer Fisher Nancy Drew Collection and
all the other mystery fanfare at the library over two days will be an amazing
event for the Nancy Drew Fans attending, many members of the Nancy Drew Sleuths,
plus local Toledoans looking to solve the mystery of what’s in…The Mystery Room…and
rediscover Nancy Drew. Millie wrote most
of the Nancy Drew books in Ohio after moving there in the late 1920s to the Cleveland
area. In 1938, she moved to Toledo and spent the rest of her life there writing
and working as a longtime journalist for The Toledo Times and The Toledo Blade.
She wrote Nancy Drew books #17-25 and #30 in Toledo.
Of her legacy,
she once said, “Now so much later in my life, women still tell me how they
identified with Nancy Drew and that Nancy Drew gave them confidence to be
whatever they wanted to be. That’s been the most rewarding aspect.” That Nancy
Drew has been empowering her fans for over 90 years – is a great legacy indeed!
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