Nancy Drew & The Case of the Missing Copyrights

Nancy Drew & The Case of the Missing Copyrights 

Today, January 1^st, 2026 marks what some consider a milestone in the Nancy Drew world. This year many works that debuted back in 1930 in both print and film among other genres are going into the public domain. Some of you may wonder how this is possible and want to solve the mystery of what I somewhat cheekily refer to as these “missing” copyrights. Due to laws in previous decades, copyright extension for works like Nancy Drew was 95 years so when the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series debuted on April 28, 1930, we’ve had to wait 95 years for the copyright on those texts to expire.

To clue you in, that means that the original twenty-five-chapter texts of the first four Nancy Drew books published in 1930 – The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, The Bungalow Mystery, and The Mystery at Lilac Inn – can be reprinted or adapted without violating copyright law. No need to get permission or license these 1930 works. Created by Edward Stratemeyer, of The Stratemeyer Syndicate, these books were ghost-written by Mildred Wirt Benson who would go on to write twenty-three of the first thirty Nancy Drew books. I am currently writing a biography of Benson, a real life Nancy Drew. Stratemeyer created the outlines for these books and passed away just shy of two weeks after the series debuted. 1930 was a difficult year of many to come in the United States with the Great Depression, but Nancy Drew was said to be a great light in a dark time to girls growing up at that time period. She adventured, solved exciting mysteries, and saved the day – and in doing so inspired generations of fans to do more in their lives. She survived the depression years and was outselling the boys’ series by 1934.

Unfortunately, due to lack of knowledge or research, we’re likely to see a few Nancy Drew-style bumbling “crooks” who reprint the twenty-chapter revised text versions of these books, not realizing that DOES violate copyright law. Only the original texts of twenty-five chapters with 1930 copyright dates are public domain. These four books were revised in 1959 for the first 2, 1960 for book 3 and 1961 for book 4 – down to just twenty chapters – and these revisions are what is still in print by Penguin Random House who reprints the first fifty-six classic Nancy Drew books. Complications, though, are something one must ponder. After all, the revisions contain – with the exception of book 4 and to a degree book 2 – whole parts, paragraphs and sentences that were carried over into the revisions from the original versions. Does that complicate things further?

Besides text, there’s also the cover art and glossy internal illustrations created in 1930 by commercial illustrator, Russell H. Tandy. So, only the 1930 Tandy covers and illustrations for these first four books are in the public domain. If sometime tries to reprint second or third cover art or later internal illustrations, then they would be violating copyright law. Also keep in mind, around 1940, Tandy revised the frontispiece art for the books – so someone can’t use a 1940s frontispiece with a 1930 text – it’s not public domain yet.

Solving the mystery is quite simple – while the original 1930 versions in text and art are public domain now, the revised versions and later cover and internal art are not public domain.

Jennifer Jenkins, who writes and researches about the public domain and is director of The Center for the Study of Public Domain and a professor at Duke University School of Law along with James Boyle, a Duke law professor, published information on the public domain issues and what’s going into the public domain in 2026 at this link. There is also a neat blog entry at the Library of Congress.

Jenkins and Boyle have a very good explanation of why it’s important for works to go into the public domain, but they also explain the legalities of it. So, if you’re interested in the finer details of it all, this is a great read!

In the end, it probably doesn’t matter what any of us think about this issue – the law is the law. But I suppose the greater good is public domain in spirit and intention most of the time, but sometimes things get a little sinister. And there are consequences. Being in the public domain opens up these works to everyone for whatever purpose. One could also liken this to a “windfall” in which long lost heirs with little or no connection to someone or their property and livelihood get a windfall inheritance. Intriguingly, the first Nancy Drew book, Old Clock, deals with heirs, an inheritance and a missing will.

Since I have a connection to Nancy Drew – lifelong fan, reader, researcher, historian, author, collector, consultant, historical legacy donation to Toledo Public Library, etc. – I have over 30 years of experience in dealing with this series, its history and its fan base. You can’t buy, binge or cliff-note yourself into that kind of knowledge and understanding of all the facets of Nancy Drew and the fan community. Which is one reason I consult for publishers and companies licensing the brand who need real authentic info and facts plus data and stats. I understand why the public domain can be good and that’s keeping works alive that were published 95 years ago – so they won’t be lost to history, which is important. However, with Nancy Drew – she’s hardly lost to history. This character and various incarnations of her have been in print (and on TV and in movies) for 95 years and counting now. No one is forgetting about Nancy Drew! Of course, the original text versions of the first four books now going into public domain, have been officially out of print by the Nancy Drew publishers since the 1959-1961 timeframe. However, Applewood Books beginning in the early 1990s reprinted the first twenty-one Nancy Drew books. And there’s a plethora of vintage copies of these books one can find at used book stores, antique malls and easily on sites like eBay. There have been millions of these books sold over the last 95 years.

So, my issue with works like this becoming public domain – something out of my control – and which has nothing to do with that sometime feckless term “gatekeeping,” is all the ridiculous copies that will be reprinted by all sorts of “sellers” outside of established publishing houses, who are just trying to make a buck on this without anything inherently interesting about the reprints. Covers that lack authenticity or scenes created not in the book, or other covers still in copyright being used that don’t match the story – many likely created by AI are not interesting to me. Not having historical context for instance, means nothing that would be that interesting to warrant someone buying a newly reprinted copy. Why buy a modern reprint when one could simply buy a vintage copy for pretty cheap – five to 10 dollars, maybe more depending on format and collectability. Reading copies can always be had for cheap! I’d much rather buy a vintage version than a modern reprint that isn’t really interesting. Especially when a vintage version is less than a reprint’s cost. It’s more of a buyer’s market on eBay these days.  The Applewood reprints were sincerely done and the first ten had introductions by famous authors inspired by Nancy Drew. Ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson even wrote introductions to books 4 and 5.

On the other hand, paperback reprints are great for format collectors. The original four 1930 books came out with blue boards and dust jackets, never in paperback through the years, except for foreign editions. So, collecting paperback versions might be of interest to collectors because it is a new format to collect. However, as a collector, I’m still going to be very selective with any reprints I purchase. Like the Great Pumpkin, I will pass your reprint by if it doesn’t feel very sincere or authentic.

There will be exceptions to the mass market or print-on-demand reprints that will likely flood the market including those unfortunate copies using the still in print revised and under copyright texts or art of these books. Those exceptions that I will look forward to will be curated by publishers and those reprinting these works who care more about the books, the characters and preserving the history behind it who will strive to do a great job in preserving these texts. As a historian, preservation is an ultimate end goal.

I was asked to write an introduction to a leather-bound set of the first four books which will be out later in 2026 from Thunder Bay Press as part of its Canterbury Classics series. As I introduce these 1930 texts to new generations and nostalgic fans, I discuss Nancy Drew and her mysterious history behind the books and who created and ghostwrote these books. Not only is this preserving the works but it’s adding history and facts behind the creation and publication of the series going back to 1930 which adds enrichment to it. I’m all for preserving works – but I feel like it’s important to add value to that with historical context and historical stories which also lends authenticity to the reprints.

Also, noted Stratemeyer Syndicate researcher and writer, James Keeline, will be publishing a scholarly version of the first four Nancy Drew books with historical information in January 2026, so fans and scholars can look forward to historical authenticity and preservation with this neat four-in-one edition! It will be published through his 24 Palmer Street Press at Lulu.com. He's also written a post at his blog on the public domain of Nancy Drew.

There’s also the use of the characters from these four books for adaptations and what some “creatives” or what I have often referred to rather sarcastically as the “Hollywood Phantom Menace” might do to the books and characters. Sex, drugs, dysfunction and horror films come to mind. Clearly, something never intended to touch these children’s book characters and definitely going against the mantra of the Stratemeyer Syndicate who created Nancy Drew and managed her for decades – that they be “safe and sane” books plus entertaining and a takeaway from the drudgery of real life. The easiest thing for fans whose sensibilities are offended, is to just not support content that doesn’t deserve support. The power of the purse!

I have to roll my eyes about all those dreaded “in name only” projects which might come forth where some popular genre or meme popular today has Nancy Drew thrust into it, her name slapped on an unrecognizable character and in situations that really have nothing to do with the detective genre she comes from, and the real mystery is why? If it’s going to be so different as to be “name only,” I just find this rather crass, over commercialized and boring. However, remember, the character is still under copyright and trademarked in the over 600 books that have been published since 1930 which are not entering the public domain versus the four that are. So, using a character like Nancy Drew is limited to the storylines they appear in in these first four books. You can’t just make anything Nancy Drew and get away with it, you “meddling kids.” Hopefully publisher and copyright owner Simon & Schuster will micromanage all the potential copyright violations to come out of this public domain issue as we see a lot of original versions over the next several decades going into public domain. There is one other outlier, however. Book 38 from 1961, The Mystery of the Fire Dragon –is public domain and has been for some time. The reason? The copyright was never renewed, a rather odd oversight for such a popular property.

If you are unfamiliar with what a 1930 public domain Nancy Drew book looks like, I’ve pictured the four cover art here by Tandy and noted that the texts have twenty-five chapters and 1930 copyrights, but you can learn a lot more about this and more at my Nancy Drew Sleuth Unofficial website –www.nancydrewsleuth.com. At my website you can also learn about my donation of my extensive over 5000 piece Nancy Drew Collection to the Toledo Public Library in Toledo, OH in 2019. This donation of books, collectibles and historic ephemera has created an amazing legacy for scholars, researchers, and fans of the books, including today’s generation of Nancy Drew readers. You can visit the collection and see all the Nancys that have been in existence from 1930 to present day. It’s donations like mine that add a lot of value to the history of such an important series upon the popular culture – and which has inspired a lot of women to do more in their lives. And there’s a wonderful Nancy Drew Fund that has been set up by the Toledo Public Library to support the collection and acquisitions of historical ephemera to it to further keep Nancy Drew’s mysterious history alive. Please consider donating to the Nancy Drew Fund to support the enduring legacy of Nancy Drew. And if you have historical Nancy Drew ephemera, consider donating it or selling it to the library to preserve this legacy for generations to come.