When Edward Met Mildred by Cindy Regnier

 

Have you ever heard of Edward Stratemeyer? How about Mildred Benson? Somehow these names aren’t well remembered in today’s literary world, but all of us are well acquainted with what happened when they joined forces. Let’s find out more about them.

 Edward Stratemeyer (pictured right) was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on October 4, 1862. As a young child, he became an avid reader, eagerly devouring books gifted to him or handed down to him by his older brothers. He decided early on to become an author and began writing stories of his own, seeking to emulate his favorite authors, Oliver Optic and Horatio Alger.

In his teens Edward used a typesetter to put some of his stories into print by distributing them in small story papers that listed him as the publisher. In 1883 he published a semi-professional story paper titled Our American Boys whereby he published stories under other pen names such as Robert Rollic. Five years later he created a story called “Victor Horton’s Idea” written in pencil on a yellow paper. Eventually, it was published earning Edward $75.

From 1894 to 1926 there were 168 of his stories published as books under his own name and some personal pseudonyms. His 30-volume Rover Boys series had more than 5 million copies sold. He also wrote dozens of short stories, dime novels, and serials for story papers and magazines. And then Edward Stratemeyer embarked on his own publishing company, called Stratemeyer Syndicate. He served as a literary agent to purchase manuscripts from other writers as well as his own, and then issue them in book form. In time this would include outlines devised by Stratemeyer which would be expanded into book manuscripts by hired ghostwriters.

 

Enter Mildred Benson. From a very early age, Mildred was determined to be an author. She later recalled proclaiming “to anyone who would listen” that “when I grow up I’m going to be a GREAT writer.'” Her first published work was a short story titled “The Courtesy” that appeared in the children’s publication, St. Nicholas Magazine in June 1919, when she was just thirteen years old. Several more of her writings were to follow in both that magazine and in Lutheran Young Folks. These publications would eventually help fund her college education.

 In 1926 Mildred (pictured left) visited New York, her dream of becoming a writer still intact. Here she met Edward Stratemeyer. The syndicate was now publishing many popular juvenile series, such as the Bobbsey Twins and The Hardy Boys with the help of ghostwriters. The ghostwriters were given a brief plot outline and chapter summaries of no more than two or three pages from which they wrote a full book. They received a flat fee for their work, and in exchange signed away all rights.

 Stratemeyer offered Mildred the opportunity to write a novel in the Ruth Fielding series under the pseudonym Alice B. Emerson. The final 208-page manuscript was well received by Stratemeyer, and the book was published in 1927. In 1929, Stratemeyer offered her the chance to work on a new series that focused on a teenage sleuth named Nancy Drew. 

He sent her the outlines for the first three books: The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, and The Bungalow Mystery. With the plots in hand, Mildred developed Nancy as a bold, brave, and clever teenager with a knack for solving mysteries. Although Stratemeyer initially had concerns that Nancy Drew was “much too flip,” he published the three books. By April 1930, the books were on store shelves and proved to be so popular more titles were demanded by the public. Sadly, Stratemeyer died twelve days after the release of the first books, but Mildred was kept on as Nancy Drew’s ghostwriter. She wrote 23 of the first 30 books of the series under the Syndicate-chosen pseudonym Carolyn Keene.

Through the 1930’s and 1940’s, she continued to write fiction for children and young adults under her own name, her own pseudonyms, and collective pseudonyms owned by Stratemeyer Syndicate. She wrote over a hundred novels, many of which were sold along with any royalty rights to the Syndicate for a flat fee ranging from $85-$250.

Contract stipulations kept Mildred silent about Carolyn Keene’s true identity until 1980 when she was called to testify in a court case concerning the true ownership of the ghostwriters work when Stratemeyer Syndicate was sold by Stratemeyer’s daughters. Edward Stratemeyer’s daughter and senior partner of the Syndicate, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, had publicly declared herself the sole author of the Nancy Drew series claiming she was entitled to sell the rights of her own work. She told reporters she began penning the series after finding the first three outlines on her late father’s desk. When Harriet was introduced to the other company’s witness, Mildred Wirt Benson, her surprised response was “I thought you were dead.” 

Harriet Stratemeyer Adams

Mildred’s secret was finally out. After Carolyn Keene was unveiled, she received many awards and much recognition for her writing career including being inducted into the Ohio and Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame. Mildred passed away in 2002 at the age of 97. 

Did you read Nancy Drew growing up? Did you ever wonder about Carolyn Keene? I sure did and the Stratemeyer-Benson collaboration (aka Carolyn Keene) inspired many writing careers, mine included.

 

 Scribbling in notebooks has been a habit of Cindy Regnier since she was old enough to hold a pencil. Born and raised in Kansas, she writes stories of historical Kansas, especially the Flint Hills area where she spent much of her childhood. Her experiences with the Flint Hills setting, her natural love for history, farming and animals, along with her interest in genealogical research give her the background and passion to write heart-fluttering historical romance.