In 1984, two years after Harriet Adams' death, our family and the remaining Syndicate partners were forced to sell the rights to Stratemeyer Syndicate books and characters to publisher's Simon and Schuster. Although three of us had become ghost writers for the Syndicate, no one in the family, at that time, was in a position, to take control of the business. The Stratemeyer family had finally lost control of its empire.
Harriet Adams had maintained strict and comprehensive authority over Nancy Drew and all Syndicate books and their content until her death. She was ardent in her opinion that children's literature should be innocent and educational. Ned Nickerson was never allowed more than a kiss on the cheek, while under my grandmother's control. By 1982, Nancy Drew, alone, had sold well over 100 million copies and was translated into 19 languages and distributed in 22 countries. Generations of children grew up with Syndicate characters, such as Nancy, as their role models.
The Syndicate's head was conscious of her responsibility in the influence her books had over the young people who read them. My grandmother's favorite fan letter concerned a child who had been kidnapped. The child managed to free herself and attributed her calm and calculated actions to the influence of her heroin, Nancy Drew. Similarly, a 12 year old child lost, then found in the Michigan wilderness credited the example of this literary heroin for her, professed, fearless endurance of her ordeal.
Nancy Drew had an influence in my own life. My early recollections of growing up in the family who created her include my own grandmother's amazing story telling abilities. Like her father, she too could invent an instant bedtime story for her grandchildren on any subject. My father and his sisters' favorite game was to challenge their mother to create a story around three topics of their choosing. Harriet never failed us in these games. Mealtimes with "Grandma" could often prove challenging as, like her father, she delighted in posing riddles for us to solve. So completely did she adhere to her father's concept of the anonymity of their stories' author that I was nearly 10 before I became aware that the books I so loved, and the character I so admired, were being written by my own grandmother.
Visits to "Grandma's" were often filled with fantasy and fun. Easter at her farm, where she loved to write, was an occasion for a Nancy Drew type 'egg hunt.' She would give us a clue on a paper, which if deciphered would lead to another clue, hidden on the farm. This would lead to another, and so on, until the hidden, chocolate prize was found. The only rule was that the clever finder had to share the treat with the other grandchildren. As I grew older, my grandmother would allow me to watch her work, asking my opinion of story lines and showing me how Syndicate stories and outlines were written. Harriet always wrote by hand, and then dictated her work for transcription by secretaries at the Syndicate. My greatest thrill was reading new, unpublished Nancy Drew manuscripts. My grandmother fostered my own love of literature and writing; Nancy Drew gave me my love of reading.
My grandmother was the living embodiment of the Nancy Drew character she so cherished. The list of her accomplishments is a testament to her achievements and her character. She was highly intelligent, morale and magnanimous. Her formative years were spent keeping her father's house due to her mother's poor health. She worked hard at school, excelling at her studies, and gaining distinction in three university level specialties. Harriet raised four children, enduring personal tragedy in the loss of her eldest son in WWII and then her husband in 1966. The courage and fortitude she demonstrated in assuming control of her father's book empire at a time when women were subjugated to far lesser roles is without question.
Harriet was a remarkable and exceptionally gifted and generous woman. She financially assisted her family and those in her employ, as with their children's education and other needs. Her work for charities and her assistance to those organizations she supported are too numerous to detail. She was a capable business woman of 52 years and prolific in her creativity, writing some 200 books herself and 1,200 outlines for others. Harriet was the recipient of countless awards and received a Congressional Citation in 1980. It is because of her influence and control that countless young readers in the Unites States and around the world grew up with positive literary role models from Syndicate book characters such as Nancy Drew.
Harriet Stratemeyer Adams has the legal and moral claim to the authorship of the Nancy Drew books. As the Syndicate's head, she was the 'grand master' of it all and has the right to have her name placed in literary history as their author. There was no 'Kastabi-like' attempt by her to place her signature on the work of others, as she wrote the majority of the stories. There is no legal or conceivable rationale as to why Ms. Benson's name, unlike current Tom Clancy story writers, should be placed on these books. Those who would so charge are ignorant of the facts disclosed. People who profess to know the "truth" of the Syndicate's workings have been misled by their ignorance. Internet sites, for example, who claim to know the "real" facts are a reminder that trusting on information for research purposes in such data, particularly by children, who often do not use other sources, is problematic, at best.
There is no mystery to the authorship of the Nancy Drew books. She was a prolific writer, successful business woman, mother and beloved grandmother. For the inspiration and principles embodied in Nancy Drew, you need look no further than the life of Carolyn Keene, who was Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.
Written by Cynthia Adams Lum
