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Booksleuth Series Book Collection
Harriet Adams vs Mildred Wirt - Will the real Carolyn Keene please standup!
The Mystery of the Stolen Pseudonym
Since the inception of this website I have promised to offer my thoughts about the dispute between series book collectors on who is most entitled to claim the name of Carolyn Keene, author of the Nancy Drew series. I have finally been prompted to write this article because of another article quoting research I conducted that supports the theory that Harriet S. Adams is the true Carolyn Keene, not Mildred A. Wirt.
    This article was written by Cynthia Adams Lum, a granddaughter of Harriet Adams. Titled: “Just Who IS Carolyn Keene?”, the article appears in a website maintained by THE HISTORY NET (follow link).
    In essence, Ms. Lum claims that her grandmother had every right to claim to be Carolyn Keene because she nurtured the Nancy Drew series over the entire course of Nancy’s publishing history; providing outlines and editing numerous ND volumes as well as outright writing many of them.
    I find myself having to agree with her, but I take her to task on the main argument she offers. In her article, Ms. Lum suggests that providing outlines and editing is more important than writing from the outlines. She suggests that Mildred Wirt, in writing most of the first 30 volumes of the series, didn’t have a difficult chore and perhaps had little to do but fill in the blanks. Ms. Lum uses a piece of information I found in the Stratemeyer Archives (follow link) to bolster her contention. In my modest perusal of  some files of the syndicate, I found a letter from Mildred Wirt where she wrote that she enjoyed writing Nancy Drew books because the plots were “ready made.”
    As a journalism graduate, former professional journalist and one-time college instructor, I have the highest respect and envy of anyone who can write a novel that entertains readers and sells books. And there is no doubt that Mildred A. Wirt can do that. And she did it without having a father to give her access to a literary syndicate. Mildred also achieved success above the ghostwriting career she claimed. She was a professional journalist and author of many books with her own name on them. More importantly, she was hired by Edward Stratemeyer to bring to life his idea of Nancy Drew and her work was good enough to win the hearts of the publishers, if not Stratemeyer himself.
    I think Mildred Wirt was a far better writer of fiction than Harriet Adams, but I believe Harriet Adams has superior rights to claim the title of Carolyn Keene.
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 Books are not the only items I collect.  Any collector of popular characters will include movie, television and other memorabilia of that character.  To the right is one of my proudest items in my collection, a movie poster for Nancy Drew Trouble Shooter, the third of four Warner Brothers movies produced from 1938-1939, with child actress Bonita Granville playing Nancy Drew. This poster graces the wall of my small office-library.
     

Left is a copy of The Hardy Boys, House on the Cliff, published in Norway. This unique artwork and similar books can be seen on the "Foreign Edition Picture Page" on the link above.
DEDICATION
     In September 1996, I spent a week's vacation touring from Oklahoma City through Kansas to Kansas City, then across Missouri to St. Louis, and then south from St. Louis to New Madrid, Mo., my hometown and still the home of my parents. Along with visiting my brothers in both major cities, I stopped at as many antique malls and bookstores as possible. It was at one such store near Boonville, MO, that I found a box of Happy Hollister books, half with dust jackets. They were in great shape and per book my cost was less than about $2 a book. I bought them, knowing that I could sell the dustjacketed ones for quite a bit more and recoup my investment. And perhaps, sentimentally, I hated to see them just sit on the floor of this concrete-floored antique mall.
     I placed the box in my trunk, not even adding them to among the prizes I had found already or would find later.
     Upon arriving in New Madrid a few days later, I put aside collecting to spend time with my parents. At some point my mother Zoe' asked me to accompany her to the local library to visit with her "girlfriends," the two local librarians. She was always proud of me and wanted to share that pride with these two fine ladies. Like any man, I hesitated, not wanting to be a part of such "silly" ventures. But I went along, knowing this would make her happy.
     At the library I reminisced about the joy I had as a kid there, especially checking out the Happy Hollister books they kept. These books and my fondness in reading them started this hobby. I was surprised to learn the library still had volumes from the series, but they were in bad shape. The head librarian mentioned that recently a childhood friend of mine, who also read and enjoyed the series, had offered to cover the cost of purchasing new copies. I then offered the non-dustjacketed Hollister books I had bought to her and said if she collected the money, give it to my mother. They were pleased to have the new books. I enjoyed the rest of my visit with my parents and returned to Oklahoma City a few days later.
     Within a few weeks my dear mother passed away in her sleep.
     At her wake I asked the librarian to keep the money for the books and place a dedication in the books to my mother. They will serve as a reminder of her, and this dedication will, too. I owe my love of mystery books to her and she always encouraged me to read.  Ironically, my mother had the mindset that would not have understood the internet, much less used it. Yet, now she has her "place" on the World Wide Web.
Zoe' Leuer O'Herin
August 12, 1921-October 8, 1996

 

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