BRJSpring26Web - Flipbook - Page 23
Born into a genre dominated by males, Nancy Drew was a risk
for Stratmeyer that proved to be his most enduring legacy. But
Stratmeyer didn9t live long enough to reach the pinnacle of his
greatest success. He died unexpectedly of lobar pneumonia less
than two weeks after the publication of the first Nancy Drew
book, The Secret of the Old Clock, which was released as a 3-volume
set with, The Hidden Staircase and The Bungalow Mystery, on April
28, 1930.
Stratmeyer left the syndicate to his wife Magdalene, but poor
health forced her to cede control of the business to her daughters,
Harriet and Edna, who were left to navigate the challenges and
changes to the book publishing industry wrought by the Great
Depression. By the end of the decade, Harriet was taking on the
brunt of the work load. A Wellesley graduate with a determination
and strong will of her own, she once got around her father9s rule
that women shouldn9t work outside the house by convincing him
to let her edit manuscripts from home, which she managed with
decided efficiency.
Edna eventually married and moved to Florida, but remained
a (not so) silent partner, garnering a large percent of the profits
and meddling from afar, which reportedly caused a rift in the sisters9 relationship that remained until Edna9s death in 1974. With
war looming, Harriet was left to handle day-to-day operations at
the syndicate on her own. And though Nancy Drew continued
sleuthing through the 1940s, largely ignoring the raging conflagration around her, Harriet was forced to confront the realities
of the war when her son Russell was killed while flying a mission
in 1942.
A history of creative differences and the fabled tug of war for
Nancy Drew9s soul between Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet
Harriet Adams at Bird Haven Farm
BRJ Special Edition
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