Girl Sleuth
Page 34
“Your Husband and Father”: George Sully to Magdalene Stratemeyer and daughters, May 25, 1930, cited in Abel, p. 296.
“Now Mr. Stratemeyer”: “Passing of an Epoch,” New York Times, May 13, 1930.
“He was the ‘grand old man’”: Alexander Grosset to Magdalene Stratemeyer, May 14, 1930, cited in Abel, p. 297.
“Although I had never met him”: Leslie McFarlane to Harriet Otis Smith, May 15, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Dear Miss Smith”: Mildred Wirt to Harriet Otis Smith, May 15, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 17.
“Edward had made provisions in his will”: Last Will and Testament of Edward Strate- meyer, February 19, 1920, private collection of Geoffrey S. Lapin.
“His one complaint”: Edna Squier to Harriet Adams, November 6, 1961, SSR/NYPL, box 46.
CHAPTER SEVEN: SYNDICATE FOR SALE
“Author, Juvenile”: advertisement in Publishers Weekly, July 5, 1930.
“I never dreamed”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Otis Smith, May 16, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 46.
“Mr. Stratemeyer was far too kind”: Harriet Otis Smith to Edna Stratemeyer, May 16, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“If these publishers suddenly lose”: Harriet Otis Smith to August M. Hoch, June 14, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“My dear Miss Smith”: Harriet Adams to Harriet Otis Smith, May 18, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 17.
“Were it not for”: “The Rover Boys Carry On,” East Orange (NJ) Record, June 1939.
“The only person”: Harriet Otis Smith to Edna Stratemeyer, July 11, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“If you are interested”: Harriet Otis Smith to Wallace Palmer, May 20, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“I think he is just/If the books do not get under way”: Harriet Otis Smith to Harriet Adams and Edna Stratemeyer, June 21, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“The manuscript of ‘The Mystery at Lilac Inn’”: Harriet Otis Smith to Mildred Wirt, June 3, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“My sister stopped by”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Otis Smith, June 4, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“I really think that Mrs. Adams”: Harriet Otis Smith to Edna Stratemeyer, June 16, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Before Mr. Stratemeyer’s death”: Harriet Otis Smith to Mildred Wirt, July 7, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“They had wisely removed”: Melanie Rehak interview with Rebekah Scott, Toledo, OH, June 10, 2003.
“A thrilling tale”: Harriet Otis Smith to Edna Stratemeyer, July 11, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“The books on the way”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Otis Smith, July 10, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Loved by me”:Lilac Inn intro.
“My sister keeps me informed”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Otis Smith, June 13, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Personally I am very anxious”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Otis Smith, June 26, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 46.
“In spite of ourselves”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Otis Smith, July 19, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 46.
“Your sister went home armed”: Harriet Otis Smith to Edna Stratemeyer, July 25, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“A better idea”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Otis Smith, July 24, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 46.
“Perhaps my sister has been”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Otis Smith, July 19, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 46.
“I was 38”: Dorothy H. Kelso, “Puzzle Solved,” Quincy (MA) Patriot Ledger, March 8, 1978.
“More youthful”: Edna Stratemeyer to Mildred Wirt, November 10, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“While working on the mystery”: Harriet Adams to Laura Harris, September 26, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“We would advise”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, September 26, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Satisfactorily”: Harriet Adams to Barse & Co., August 29, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“My dear Robert”: Harriet Adams to Robert (no last name), October 14, 1930, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“As you will see”: Harriet Adams to Harriet Otis Smith, November 1, 1930, SSR/ NYPL, box 28.
“I am sure you will be surprised”: Edna Stratemeyer to unknown friend, August 15, 1932, SSR/NYPL, box 239.
“Getting courage”: Linda Abrahams, “Mystery Writing a Family Tradition,” South Middlesex (NJ) Sunday News, March 12, 1978.
CHAPTER EIGHT: AN UNFORTUNATE BREAK; OR, THE CLEVELAND WRITER COMES INTO HER OWN
“It splattered”: Mildred Benson, “More about Nancy,” introduction to the facsimile edition of Carolyn Keene, The Secret at Shadow Ranch (Bedford, MA: Applewood Books, 1994) (hereafter cited as Shadow Ranch intro).
“An enticing invitation”: All excerpts from The Secret at Shadow Ranch in this section come from Carolyn Keene, The Secret at Shadow Ranch (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1931).
“At the time”:Shadow Ranch intro.
“‘Chats with Cleveland Writers’”: Ida M. Gurwell, “Chats with Cleveland Writers: Mildred Augustine Wirt,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, n.d. (1931).
“The work for our syndicate”: Edward Stratemeyer to Frank Hopley, August 1, 1929, SSR/NYPL, box 27.
“We have had an extremely busy year”: Harriet Adams to Harriet Otis Smith, June 12, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Today it looked like Christmas”: Harriet Adams to Edna Stratemeyer, May 5, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Was not surprised”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Adams, n.d. (July 1931), SSR/NYPL, box 46.
“Other high-lights”: Harriet Adams to Edna Stratemeyer, n.d (July 1931), SSR/NYPL, box 46.
“We all dropped a penny”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Adams, n.d. (July 1931), SSR/NYPL, box 46.
“Dear Pardner”: Agnes Pearson and Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Adams, June 24, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Dear Miss Stratemeyer”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, May 11, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 17.
“Dear Edna: Before I shut up shop”: Harriet Adams to Edna Stratemeyer, May 15, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Well, we got to be”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Adams, May 15, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“We are sorry that”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, May 18, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Because of this”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, September 10, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“I . . . am sorry to learn”: Mildred Wirt to Harriet Adams, September 14, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“My books averaged about”: Elizabeth Ward to Edna Stratemeyer, August 23, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 17.
“I am sorry that I cannot”: J. W. Duffield to Harriet Adams, August 12, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 18.
“I realize what difficult times”: Mildred Wirt to Harriet Adams, September 21, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 17.
“Resume of the Management of Monies”: memo from Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Adams, n.d. (July 1931), SSR/NYPL, box 46.
“Dear Hat”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Adams, n.d. (September 1931), SSR/NYPL, box 17.
“You will notice”: Harriet Adams to Walter Karig, October 1, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“My dear Mrs. Wirt”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, September 28, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Some places where”: Harriet Adams to Walter Karig, October 29, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“In any crowd”: All excerpts from The Clue in the Diary in this section come from Carolyn Keene, The Clue in the Diary (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1932).
“Sales are not”: Laura Harris to Harriet Adams, April 20, 1932, SSR/NYPL, box 18.
“One of the first hard facts”: Edna Yost, “The Fifty-Cent Juveniles,” Publishers Weekly, June 18, 1932.
“They have commissioned”: Edna Yost to Harriet Adams, January 11, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 17.
“Portraying the lives”: Harriet Adams to Edna Yost, January 13, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Fan mail is indeed”: Harriet Adams to Arthur Leon, April 18, 1932, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Another phrase”: Harriet Adams to Laura Harris, January 13, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“We have talked”: Harriet Adams to Laura Harris, Novem
ber 11, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“In regard to”: Harriet Adams to Henry Altemus, March 30, 1921, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“We are wondering”: Harriet Adams to Edna Stratemeyer, July 5, 1932, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Tomorrow I have”: Harriet Adams to Edna Stratemeyer, September 7, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“I am sorry I could not/However, I am”: Harriet Adams to Laura Harris, September 7, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“When I took over the Syndicate”:Secret of Nancy Drew.
“I enjoyed my”: Harriet Adams to Laura Harris, April 24, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“This year, like every other writer”: Leslie McFarlane to Edna Stratemeyer, June 18, 1932, SSR/NYPL, box 16.
“We have heard so much”: Harriet Adams to J. W. Duffield, May 11, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Our price for”: Edna Stratemeyer to Mildred Wirt, July 28, 1932, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“In regard to writing”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, August 2, 1932, SSR/NYPL, box 17.
“From talking with”: Harriet Adams to Arthur Leon, July 28, 1932, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys”:GHB, p. 198.
“Certain facts”: Harriet Adams to Publishers Weekly, May 26, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“My dear Mrs. Adams”: Frederic G. Melcher to Harriet Adams, June 2, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 16.
“Enclosed also is”: Harriet Adams to Laura Harris, June 30, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“We have received”: Edna Stratemeyer to Grosset & Dunlap, July 20, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 28.
“Your mildly implied”: Walter Karig to Harriet Adams, September 21, 1931, SSR/NYPL, box 16.
“We wonder”: Edna Stratemeyer to Mildred Wirt, March 24, 1934, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“I have always been”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, March 26, 1934, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
CHAPTER NINE: MOTHERHOOD AND NANCY DREW
“‘I’m Ned Nickerson’”: All excerpts from The Clue in the Diary in this section come from Carolyn Keene, The Clue in the Diary (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1932).
“He does not appear”: Edna Stratemeyer to Mildred Wirt, April 2, 1934, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“Boys’ books in which”: Ayers Brinser to Harriet Adams, November 15, 1933, SSR/NYPL, box 18.
“It has few literary/the Stratemeyer daughters”: “For It Was Indeed He,” pp. 86, 87, 88, 204.
“The cat is out of the bag”: Lucy M. Kinloch, “The Menace of the Series Book,” Elementary English Review 12 (January 1935), pp. 10—11.
“The picture should have had”: Harriet Adams to Laura Harris Grabbe, May 15, 1934, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“Among the changes”: Edna Stratemeyer to Mildred Wirt, April 28, 1934, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“I am sorry you did not like”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, April 30, 1934, SSR/NYPL, box 18.
“We have tried to equalize/There is so much”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, December 10, 1935, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“I do think”: Mildred Wirt to Harriet Adams, January 16, 1936, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“My conference with”: Harriet Adams to Edna Stratemeyer, September 17, 1934, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“Yesterday Russell and I”: Harriet Adams to Edna Stratemeyer, May 14, 1934, SRR/NYPL, box 29.
“Mrs. Adams and I”: Edna Stratemeyer to Harriet Otis Smith, June 5, 1935, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“Dear Miss Stratemeyer”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, June 15, 1935, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“Fortune is publishing”: Harriet Adams to Helen L. Mansfield, February 20, 1934, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams/Class of 1914 Collection, WCA.
“As soon as the children”: Harriet Adams to “Rig,” September 10, 1934, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“Rai! Rai!/[The check] went out”: Harriet Adams to Edna Stratemeyer, June 15, 1936, SSR/NYPL, box 19.
“Neatly dressed”: All excerpts from The Mystery of the Ivory Charm in this section come from Carolyn Keene, The Mystery of the Ivory Charm (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1936).
“We have found”: Edna Stratemeyer to Mildred Wirt, February 20, 1936, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“Our only criticism”: Edna Stratemeyer to Mildred Wirt, November 16, 1937, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“The writing is well done”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, May 25, 1938, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“Enclosed is the outline”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, June 10, 1938, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“It never occurred to me”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, February 26, 1936, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“I am just completing”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, January 10, 1937, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“We hope you will”: Edna Stratemeyer to Mildred Wirt, January 21, 1937, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“The new baby’s”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, January 23, 1937, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“I am pleased to note”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, April 5, 1937, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“Our vacation this year”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, October 18, 1937, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“We are well settled”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, October 21, 1938, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“At best . . . smoky”: Mildred Wirt to Edna Stratemeyer, April 24, 1939, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“Your son”: Harriet Adams to Elizabeth Ward, September 8, 1936, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“I must tell you/News from our house”: Harriet Adams to Edna Stratemeyer, June 10, 1936, SSR/NYPL, box 19.
“We feel we should”: Harriet Adams to Thomas Mitchell, January 18, 1939, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“One agent”: series of letters from Sarah Rollins to Harriet Adams, December 1938, SSR/NYPL, box 19.
“Advertisers would pay”: Henry H. Hoople to Harriet Adams, July 29, 1941, SSR/NYPL, box 41.
“Your letter of”: Harriet Adams to Jane Gavere, January 17, 1936, SSR/NYPL, box 19.
“How many times”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Benson, May 23, 1950, SSR/NYPL, box 33.
“The matter now”: Harriet Adams to Mary E. Black, May 4, 1939, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“My lovely baby girl”: Edna Squier to Grace North-Monfort, November 1, 1938, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“The two sisters”: “The Rover Boys Carry On,” East Orange (NJ) Record, June 1939.
“Dear Patsy”: Harriet Adams to Patricia Adams, July 18, 1939, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“Dear Carolin Keene”: Virginia Cook to Carolyn Keene, February 15, 1938, SSR/NYPL, box 19.
“For $6,000”: Heiferman/Kismaric, p. 102.
“I think every intelligent woman”:Nancy Drew: Detective, 66 mins., Warner Brothers, Hollywood, CA, 1938.
“The publicity for the films”: All excerpts from publicity for Nancy Drew films in the section come from assorted publicity materials for Nancy Drew: Detective, 1938, SSR/NYPL, box 243.
“At the end of the movie”: Elaine Tyler May, “Pushing the Limits: 1940–1961,” in No Small Courage: A History of Women in the United States, ed. Nancy F. Cott (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 475 (hereafter cited as Tyler May).
“I enjoyed having you”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, September 20, 1938, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“I enjoyed my little chat with you”: Mildred Wirt to Harriet Adams, September 22, 1938, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“I am glad that you”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, August 3, 1939, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“Occasional holiday nights”: “Nancy Drew: Reporter,” Variety, March 1, 1939, p. 15.
“Yarn so implausible”: “Nancy Drew: Detective,” Variety, December 7, 1938, p. 12.
“Plot is so shaky”: “Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase,” Variety, November 8, 1939, p. 14.
“By the end of 1940”: Harriet Adams to Henry H. Hoople, n.d. (1941), SSR/NYPL, box 239.
“Nancy Drew . . . has caused publishers”: “The Rover Boys Carry On,” East Orange (NJ) Record, June 1939.
CHAPTER TEN: “THEY ARE NANCY”
“When you receive”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, October 6, 1
939, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“And while I am”: Conrad Black, Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom (New York: Public Affairs, 2003), p. 595.
“In a fireside chat”: Mitchell, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to World War II (Indianapolis, IN: Alpha Books, 2001), p. 100 (hereafter cited as Bard).
“In just one week”: Bard, p. 97.
“Patriotic discomfort”: Harriet Adams to Elizabeth Ward, December 12, 1941, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“These are stirring times”: Harriet Adams to Elizabeth Ward, December 17, 1941, SSR/NYPL, box 19.
“Wouldn’t it be nice”: Harriet Adams to Elizabeth Ward, January 24, 1941, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“We are trying to play”: Harriet Adams to Leslie McFarlane, March 9, 1943, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“The average person”: Bard, p. 167.
“In Norway”: Hugh Juergens to Harriet Adams, January 8, 1947, SSR/NYPL, box 39.
“As you no doubt know”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, May 31, 1944, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“Be able to”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, July 7, 1941, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“Few books of that era”: Geoffrey S. Lapin, “The Ghost of Nancy Drew,” Books at Iowa 50 (April 1989).
“Until then, only about 5 percent”: National Archives and Records Administration, “16th Amendment: U.S. Federal Income Tax” (Washington, DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, 1995).
“Even the Syndicate”: Harriet Adams to Edna Squier, September 1, 1942, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“Our office has been closed”: Edna Squier to Charles B. Fleming, January 19, 1942, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“I appreciate very much”: Harriet Adams to J. W. Duffield, July 3, 1942, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“In commenting on”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, December 8, 1942, SSR/NYPL, box 29.
“I had to write all the time”: Vallongo.
“Thank you for getting”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, September 2, 1942, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“Two subjects”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, April 8, 1943, SSR/NYPL, box 30.
“Romance has never been”: Mildred Wirt to Harriet Adams, June 9, 1943, SSR/NYPL, box 44.
“We are somewhat disappointed”: Harriet Adams to Mildred Wirt, May 28, 1943, SSR/NYPL, box 30.