Nancy Drew
Mary Strevel
Nancy Drew, the intrepid teenage detective came on the scene in the 1930’s when opportunities for girls were limited, She able to do anything she set her mind to, For a young girl growing up in the 1950’s Nancy was a role model as well an inspiration, These books were a way to escape the mundane life of school, and chores, At some point I decided to read all the Nancy Drew books. At that time there were around 50 published, The library had a limited amount but I would faithfully visit weekly to see if any new ones had come in. Her books were treasured birthday presents, All of my friends had their personal favorites. Who couldn’t love hidden staircases, haunted houses, ghosts, and happy endings? Nancy was a girl who hated housework ( which we totally agreed with) and believed that girls were entitled to their freedom. Nancy survived all manner of threats : no car accidents, beating, choking, or being locked in a car trunk ,or closet could stop Nancy, She always triumphed over these adversities. Real life kidnapping victims have said that Nancy Drew stories inspired them to escape, Successful women in law enforcement say Nancy Drew inspired them in their careers. Mystery writers have declared that she was the source of their own inspiration for characters. Supreme Court justices Sonya Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor have said she was a huge influence in their lives.
Unfortunately the books published in the 1950’s were not the books that the original author had written. Mildred Wirt Benson wrote 23 Nancy Drew books under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, She believed that girls in the 1930’s were ready for a change in what they read, Girls who had grown up in the Depression knew the struggles of the world. During WWII women took on many new roles in their employment like Rosie the Riveter because the men were away at war. These years were the perfect times to launch a series about an independent young woman who was resourceful, physically undaunted and smarter than than most of the adults who she had to deal with. It wasn’t about how pretty she was but how tough and smart she was.
In the 1950’s women were delivered the message that the men were home from the war, time to stay home, keep house and take care of your family, The editions of the Nancy Drew books published in these years showed a Nancy much less independent and more reliant on help from others. Beginning in 1959, the original 34 books were revised to reflect the values of the current society. Fortunately most of the books I read were the original versions written by Millie Benson.
Millie was a woman ahead of her times, She was the first person man or woman to receive a Masters Degree in Journalism in 1927 at the University of Iowa, 7 years after women had earned the right to vote. After college she moved to New York City and met Edward Stratemeyer who hired her to ghostwrite popular books. She was given a flat fee and signed away all her rights to the books. Millie would be given a title and a small outline and would turn them into 200 page novels. Her identity was kept secret until 1986 when she revealed her identity as the first Carolyn Keene. She had defined the character of Nancy that young girls couldn’t get enough of. She wrote more than 135 books over her lifetime as well as worked as a journalist at the Toledo Blade for 58 years, She traveled alone all over the world, braving crocodile infested rivers and jungles that she had to hack through with a machete. Once she was locked in a room in Guatemala in the 1960’s by some locals who thought she knew too much about their criminal activities, She later admitted that in that closet she thought, what would Nancy do and just like Nancy she was able to escape her kidnappers. “Women still tell me how they identified with Nancy Drew and that Nancy Drew gave them confidence to be whatever they wanted to be,” Millie told an interviewer in 1999. Millie was[1] still working part time at 96 when she passed away. She was as tenacious and bold as Nancy Drew.