After Edward Stratmeyer's death his daughters Edna Squier and Harriet Stratmeyer Adams took over the syndicate. Edna and Harriet could not find a buyer for the syndicate due to the depression. Edna covered daily business operations and Harriet worked with writers and outlined future novels like her father. Edna chose not to continue her work with the company, leaving full control to Harriet.
Harriet introduced new series to the Stratemeyer world, focusing on strong female characters. Perhaps because Harriet never wanted to be a proper young lady. Born to Edward and his wife in 1892, Harriet climbed trees and read books. She attended Wellesley College, graduating in 1914. She edited manuscripts, but did not write herself. She married in 1915 and had four children.
In the 1950s and '60s Harriet Adams was forced by the publisher Gossett and Dunlop to revise past books, changing racist language and situations to reflect "modern" times. Rewrites caused some plots to change entirely and whole books had to be rewritten. In the late 1970s Adams wanted the two most popular series to go into paperback. Gossett and Dunlop to offence, and sued. For the first time the public learned of the syndicate and its pseudonymic ghost writers. Adams died in 1982, and Simon and Schuster bought the syndicate in 1984.
Before his death in 1930, Edward Stratemeyer created a new character and outlined the first four books in a series, but died shortly after she hit the page. Mildred Wirt Benson was the ghost writer chosen to bring this character to life, as she did other girl characters for the syndicate. Benson gave readers girls who acted bravely, and intelligently, who never gave a thought to being proper, though they were well-mannered and polite. She had her own separate journalism career under her own name. But the work she did under one particular pseudonym will live on for generations.
Mildred Wirt Benson was born in 1905 in Ladora, Iowa. In 1925 she earned an English degree from the University of Iowa. In 1927 she earned a Masters in Journalism degree. In 1928 she married Asa Wirt ; the couple had one child. Asa Wirt died in 1947 ; Mildred married George Benson, the editor of the newspaper for which she wrote, in 1950. He died in 1959. Benson traveled and learned to fly planes, never backing down from an adventure. She died in age 96 in 2002.
Wirt sold stories to several magazines and in 1926 she applied to the Stratmeyer Syndicate. Stratemeyer was impressed by the portfolio Wirt sent in. She was offered the Ruth Fielding series (pseudonym Alice Emerson.) After meeting Edward Stratmeyer at her interview, she never spoke to him again. Ghost writers submitted their work through correspondence. She was paid $125 - $250 per book (equal to three months pay at her newspaper job.) She could not claim rights to her published works nor any pseudonym she wrote under. She wrote Ruth Fielding books until 1934 when Gossett and Dunlop canceled the series. She picked up two more series - Kay Tracy and The Dana Girls. She worked for the syndicate until the changes of the 1950s. When Gossett and Dunlop sued the syndicate Wirt refuted Harriet Stratmeyer Adams claims that Harriet wrote the most noted series of girl books.
Wirt was an early day girl power champion. Heroines - albeit ruled by syndicate regulations - relied on their wits to get them out of trouble ; no being rescued by a dreamy boy. But boys were part of the story, as allies and admirers. Her Kay Tracy series (pseudonym Francis K. Judd,) about a teen girl detective, began in 1934. Kay was a teenage sleuth attending high school. She faced interference from jealous classmate Ethel Eaton - the perfect moniker for a teen bitch. Kate has two friends and a boyfriend. She solved mysteries with the help of friends, but did little else. Wirt wrote volumes 3 through 12 and volume 14. Outlines were extremely detailed, making the writing somewhat abrupt. Kay Tracy was found to be a bit drab, but that is probably a result of the syndicate wanting to repeat the success of their most famous creation. But that teen sleuth was lightning-in-a-bottle one of a kind and any similar character seemed a pale imitator. Still, Kay Tracy lasted almost ten years, ending in 1942.
Another pale imitator was Wirt's third series for the syndicate, The Dana Girls (pseudonym Carolyn Keene.) Sisters Jean and Louise Dana solve mysteries near the boarding school where they reside. This time around the protagonists were orphans - they are looked after by a sea captain uncle and his sister, their spinster aunt, and a maid. Louise, dark haired, 17 is more serious than 16 year old fair "gay-hearted" Jean. The girls face off against a nemesis / hench girl duo - Lettie Briggs and Ina Mason. Wirt did not enjoy writing the series, and lack of enthusiasm shone through. Though lasting from 1934 to 1979 the series never really sparked with readers.
Even though other girl characters would never reach the heights of the most famous syndicate success, they set a presidence for teen girl Y A lit. Female readers found sharp, smart girls who earned the co-operation and respect of the adults in their lives. Adult supported their crime solving, but intervened only when necessary. Away at boarding school the Dana sisters could be themselves without pressure to be what parents or guardians wanted them to be. Marriage was most certainly not an aspiration to these young girls. They were admired for their intellect, which few past literary girls had been. Both series ran their course and were discontinued due to the depression and the onset of World War II. Times were tough, there was only room for one teen sleuth heroine.
ARTICLES :
Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. Wikipedia.
Mildred Wirt Benson. Wikipedia.
Kay Tracey. Wikipedia.
The Dana Girls. Wikipedia.
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