Special Collections Curator JoyEllen Williams and the Kennesaw State Bentley Rare Book Museum enlightened students and faculty on the history of ghostwriting behind popular teen thrillers novels “Hardy Boys” and “Nancy Drew” Wednesday, Feb. 26.
Curator and Emeritus Robert Williams revealed to JoyEllen Williams that the names “Carolyn Kline” and “Franklin W. Dixon” — the authors printed on the books — were misnomers. The books were written by a collective of ghostwriters called the Stratemeyer Syndicate.
“She couldn’t believe the news,” Robert Williams said. “She decided to create this open house event to let people know and get interested in the books.”
Junior history major Camilla Stegall was just as shocked as JoyEllen Williams when she found out about the Stratemeyer Syndicate. She knew of the thriller novels but did not learn about the syndicate until the event.
“Apparently, the editors would create outlines for the ghostwriters and then they would take turns writing the stories,” Stegall said. “I had no idea, but now that I’ve attended the event, I have learned so much about it.”
“The Hardy Boys” series was written first under the syndicate in the early 1900s and the female counterpart “Nancy Drew” series was published in the 1930s shortly after, according to The Atlantic.
“These were stories for young boys that told them to work hard and secure comfort through working hard,” Robert Williams said. “Women also wanted this narrative as well at the time.”
Though most of their books were wildly popular through the 1960s, the Stratemeyer Syndicate had their own mystery to solve when they realized their literature needed to be revised to accommodate the changing culture of the U.S.
“Women were often at home during this time and this was the norm. Women now are much more independent,” Robert Williams said. “In the books women are solving problems, investigating and going out on adventures. The books teach readers the joy of independent reading and exploring these scenarios on your mind.”
Junior nursing major Andrew Harvey said he enjoyed the exhibits and attended multiple events. He liked each event because he had a chance to view texts no longer accessible to the public.
“The exhibits allow you to see books that are now extremely uncommon,” Harvey said. “My favorite out of the events was the Autobahn collection.”
JoyEllen Williams also wanted to encourage students, faculty and fellow rare book collectors to understand the value of physical books and how much joy a person can get just from examining books and capturing a piece of history through the pages.
“So many of our books now are e-books,” JoyEllen Williams said. “Our exhibits allow people to really look at texts and engage with them.”
The Bentley Rare Book Museum hosts open house events each Wednesday and Thursday, and the rare book selection changes weekly.
The next event, titled “Women Writers,” will be held Thursday, March 5 in the Sturgis Library on the Kennesaw campus and provides a glimpse into the world of writing through the female lens.
