Nancy Drew is the “girl sleuth” who captured the hearts of millions of readers since the “breeder set” hit store shelves in 1930. Since then, we have seen the character revamped for new readers over the decades by multiple ghostwriters who make up Carolyn Keene’s moniker. For nearly a century, images of Nancy Drew have graced the covers of books, board game boxes, and computer game cases. We have seen Nancy Drew on both the big and small screens as new films (such as Andrew Fleming’s 2007 Nancy Drew film) and television shows (starting with 1977’s The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries), to reach new audiences and appeal to those who are already familiar with the character.
Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, created multiple book series aimed at children and adolescents. A few of his titles and characters saw brief resurgences in print, like Laura Lee Hope’s The Bobbsey Twins series or, more famously, Franklin W. Dixon’s The Hardy Boys series, which saw more issues and reincarnations in print than the former and also saw screen representations.
What made Nancy Drew so special that this character of children’s literature has bridged the generational gap between so much of American girlhood and adolescence? Stuart Hall’s circuit of culture, as explored in Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman, frames a perfect lens to examine Nancy Drew as a pop culture icon and her impact on American girlhood.
Nancy Drew: Table of Contents
Nancy Drew Traversing the Circuit of Culture
Stuart Hall’s theories apply what he calls a “circuit of culture”, a method, in this case, to examine the Sony Walkman as a cultural artifact. As explained in the introduction to Doing Cultural Studies, the circuit of culture is depicted as a circle with five distinct points connected along its circumference, and these points are interconnected with one another across the circle.
Since the circuit is closed, there is no true beginning or end, and all parts tend to overlap. Therefore, one can start one’s research into a topic on any point of the circle, “as you have to go the whole way round before your study is complete” and “each part of the circuit is taken up and reappears in the next part” meaning that the interconnectedness of the points on the circle will “continually overlap and intertwine in complex and contingent ways” (du Gay).
Nancy Drew, as a character and, more importantly, as a pop culture icon, is a cultural artifact similar to the Sony Walkman. Since a starting point on the circuit doesn’t matter, I begin with representation and work around the circle to examine the other points: identity, production, consumption, and finally, regulation.
In Doing Cultural Studies, Du Gay writes, “representation is defined as ‘the practice of constructing meaning through the use of signs and language.” The way we construct meanings for new objects is dependent on our previous knowledge of related objects. In this case, the object is American girlhood and how Nancy Drew was represented to readers. Using this definition, ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson originally constructed the Nancy Drew character from the initial outlines sent to her by Edward Stratemeyer, drawing from her own life experiences, as well as what she wished she had experienced, as an American girl in the early 20th century.
Mildred Wirt, already a ghostwriter for the Ruth Fielding series, was chosen by Stratemeyer to write a new series of stories for girls, as the syndicate primarily produced titles for boys. This series needed a character who could stand alone and “dominate the page”. Stratemeyer sent his ideas for the new series, along with the author’s pen name, to his editors.
Grosset & Dunlap publishing house responded to Stratemeyer with good news: they wanted the new series and the girl detective, but they did want to make some changes. First, they changed the character’s name, a few of the proposed titles, and the pseudonym. With the publishing house on board, Stratemeyer conveyed the news to Wirt—Carolyn Keene and Nancy Drew were ready to go. (Rehak)
With four weeks to write each initial title from the provided outline, Wirt concentrated on creating the character that would become Nancy Drew. Nancy had to be different from the typical heroines found in mass-produced fiction for girls. While the character was not exclusively based on any known individual, Wirt made the conscious decision to create Nancy Drew with “all the qualities [she] [was] lacking.
Nancy Drew “was good-looking, had an oversupply of college dates, and enjoyed great personal freedom” (Benson). The character’s popularity hinged on the fact that the author created her to “personif[y] the dream image which exists within most teenagers” (Benson). Combine Nancy Drew’s appearance with her athletic and intellectual acumen, and she “might rate as a pioneer of Women’s Lib” (Benson 62).
Indeed, according to Wirt, Nancy Drew was an “assertive young woman who didn’t hesitate to oppose or contradict adults. Thanks to the strength of the character she created, the seven novels Wirt didn’t pen, and Nancy Drew remained the same “self-possessed and autonomous heroine.”
Harriet Adams’ Reined-in Era
Mildred Wirt ended her turn as a Carolyn Keene pseudonym in 1953. Stratemeyer’s daughter, Harriet Adams, claimed to have picked up the moniker for the 1959 rerelease and rewrites of the original Nancy Drew titles. With that change in authorship, we see a change in how Nancy is represented to readers by the “new” Carolyn Keene.
This Nancy Drew was still just as active and independent, “but she became more group-oriented and less autonomous, more deferential to adults (particularly men in uniforms), and less assertive or defiant,” resembling more closely the “1950s mass culture” of femininity (Nash). In other words, Adams grew up with her father’s conservative views of women and girlhood. She, too, believed that women were expected to marry and eventually become mothers. This contrasted with Mildred Wirt’s depiction of Nancy Drew, in that Wirt believed women were equal to men, should be independent, and should have the opportunity to work for a living (Plunkett-Powell).
In terms of cultural studies and, by extension, product placement, advertising plays a key role in establishing a product’s identity. Indeed, this is where representation and identity overlap. If representation is the construction of meaning through the use of signs and language, then identity, or identification, is the relationship between the consumer and the meanings constructed by representational practice (du Gay). A product doesn’t have meaning until a meaning is given to it, first by advertisers and then by consumers.
Typically, I would treat a character in an analysis as if that character were, in fact, a living, breathing person that could walk among us; however, Nancy Drew, as a symbol of American girlhood, is a product that was meant to appeal to almost every adolescent American girl who could see themselves as the girl detective. We see this “product” as we look to new incarnations of the girl detective.
American girls in the late 19th and early 20th centuries gradually became more modernized and demanded more freedom. These “girls expressed a growing desire to lead a modern life”, and they “did not wear frumpy and constricting clothes” or “sit at home or accept a gender-segregated world” (Mintz). Edward Stratemeyer was right. There was a definite need for a new girls’ series aimed at teenagers, featuring a teenage girl who represented this new identity of American girlhood.
As previously stated, Mildred Wirt Benson brought to life a spunky 16-year-old, blue roadster-driving Nancy Drew, while Harriet Stratemeyer Adams rewrote and refined Nancy into a less “mouthy”, less independent blue convertible-driving 18-year-old Nancy Drew. Both Carolyn Keenes captured shifting ideals of American girlhood, but what happens when those ideals change? Should this character of 90 years be dismissed, or should she find a new place in the new idea of American girlhood?
Nancy Drew For Two Age Groups
After Harriet Stratemeyer Adams’ passing, there ceased to be a new Carolyn Keene until the mid-1980s, when Simon & Schuster acquired the remaining Stratemeyer Syndicate catalog. Nancy Drew was still popular, but readers’ ages were shifting. Younger girls were drawn to the character, while older girls gravitated to other, more adult offerings.
Instead of catering to one age group or the other, Simon & Schuster offered Nancy Drew mysteries to both sets of readers. They maintained the same book format for the “classic series” with new cover designs and stories, all featuring the same type of mystery, but then introduced a new series for the “young adult” reader.
This new printing was a “smaller, adult-size paperback”, allowing a more comprehensive distribution range and more accommodating store shelf space. The cover style became more sophisticated, showing Nancy Drew up close with “an action or danger scene and a guy behind her.” The stories, like Nancy and these young adult readers, would have to grow up and experience more aspects of adult life, like romantic relationships and “hormones” (Greenberg).
Production is a fascinating aspect of the cultural circuit. We can’t think of production only in terms of how an object is produced or created. We must think of production as how an object is “produced culturally” and how that same object is “culturally produced”.
When examining how an object is produced culturally, we must consider “how [an object] is made meaningful,” which brings us back to finding meaning in a cultural artifact through representation and how that meaning establishes an identity with the consumer. When looking at the culturally produced product, we acknowledge “the ways in which practices of production are inscribed with particular cultural meanings” (du Gay).
The production of the Stratemeyer Syndicate stories was both simple and time-consuming, as the ghostwriters were spread across the country. After Edward Stratemeyer’s success with the Rover Boys series, he discovered that he could not keep up with the demand of writing all the different stories he had in mind. He realized he needed help and began the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1905.
Stratemeyer outlined stories, penned brief synopses of the plot with proposed character names and titles, and selected ghostwriters working for the syndicate to take on the stories under the provided pseudonym. Then, he mailed each writer the proposed job, and the writers sent back responses and began to work. Each story had a formula that the writers adhered to, yet they mostly had creative freedom in character creation and the progression of the plot from beginning to end.
Part of the contract for production required writers to sign away their rights to the written work, and they were paid a flat rate for each book. The authors had no rights to the work or the royalties from sales, which allowed the Stratemeyer Syndicate to keep prices low for their children’s series of books. Stratemeyer “negotiated with the publisher, Grosset & Dunlap, a selling price of fifty cents apiece to keep the books affordable for young readers” (Rubini).
Keeping the prices low was important since books were considered a luxury item, and in the 1930s, when Nancy Drew hit the shelves, it was even more imperative that the books remained affordable amid the Great Depression if the series were to survive. Due to the Great Depression and the ratification of the 19th Amendment nearly a decade earlier, young female readers were yearning for a strong, independent heroine who could take care of herself, get herself out of trouble, and solve whatever mystery was at hand to set the world right again. Because of the threefold nature of production, its relationship in the circuit of culture is not only intertwined with representation and identity; it’s also closely related to the last two pieces of the circuit: consumption and regulation.
Cultural consumption implies more than the purchase of an object that has been produced. As previous points on the circuit show, “meaning-making is an ongoing process”, and points along and across the circular circuit overlap (du Gay). The same goes for consumption. Regarding product creation and introduction to the public, product producers use advertising to connect with buyers or consumers. The end goal isn’t always sales of a product but the meaningful relationship the product has with the consumer.
Nancy Drew’s Longevity
As a product, Nancy Drew, and by extension, ideals of American girlhood, remains as marketable as ever. Her marketability does not reflect product sales. Her name and image can sell films and television shows thanks to the relationship the character has had with her fans and readers over the last 90 years.
The stories associated with the character promise readers a dream and inspiration. Nancy Drew emerged when girls sought heroines who could do anything, go anywhere, and be whoever they wanted to be. She was stylish and everything girls wanted to be; however, some felt Nancy Drew was not as valuable to art as a commodity.
Regulation isn’t as self-explanatory as one might think. Yes, regulation implies rules; however, culturally speaking, we must examine the rules and how they impact and are influenced by the product, the enforcement of the rules, and who creates and enforces them.
The rules for fiction are simple. Novels and/or short stories belong to two different classes of literature—cultural literature and commercial literature—and according to literary critics who look down on commercialized literature, readers should read novels and stories that prove to have some “literary merit” (Haugland).
In many ways, the Nancy Drew book series was considered the epitome of commercialized literature. There were two regulatory issues with the Nancy Drew series. One, the syndicate had been in the children’s literature circle for over 20 years when the Nancy Drew series began to be published. Stratemeyer ensured that book prices would remain reasonable at 50 cents per book, a presumed fee children with allowances could afford, so that adults were never required to participate in the transaction.
Second, these books were mass-produced and created by “a businessman with a good eye for the market” who hired ghostwriters to bring his ideas to fruition using formulaic plots (Haugland). These books were relatively inexpensive and of poor quality, meaning they could not possibly make any significant cultural contribution.
Suppose we substitute educational value for cultural contribution, and then we have one set of rules governing the production and distribution of children’s literature. Literary critics may be the “cultural gatekeepers” dictating high and low literature for adults; however, educators, librarians, and publishers who do their bidding are the gatekeepers of children’s literature.
The educator/ librarian rule for “good children’s literature” was that it “be innovative, unusual, reflective of an author’s unique aesthetic vision and definitely not ‘formulaic’” (Haugland). By this regulation, the Nancy Drew books could not be defined as good literature, let alone high art or culture, because they were indeed formulaic and “commercial books, mass-market commercial commodities, whose popularity threatens good literature” (Haugland).
As times have changed, Nancy Drew books can be found in school and public libraries. The “cultural gatekeepers” now see these books as “necessary first rungs on a cultural ladder” that can eventually lead readers to more “serious literary works” (Haugland). Literary critic Catharine Stimpson instead “proposes a category of books based not on aesthetic standards but on love” because sometimes “books are valued because they connect with our lives in some important way; they affirm the choices we have made in our lives, or they help give us the courage to make changes” (Haugland). Stimpson’s philosophy closes the cultural circuit, as the regulation of the Nancy Drew titles overlaps with the representation and identity of Nancy Drew as a character.
The representation and identity of Nancy Drew continue to inspire and shape American girlhood by providing younger and older readers with a sense of empowerment. Intelligent, independent female characters are still needed as role models for girls who may not have access to women in their lives who exhibit the qualities of Nancy Drew.
The production and consumption aspects of the character are still the same. New ghostwriters take on the role of Carolyn Keene and continue the character’s legacy with the same personality traits Mildred Wirt initially gave the character in 1929, when she began writing the Nancy Drew series. She made the character sufficiently descriptive to create an image in readers’ minds, yet nondescript enough so that every girl could imagine herself as Nancy.
The price point may be more than 50 cents per title in 2025, but at $7.99 per title, or even $12.99 for a “breeder set”, it is not so outlandish that readers cannot grow their personal libraries. Now that the scope of children’s literature has changed to include mass-produced, commercial literature in schools and on library shelves, there are no more “cultural gatekeepers”. The only regulatory hurdle children face is the opportunity to experience these books.
Mildred Wirt Benson said it best: “‘Over the years, Nancy may change in appearance and living style, but for early readers or those who discover her for the first time, she should forever remain the same—every girl’s challenge and dream for a better future’” (Tarbox ).
Works Cited
Benson, Mildred Wirt. “Fulfilling a Quest for Adventure”. Rediscovering Nancy Drew. Eds Caroline Stewart Dyer and Nancy Tillman Romalov. University of Iowa Press. April 1996.
Du Gay, Paul, et. al. Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman. SAGE Publications. May 2013.
Greenberg, Anne. “Fashioning the New Nancy Drews.” Rediscovering Nancy Drew. Eds. Caroline Stewart Dyer and Nancy Tillman Romalov. University of Iowa Press. April 1996.
Haugland, Ann. Haugland, Ann. “The Crack in the Old Canon: Culture and Commerce in Children’s Books”, The Lion and the Unicorn. Vol. 18, No. 1. Project MUSE. 1994.
Mintz, Steven. Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood. Harvard University Press. April 2006.
Nash, Ilena. American Sweethearts: Teenage Girls in Twentieth-Century Popular Culture. Indiana University Press. November 2005.
Plunkett-Powell, Karen. The Nancy Drew Scrapbook: 60 Years of America’s Favorite Teenage Sleuth. St. Martin’s Press. 1993.
Rubini, Julie K. Missing Millie Benson: The Secret Case of the Nancy Drew Ghostwriter and Journalist (Biographies for Young Readers). Ohio University Press. September 2015.
Rehak, Melanie. Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her. Mariner. September 2006.
Tarbox, Gwen Athene. The Clubwomen’s Daughters: Collectivist Impulses in Progressive Era Girl’s Fiction, 1890-1940. Routledge University Press. 2000.