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Edward L. Stratemeyer (; October 4, 1862 – May 10, 1930) was an American publisher, writer of
children's fiction Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...
, and founder of the
Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published ...
. He was one of the most prolific writers in the world, producing in excess of 1,300Omnibus II (2005). Veritas Press. p. 148. books himself, selling in excess of 500 million copies. He also created many well-known fictional
book series A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their pub ...
for juveniles, including The Rover Boys, The Bobbsey Twins,
Tom Swift Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. First published in 1910, the series totals more than 100 volumes. The character was ...
,
The Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterp ...
, and
Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...
series, many of which sold millions of copies and remain in publication. On Stratemeyer's legacy, '' Fortune'' wrote: "As oil had its Rockefeller, literature had its Stratemeyer."


Early life

Stratemeyer was born the youngest of six children in
Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...
, to Henry Julius Stratemeyer, a tobacconist, and Anna Siegel. They were both from
Hanover, Germany Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, immigrating to the United States in 1837. Although they were German, he and his siblings were educated in English and spoke English to each other. Growing up, Edward read the likes of Horatio Alger and William T. Adams, writers who penned beloved rags-to-riches tales of the hardworking young American. These stories greatly influenced him. As a teenager, Stratemeyer operated his own
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...
in the basement of his father's tobacco shop, distributing flyers and pamphlets among his friends and family. These included stories called ''The Newsboy's Adventure'' and ''The Tale of a Lumberman''. After he graduated from high school, he went to work in his father's store. It wasn't until the age of 26 in 1888 that Stratemeyer sold his first story, ''Victor Horton's Idea'', to the popular children's magazine ''Golden Days'' for $76—over six times the average weekly paycheck at the time.


Career

Stratemeyer moved to Newark, New Jersey, in 1890 and opened a paper store. He ran his shop while continuing to write stories under pseudonyms. He was able to write for many genres including detective dime novels, westerns, and serials that ran in newspapers. In 1893, Stratemeyer hired the popular dime-novel writer Gilbert Patten, according to Patten's own autobiography, ''Frank Merriwell's 'Father': An Autobiography by Gilbert Patten (Burt L. Standish)'' (U OK Press 1964

Patten writes that he did not like Stratemeyer. (A less-reliable source says that Stratemeyer was hired by Patten to write as an editor for the
Street & Smith Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc. was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp magazine, pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting year ...
publication ''Good News''.) In 1894, he published his first full-length book, ''Richard Dare's Venture'', which was the first in his ''Bound to Succeed'' series. It contained autobiographical content and was similar to Alger's rags-to-riches story formula. In 1899, Horatio Alger wrote Stratemeyer as editor of the ''Good News'', asking him to finish one of his manuscripts. Alger was in poor health at the time. When Alger died later the same year, Stratemeyer continued to edit and finish several of Alger's other books. That same year, after Alger died, Stratemeyer wrote and published The Rover Boys, which became a tremendously popular series in the vein of the classic
dime novel The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...
. The Rover Boys was described as "The first highly successful series by Edward Stratemeyer; each volume had a preface from Edward Stratemeyer himself, thanking his readers and touting the other books. It's generally accepted that Stratemeyer wrote all of the books." He said this series was his personal favorite. Stratemeyer formed the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1905 and hired journalists to write stories based on his ideas. He paid them a flat rate for each book and kept the copyrights to the novels.


Personal life

He married Magdalena Van Camp, the daughter of a Newark businessman, on March 25, 1891. The couple had two daughters: Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (1892–1982) and Edna C. Squier (1895–1974), both of whom would later take over the future
Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published ...
. Stratemeyer enjoyed the outdoors and often took annual summer trips to the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five la ...
, Lake George, and
Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...
with his family. They traveled as far as the west coast and
Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...
. A humble man, he never sought public attention and preferred living a private and quiet life with his family at their home on N. 7th Street in the Roseville section of Newark. His relationships with his daughters was described as "warm", and his daughter Harriet recalled that it was a lively atmosphere growing up. Stratemeyer was a member of the Roseville Athletic Club and the New Jersey Historical Association. Stratemeyer died at age 67 in
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...
on May 10, 1930, of lobar pneumonia and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, New Jersey. On May 12, 1930, two days after his death, the ''New York Times'' reported that his Rover Boys series "had sales exceeding 5,000,000 copies."


Accomplishments

He pioneered the
book-packaging Book packaging (or book producing) is a publishing activity in which a publishing company outsources the myriad tasks involved in putting together a book—writing, researching, editing, illustrating, and even printing—to an outside company calle ...
technique of producing a consistent, long-running series of books using a team of
freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance ...
writers. All of the books in the series used the same characters in similar situations. All of the freelance writers, including Mildred Benson, who developed the character of Nancy Drew, were published under a pen name owned by his company. Through his
Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published ...
, founded in 1906, Stratemeyer employed a massive number of editors, copy writers, stenographers, co-authors, and secretaries. With their help, he greatly contributed to a new genre of juvenile fiction. He was responsible for launching several series including * (1899) '' The Rover Boys'' * (1904) '' The Bobbsey Twins'' * (1905) ''Dave Porter'' * (1910) ''
Tom Swift Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. First published in 1910, the series totals more than 100 volumes. The character was ...
'' * (1912) '' Baseball Joe'' * (1927) ''
The Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterp ...
'' * (1930) ''
Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...
'' * (1934) ''
The Dana Girls The Dana Girls was a series of young adult mystery novels produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The title heroines, Jean and Louise Dana, are teenage sisters and amateur detectives who solve mysteries while at boarding school. The series was cr ...
''


Fictional depictions

* Edward Stratemeyer appears in the television series '' The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles''. In the series, Stratemeyer is the father of the fictional Nancy Stratemeyer ( Robyn Lively), who dates
Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film ''Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' The ...
in high school. Indiana is shown to be a big fan of Tom Swift, and gives Stratemeyer advice for one of his stories.


See also

* List of children's literature authors * List of people from New Jersey * List of people from New York City * List of publishers


References


Further reading

* Loh, Sandra Tsing (October 2005)
"The Secret of the Old SawNancy Drew Has Two Mommies"
''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' Retrieved February 11, 2012. (A book review Melanie Rehak's ''Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her''. Orlando, Florida:
Harcourt Harcourt may refer to: People *Harcourt (surname) * Harcourt (given name) Places Canada *Harcourt Parish, New Brunswick * Harcourt, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community * Harcourt, Ontario, a village *Harcourt, Newfoundland and Labrad ...
. * Rehak, Melanie ''Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her'' (2005). Orlando, Florida:
Harcourt Harcourt may refer to: People *Harcourt (surname) * Harcourt (given name) Places Canada *Harcourt Parish, New Brunswick * Harcourt, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community * Harcourt, Ontario, a village *Harcourt, Newfoundland and Labrad ...
. .) *


External links

*
Stratemeyer.org
a
fansite A fansite, fan site, fan blog or fan page is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee about a celebrity, thing, or particular cultural phenomenon. Fansites may offer specialized information on the subject (e.g., episode listings, ...
on the
Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published ...
* * * * (writing as Arthur M. Winfield) * (writing as captain Quincy Allen) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stratemeyer, Edward Place of death missing 1862 births 1930 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American novelists 19th-century publishers (people) 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American novelists 20th-century publishers (people) American children's writers American crime fiction writers American publishers (people) American people of German descent Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Hillside, New Jersey) Businesspeople from New Jersey Businesspeople from New York City Writers from Elizabeth, New Jersey Pulp fiction writers Stratemeyer Syndicate Writers from New York City American male novelists 19th-century American male writers Businesspeople from Elizabeth, New Jersey Dime novelists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Novelists from New Jersey 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers