{{Short description|American novelist (1892–1982)}} {{about||the American explorer|Harriet Chalmers Adams|the British artist, scientific illustrator, and author|Harriet Isabel Adams}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> | image = Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.jpg | name = Harriet Adams | birth_name = Harriet Stratemeyer | birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|12|12}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1982|3|27|1892|12|12}} | birth_place = [[Newark, New Jersey]], U.S. | death_place = [[Tewksbury Township, New Jersey]], U.S. | occupation = [[Novelist]], [[publisher]] | genre = [[Young adult fiction|Young adult]] [[mystery fiction]] | pseudonym = Carolyn Keene | notableworks = [[Nancy Drew]] series | influences = | influenced = | spouse = {{marriage|Russell Vroom Adams|1915}} | children = Russell V., Jr. and Edward (sons)<br>Patricia and Camilla (daughters) | parents = [[Edward Stratemeyer]]<br/>Magdalena Van Camp }} '''Harriet Stratemeyer Adams''' (December 12, 1892 – March 27, 1982) was an American juvenile [[book packager]], children's [[novelist]], and [[publisher]] who was responsible for some 200 books over her literary career. She wrote the plot outlines for many books in the [[Nancy Drew]] series, using characters invented by her father, [[Edward Stratemeyer]]. Adams also oversaw other [[ghostwriter]]s who wrote for these and many other series as a part of the [[Stratemeyer Syndicate]], and oversaw the rewriting of many of the novels to update them starting in the late 1950s.
==Stratemeyer Syndicate== With her sister, Edna, Adams took over control of the [[Stratemeyer Syndicate]] after her father [[Edward Stratemeyer]]'s death in 1930.<ref name=morgan>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Morgan|first=Barbara|title=Adams, Harriet Stratemeyer|pages=49–51|volume=1|editor=Commire, Anne|encyclopedia=[[Women in World History|Women in World History: A biographical encyclopedia]]|year=1999|publisher=Yorkin Publications, Gale Group|location=Waterford, CT|isbn=0787640808}}</ref> Edna ran the daily business operations, while Adams dealt with publishers and wrote; Edna became inactive when she married in 1942, and Adams took over the business.<ref name=morgan/> Adams is credited with keeping the Syndicate afloat through the [[Great Depression]], and with revising the two most popular series, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, in the 1950s and 1960s, removing stereotypes and streamlining plots and characters. She ran the Syndicate for 52 years.<ref name=morgan/>
==Role in Nancy Drew series== The extremely popular [[Nancy Drew]] books were the brainchild of Adams's father, who created the characters of a sixteen-year-old sleuth, her lawyer father, and their housekeeper. Later, Nancy's age was increased to eighteen to give her more independence. Adams came up with plot ideas and hired ghostwriters to flesh them out. The best-known books were written primarily by [[Mildred Wirt Benson]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/30/books/mildred-benson-is-dead-at-96-wrote-23-nancy-drew-books.html|title=Mildred Benson Is Dead at 96; Wrote 23 Nancy Drew Books|first=Douglas|last=Martin|newspaper=The New York Times|date=30 May 2002}}</ref> though all were published under the pseudonym [[Carolyn Keene]]. Adams outlined a few in the [[Hardy Boys]] series, which were published under the pseudonym [[Franklin W. Dixon]]. Although Adams claimed to write all the Nancy Drew books entirely by herself during her lifetime, it is well established that Wirt and 28 other authors did the actual writing, following Adams's ideas and embellishing on them. Adams touched up the completed manuscripts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Benfer |first=Amy |date=1999-10-08 |title=Who was Carolyn Keene? |url=https://www.salon.com/1999/10/08/keene_q_a/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ogshare&utm_content=og |access-date=2025-11-11 |website=Salon.com |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Personal life== Harriet Stratemeyer was born in [[Newark, New Jersey]], on December 12, 1892, the daughter of [[Edward Stratemeyer]] and Magdalena Van Camp.<ref>Melanie Rehack, ''Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her'' (Harvest-Harcourt, 2006), p. 12.</ref> At a young age, Adams wanted to break free from being a "proper, young lady who should stay at home". She climbed trees, made friends with local boys, and loved books from an early age. Adams graduated from [[Wellesley College]] in 1914. Her father forbade her to work outside the estate, so she edited manuscripts at home.<ref name=morgan/> In 1915, she married Russell Vroom Adams, and raised four children, becoming involved in the family business only after her father's death.<ref name=morgan/> She resided in [[Maplewood, New Jersey]], and in [[Pottersville, New Jersey]], an area within [[Tewksbury Township, New Jersey|Tewksbury Township]].<ref name=NYT>Chira, Susan. [https://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F10C14F83F5D0C7A8EDDAA0894DA484D81 "Harriet Adams Dies. Nancy Drew Author Wrote Over 200 Novels"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 29, 1982. Accessed October 7, 2007. "Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, who wrote nearly 200 children's books including many of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series, died Saturday evening. She was 89 years old, and lived in Pottersville and Maplewood, N.J."</ref> She lived in Pottersville at her estate, Bird Haven New Jersey and died of a heart attack while watching ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' for the first time.<ref name=SI>{{cite web|title=Bird Haven Farm 2006.|url=http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!siarchives&uri=full=3100001~!270707~!0#focus|work=Garden Club of America Collection|publisher=[[Smithsonian Gardens]], [[Smithsonian Institution]]|access-date=8 January 2013}}</ref>
Adams was [[interred]] in the Stratemeyer crypt<ref>Resting Places: The Burial Sites of 14000 Famous Persons, by Scott Wilson</ref> in [[Fairmount Cemetery, Newark|Fairmount Cemetery]] in Newark.<ref>[https://www.fairmountcemetery.com/history.php Fairmount Cemetery]</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Billman, Carol. ''The Secret of the Stratemeyer Syndicate''. New York: Ungar, 1986.
== External links == * [http://womenshistory.about.com/library/weekly/ucnancydrew2a.htm Biography by Stratemeyer's granddaughter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719011728/http://womenshistory.about.com/library/weekly/ucnancydrew2a.htm |date=2008-07-19 }} * {{LCAuth|n83169423|Harriet Stratemeyer Adams||}} (no catalog records, but 746 under the linked name Carolyn Keene) * {{iblist name|id=2616|name=Harriet Adams}} * {{ibdof name|id=2364|name=Harriet Adams}} * [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/30/books/mildred-benson-is-dead-at-96-wrote-23-nancy-drew-books.html Mildred Wirt Benson's obituary] * [https://archive.today/20130114003734/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1038791 BBC.co.uk - Franklin W. Dixon] * {{Find a Grave|14302158}}
{{Nancy Drew}} {{Hardy Boys}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Harriet}} [[Category:1892 births]] [[Category:1982 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American novelists]] [[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]] [[Category:American children's writers]] [[Category:American mystery novelists]] [[Category:American women children's writers]] [[Category:20th-century American women novelists]] [[Category:Book packagers]] [[Category:Burials at Fairmount Cemetery (Newark, New Jersey)]] [[Category:Novelists from New Jersey]] [[Category:Writers from Maplewood, New Jersey]] [[Category:People from Tewksbury Township, New Jersey]] [[Category:20th-century pseudonymous women writers]] [[Category:Stratemeyer Syndicate]] [[Category:Wellesley College alumni]] [[Category:American women mystery writers]] [[Category:Writers from Newark, New Jersey]] [[Category:Writers from Hunterdon County, New Jersey]]