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. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

and founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. He is one of the most prolific writers in the world, having penned over 1,300 booksOmnibus II (2005). Veritas Press. p. 148. and selling more than 500 million copies. Stratemeyer created many well-known children's fiction

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 publ ...

, including The Rover Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, The Hardy Boys and

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudo ...

, many of which sold millions of copies and remain in publication. On his legacy, ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

'' 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 (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.tobacconist, and Anna Siegel. They were both from Hanover, Germany, immigrating to the United States in 1837. The siblings were educated in English and spoke it to each other. Growing up, Stratemeyer read the works of Horatio Alger and William T. Adams, writers who penned rags-to-riches tales of the hardworking young American, which 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 printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

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. At the age of 26, he sold his first story, ''Victor Horton's Idea'', to the children's magazine ''Golden Days'' for $76, over six times the average 1888 weekly paycheck.

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)'' (University of Oklahoma 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 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 American 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 form ...

. ''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

Stratemeyer 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. 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 spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

, Lake George and

Lake Champlain Lake Champlain ( ; , ) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec. The cities of Burlington, Ve ...

with his family. They traveled as far as the west coast and

Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is a national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service ...

. 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 were warm and Harriet recalled 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, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

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

Stratemeyer pioneered the book-packaging 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 w ...

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, founded in 1906, Stratemeyer employed a massive number of editors, copy writers, stenographers, cowriters and

secretaries A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, Personal assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project manageme ...

. They greatly contributed to a new genre of juvenile fiction and helped launch several series, including * (1899) '' The Rover Boys'' * (1904) '' The Bobbsey Twins'' * (1905) ''Dave Porter'' * (1910) '' Tom Swift'' * (1912) '' Baseball Joe'' * (1927) '' The Hardy Boys'' * (1930) ''

'' * (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 ...

Fictional depictions

Edward Stratemeyer appears in the television series ''

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'' (sometimes referred to as ''Young Indy'') is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 4, 1992, to July 24, 1993. Filming took place in various locations around the world, with "Old Indy" ...

''. In the series, Stratemeyer is the father of the fictional Nancy Stratemeyer, who dates

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Indiana Jones (character), Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, ...

in high school. Indiana is a fan of Tom Swift and gives Stratemeyer advice for one of his stories.

References

External links

*
Stratemeyer.org
a

fansite A fansite, fan site, fan blog or fan page is a website created and maintained by a fan of or devotee to a celebrity, thing, or particular cultural phenomenon. Fansites may offer specialized information on the subject (e.g., episode listings, ...

on the Stratemeyer Syndicate * * * * (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 American publishers (people) 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American publishers (people) American children's writers American crime fiction writers American people of German descent Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Hillside, 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