death_place death_date birth_place birth_date genre article_title name occupation
toledo , ohio , united states 28 may 2002 ladora , iowa , united states 10 july 1905 children 's books mildred benson
 mildred wirt benson author
mildred benson

mildred augustine wirt benson -lrb- july 10 , 1905 -- may 28 , 2002 -rrb- was an american journalist and author of children 's books , in particular the earliest nancy drew mysteries .
writing under stratemeyer syndicate pen name carolyn keene from 1929 to 1947 , she contributed to 23 of the first 30 originally published nancy drew mysteries .
while she wrote scores of books under her own and many other names , she is perhaps best known as one of 28 individuals who helped produce the nancy drew books .
edward stratemeyer hired mildred benson in 1926 to assist in expanding his roughly drafted stories in order to satisfy increasing demand for his series .
benson was born mildred augustine in ladora , iowa to lillian and dr. j. l. augustine .
she married asa wirt , who worked for associated press , and , after wirt 's death in 1947 , married george a. benson , editor of the `` toledo blade '' newspaper of toledo , ohio three years later ; he died in 1959 .
she earned her degree in english from the university of iowa in 1925 , returned and earned her master 's degree in journalism in 1927 , the first student to do so there .
she worked for 58 years as a journalist , writing a weekly column for the `` toledo blade '' and continuing to work full-time -lrb- mostly writing obituaries -rrb- until a few months before her death , from lung cancer , in 2002 at the age of 96 .
published book rights for the nancy drew series were owned by the stratemeyer syndicate and are currently owned by simon & schuster .
as with all syndicate ghostwriters , benson was paid a flat fee of $ 125 to $ 250 for each stratemeyer-outlined text , the equivalent of three months ' pay for a newspaper reporter at that time .
at edward stratemeyer 's death , under the terms of his will , all syndicate ghostwriters , including benson , were sent one fifth of the equivalent of the royalties the syndicate had received for each book series to which they had contributed .
as with all syndicate ghostwriters , under the terms of her contract , benson signed away all rights to her texts and any claim to the syndicate pen name , carolyn keene .
she was , however , permitted to reveal that she wrote for the syndicate .
the stratemeyers protected their syndicate pen names to preserve series continuity as contributors to the series came and went .
simon & schuster currently maintain the same system .
the character of nancy drew was conceived by stratemeyer , who provided wirt with index card thumbnail sketches .
wirt was the first ghostwriter to expand edward 's roughly-drafted nancy drew plots , writing the first five books .
texts were then edited and rewritten as required , and the syndicate approved and had all final books published under the syndicate 's name .
subsequent nancy drew stories -lrb- with some exceptions -rrb- , for which wirt provided text , were all re-written by edna stratemeyer squier and , primarily , harriet stratemeyer adams , after their father 's death in 1930 .
however , in 1980 , benson 's testimony , which she offered in a court case involving the publishers , revealed her identity to the public as a contributor to the nancy drew mystery stories .
with only this , and without access to the stratemeyer syndicate archives now held at the new york public library , the public presumed that she had a primary authorship claim to the nancy drew stories and pen name carolyn keene , who also `` wrote '' `` the dana girls '' series .
in 2001 , benson received a special edgar award from the mystery writers of america for her contributions to the nancy drew series .
benson 's favorite nancy drew story was `` the hidden staircase '' , the second mystery in the series .
benson also wrote many other series , including the penny parker books , which were published under her own name and which she told interviewers were her favorites .
they were the adventures of a young newspaper reporter , and benson herself continued writing for newspapers until her death .
she wrote under a dozen names and published more than 130 books , according to the mildred wirt benson works page at nancydrewsleuth.com one unusual series was the cluster of four `` ruth darrow '' stories -lrb- 1930-1931 -rrb- .
written as `` mildred wirt , '' the books relate the adventures of an air-minded young woman of the era .
taking flying lessons and flying her own aircraft , ruth wins a national cross-country race , lands on an aircraft carrier , helps the forest service in fighting forest fires , and alerting the coast guard to an immigrant-smuggling scheme .
the aeronautical lore in the books is generally authentic , but the series ' greatest strength is is consistent and outspoken advocacy of women 's abilities and mechanical competence .
