Harriet Adams
Harriet Stratemeyer Adams was an American juvenile book packager, children's novelist, publisher, 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 oversaw other ghostwriters who wrote for these and many other series as a part of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, rewrote many of the novels to update them starting in the late 1950s. With her sister, Adams took over control of the Stratemeyer Syndicate after her father Edward Stratemeyer's death in 1930. Edna ran the daily business operations, while Adams wrote. Adams is credited with keeping the Syndicate afloat through the Great Depression, 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. The popular Nancy Drew books were the brainchild of Adams's father, who created the characters of a sixteen-year-old sleuth, her lawyer father, their housekeeper.
Nancy's age was increased to eighteen to give her more independence. Adams hired ghostwriters to flesh them out; the best-known books were written by Mildred Wirt Benson, all 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 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. Harriet Stratemeyer was born in Newark, New Jersey, on December 12, 1892, the daughter of Edward Stratemeyer and Magdalena Van Camp. 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, 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.
In 1915, she married Russell Vroom Adams, raised four children, becoming involved in the family business only after her father's death. She resided in Maplewood, New Jersey, in Pottersville, New Jersey, an area within Tewksbury Township, she lived in Pottersville at her estate, Bird Haven New Jersey and died from a fatal heart attack while watching The Wizard of Oz for the first time. Adams was interred in Fairmount Cemetery in Newark. Billman, Carol; the Secret of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. New York: Ungar, 1986. Biography by Stratemeyer's granddaughter Harriet Adams at the Internet Book List Harriet Adams at the Internet Book Database of Fiction Mildred Wirt Benson's obituary BBC.co.uk - Franklin W. Dixon
The Secret at Shadow Ranch
The Secret at Shadow Ranch is the fifth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1931 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, was ghostwritten by Mildred Wirt Benson; this book, as of 2001, ranks 50 on the list of All-Time Bestselling Children's Books, according to Publishers Weekly, with 2,347,750 sales since 1931. In this book, you are introduced to Nancy's best friends, Elizabeth "Bess" Marvin and George Fayne, complete opposites. George is a brave, sporty tomboy, while Bess is a girly, scaredycat. One of Bess and George's cousins, Alice Regor, travel with Nancy to their Aunt and Uncle's ranch in Arizona where the cousins' aunt attempts to keep up a ranch she received as payment of a debt. Nancy reunites Alice with her long-lost artist father, suffering from amnesia, she uncovers the mystery behind why an old mountain woman is guardian of a beautiful young girl, all the while enjoying mountain life, including horseback riding, a flash flood, being lost in the mountains overnight, a dangerous mountain lion.
Nancy travels with George to Shadow Ranch, near Phoenix, Arizona. The ranch is in danger of being shut down, is threatened by a phantom horse that seems to bring destruction with it each time it appears; the girls soon become friends with the young ranch hands. The discovery of a pocket watch with a hidden message about a green bottle and a pastel painting are her clues to find the lost treasure of Dirk Valentine; these clues lead her to an ancient Indian dwelling, a prisoner, a chest of gold hearts, a gang of thieves, a lot of danger. The revised book had the title changed to "of" instead of "at," and doesn't expand the biographies of the cousins significantly. Whereas the ranch is depicted as somewhat slow, a young doctor is interested in Nancy, the revision sees them involved in resort-town activities with men near their age. Russell H. Tandy illustrated the original dust jacket and internal illustrations, the frontispiece. In 1950, Bill Gillies revised the cover art; the art was revised for the new story in 1965, this time by Rudy Nappi, featuring the phantom horse.
Though Ned Nickerson is mentioned in passing in this book as being in Europe, Nancy doesn't meet Ned until two books The Clue in the Diary, #7. The mistake was made. In the revised text, Nancy is said to be knitting a sweater for Ned, identified as her boyfriend, in the first chapter. George references Ned again in the final chapter. Since Nancy has not yet met Ned in the series, this error was corrected in subsequent printings in the first chapter substituting Ned with her father, Carson Drew; the last chapter still mentioned Ned as the one. Many printings George's remark in the last chapter was changed from "Ned" to "your dad" when she mentions the sweater Nancy is knitting. However, Ned is still mentioned in this book as being in Europe, but the reader isn't given any explanation about who Ned is since the opening and closing chapters no longer mention his name. Sometime in early 2011, interactive entertainment developer, Her Interactive, released an app called Shadow Ranch under their new subseries of Nancy Drew games entitled Mobile Mysteries.
Shadow Ranch is a story-based gamebook app with the book aspect of it being the actual text of the Shadow Ranch novel and the game aspect of it has minigames within the story and shows the voices and screenshots of characters and locations from the actual The Secret of Shadow Ranch. Shadow Ranch is available only for the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, priced at $4.99 for the iPad and $1.99 for the iPhone and iPod Touch
The Clue of the Tapping Heels
The Clue of the Tapping Heels is the 16th volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1939. An updated and different story was published under the same title in 1970; the 1939 version is published as a different edition by Applewood Books. As of 2006, this title is still in print. Nancy Drew, age 16, finds that a lost cat belongs to an elderly former actress and playwright, the now impoverished Miss Carter. An abusive neighbor of Miss Carter's, Fred Bunce, becomes the prime suspect in a scheme to steal a child's trust funds; the action soon takes Nancy to New York and a cruise ship, where she meets further peril in her attempt to restore the child's funds, help restore Miss Carter's financial position. Nancy's tapping becomes the means by which she is rescued after being kidnapped, leads to finding the missing child. Nancy is appearing as a tap dancer in a charity show. Along with chums Bess and George, she begins investigating strange tapping sounds at the elderly Mrs. Purdy's home.
Purdy is a cat enthusiast who owns valuable breeding stock. Nancy determines a hoax is afoot, attacks are occurring at the charity show, the mysterious tapping sounds continue. Could they be coded messages? The original Russell H. Tandy cover art shows George, they are seizing a ladder at Nancy's house by moonlight. Discussions among collectors draw the conclusion that elements of this depiction were incorrect because the publisher's art department dictated that the scene must show Nancy with her friends; the house does not match the description of Nancy Drew's home. The revised cover artwork by Rudy Nappi for the 1962 picture cover shows the same scene, corrected to match the actual text, but lacking action. Nancy, sees the ladder outside her home at night. For the 1969 revised edition, the cover art is vivid and somewhat psychedelic, with images of Nancy tap dancing, a head shot beneath a large Persian cat head, all on a sunflower-yellow background; this version was painted by Nappi. Adult collectors of nostalgia and juvenile series fiction discuss book titles in fanzines or list serves.
The original Clue of the Tapping Heels places much focus on cats, on a "lost love" subplot involving Miss Carter and her former leading man. A minor element of political incorrectness exists in that one crook, wearing partial make-up and wigs is described as a freckle-faced, colored man. Incense is used as a drug against Nancy and George, an element removed from the revision, as drugs were popular in teen culture at the time. Further, a young boy suffering from developmental and intellectual disabilities regains his full faculties after surgery, unlikely; the revision draws criticism from liberal circles, due to what some feel are overt placements of Nancy commenting on her desire to attend church as as she can, contains much physical action and danger, but is somewhat more believable in tone
Pseudonym
A pseudonym or alias is a name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which can differ from their first or true name. Pseudonyms include stage names and user names, ring names, pen names, aliases, superhero or villain identities and code names, gamer identifications, regnal names of emperors and other monarchs, they have taken the form of anagrams and Latinisations, although there are many other methods of choosing a pseudonym. Pseudonyms should not be confused with new names that replace old ones and become the individual's full-time name. Pseudonyms are "part-time" names, used only in certain contexts – to provide a more clear-cut separation between one's private and professional lives, to showcase or enhance a particular persona, or to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists' tags, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre, computer hackers' handles. Actors, voice-over artists and other performers sometimes use stage names, for example, to better channel a relevant energy, gain a greater sense of security and comfort via privacy, more avoid troublesome fans/"stalkers", or to mask their ethnic backgrounds.
In some cases, pseudonyms are adopted because they are part of a cultural or organisational tradition: for example devotional names used by members of some religious institutes, "cadre names" used by Communist party leaders such as Trotsky and Lenin. A pseudonym may be used for personal reasons: for example, an individual may prefer to be called or known by a name that differs from their given or legal name, but is not ready to take the numerous steps to get their name changed. A collective name or collective pseudonym is one shared by two or more persons, for example the co-authors of a work, such as Carolyn Keene, Ellery Queen, Nicolas Bourbaki. Or James S. A. Corey; the term is derived from the Greek ψευδώνυμον "false name", from ψεῦδος, "lie, falsehood" and ὄνομα, "name". A pseudonym is distinct from an allonym, the name of another person, assumed by the author of a work of art; this may occur when someone is ghostwriting a book or play, or in parody, or when using a "front" name, such as by screenwriters blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s.
See pseudepigraph, for falsely attributed authorship. Sometimes people change their name in such a manner that the new name becomes permanent and is used by all who know the person; this is not an alias or pseudonym, but in fact a new name. In many countries, including common law countries, a name change can be ratified by a court and become a person's new legal name. For example, in the 1960s, black civil rights campaigner Malcolm Little changed his surname to "X", to represent his unknown African ancestral name, lost when his ancestors were brought to North America as slaves, he changed his name again to Malik El-Shabazz when he converted to Islam. Some Jews adopted Hebrew family names upon immigrating to Israel, dropping surnames, in their families for generations; the politician David Ben-Gurion, for example, was born David Grün in Poland. He adopted his Hebrew name in 1910, when he published his first article in a Zionist journal in Jerusalem. Many transgender people choose to adopt a new name around the time of their social transitioning, to resemble their desired gender better than their birth name.
Businesspersons of ethnic minorities in some parts of the world are sometimes advised by an employer to use a pseudonym, common or acceptable in that area when conducting business, to overcome racial or religious bias. Criminals may use aliases, fictitious business names, dummy corporations to hide their identity, or to impersonate other persons or entities in order to commit fraud. Aliases and fictitious business names used for dummy corporations may become so complex that, in the words of the Washington Post, "getting to the truth requires a walk down a bizarre labyrinth" and multiple government agencies may become involved to uncover the truth. A pen name, or "nom de plume", is a pseudonym adopted by an author; some female authors used male pen names, in particular in the 19th century, when writing was a male-dominated profession. The Brontë family used pen names for their early work, so as not to reveal their gender and so that local residents would not know that the books related to people of the neighbourhood.
The Brontës used their neighbours as inspiration for characters in many of their books. Anne Brontë published The Tenant of Wildfell Hall under the name Acton Bell. Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre under the name Currer Bell. Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights as Ellis Bell. A well-known example of the former is Mary Ann Evans. Another example is Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin, a 19th-century French writer who used the pen name George Sand. In contrast, some twentieth and twenty first century male romance novelists have used female pen names. A few examples of male authors using female pseudonyms include Brindle Chase, Peter O'Donnell and Christopher Wood. A pen name may be used if a writer's real name is to be confused with the name of another writer or notable individual, or if their real name is deemed to be unsuitable. Authors who write both fiction and non-fiction, or in different genres, may use
The Quest of the Missing Map
The Quest of the Missing Map is the nineteenth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1942 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene; the actual author was ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson. Nancy investigates a small ship cottage at the Chatham estate and discovers a connection between the mysterious occurrences at the cottage and an island where a lost treasure is said to be buried. With one half of a map, Nancy sets out to find a missing twin brother; the mystery becomes dangerous when an assailant hears about the treasure and is determined to push Nancy off the trail. Can she endure this and other grave dangers, recover in time to solve the mystery
The Bungalow Mystery
The Bungalow Mystery is the third volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. It was the last of three books in the "breeder set" trilogy, released in 1930, to test-market the series, it was the final volume edited by Edward Stratemeyer before his death. His daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, extensively revised the novel in 1960. Laura Pendleton rescues Nancy Drew and her friend Helen, who can't swim, when their rowboat capsizes during a sudden, severe storm on Moon Lake; the girls from River Heights befriend the orphaned Laura, who has come to the area to meet her new guardian, Jacob Aborn. Mr. Aborn seems somewhat boorish to the River Heights girls, Nancy, upon returning home, receives a phone call from Laura, desperate to escape from her "evil" guardian, he expects her to do household chores and cook, which seems natural, but when he demands her furs and jewels, she calls Nancy for help. Laura escapes, this leads Nancy back to the Aborn house, spying on a mysterious bungalow in the woods that he frequents.
Nancy enter the bungalow but is hit on the head and knocked unconscious. However, when Nancy comes to, she soon exposes an impostor, who had intended to steal all of Laura's stocks and investments, as well as her jewels; the plot is similar. Nancy and Helen meet Laura; the girls meet Laura's guardians, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Aborn, more dramatically: Bleached-haired Mrs. Aborn arrives at the hotel in disarray after having a flat tire in the same storm that caught the girls on the lake. Nancy finds the Aborns friendly. Nancy is called home to aid injured Hannah Gruen. Upon returning home, Nancy takes over the housekeeping chores. Carson Drew assigns her to investigate a long list of individuals suspected of involvement in investment-securities fraud. Nancy tackles this by dressing more maturely and going door-to-door for charity as a ruse to meet the suspects; this subplot adds depth to the story. Laura contacts Nancy surreptitiously to ask for her help, escapes from her locked room at the Aborn residence to seek refuge at the Drews'.
Mrs. Aborn had ordered Laura to hand over valuable jewels; the rest of the mystery unfolds to the 1930 edition, although Nancy fixes Laura up on a date with her friend Don Cameron, she goes to investigate the Aborn lake house under the ruse of being on vacation back at the same hotel from the opening chapters. A feature fixture that appears vaguely in other volumes is introduced here: Nancy carries a suitcase in her trunk that contains clothing appropriate for outdoor wear, an evening dress with accessories, swimwear, plus cosmetics, etc; the main difference in the new edition's final chapters is that the Aborns are acting as impostors together as a couple. They are the couple Nancy couldn't locate in River Heights, who committed the banking crimes her father was investigating. Laura discovers. To reward Nancy for helping her and rescuing her valuables, Laura presents the sleuth with her mother's favorite ring—an aquamarine, a reminder that their friendship began on water; the original 1930 artwork—Nancy peeking into the abandoned bungalow—was created by Russell H. Tandy, who designed the frontispiece and three internals for the original version.
In 1937, the three internals were omitted. In 1943, Tandy executed a new pen-and-ink drawing for the frontispiece instead of updating earlier illustrations. In 1950, Bill Gillies created new cover artwork; this artwork was retained for the 1960 revision, which added a frontispiece and five pen-and-ink internal illustrations. In 1965, the cover was updated by Rudy Nappi to show Nancy dressed in a matronly dress, contrasting with the current "mod" look, spying on the bungalow in the woods; these illustrations are all in print today. By 2000, The Bungalow Mystery had sold 1.5 million copies in the US market
OCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Incorporated d/b/a OCLC is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs". It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services. OCLC maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system. OCLC began in 1967, as the Ohio College Library Center, through a collaboration of university presidents, vice presidents, library directors who wanted to create a cooperative computerized network for libraries in the state of Ohio; the group first met on July 5, 1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization, hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, to design the shared cataloging system.
Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The plan was to merge the catalogs of Ohio libraries electronically through a computer network and database to streamline operations, control costs, increase efficiency in library management, bringing libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the world's information in order to best serve researchers and scholars; the first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26, 1971. This was the first online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data. Between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the governance structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States.
As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with "networks", organizations that provided training and marketing services. By 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on the OCLC Members Council. During 2008, OCLC commissioned two studies to look at distribution channels. In early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic and full-text information to anyone. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from private libraries worldwide; the Open WorldCat program, launched in late 2003, exposed a subset of WorldCat records to Web users via popular Internet search and bookselling sites.
In October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. WikiD was phased out; the Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988. A browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013; until August 2009, when it was sold to Backstage Library Works, OCLC owned a preservation microfilm and digitization operation called the OCLC Preservation Service Center, with its principal office in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users; this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. Starting in 1971, OCLC produced catalog cards for members alongside its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, such as CONTENTdm for managing digital collections.
It offers the bibliographic discovery system WorldCat Discovery, which allows for library patrons to use a single search interface to access an institution's catalog, database subscriptions and more. OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications; these publications, including journal articles, reports and presentations, are available through the organization's website. OCLC Publications – Research articles from various journals including Code4Lib Journal, OCLC Research, Reference & User Services Quarterly, College & Research Libraries News, Art Libraries Journal, National Education Association Newsletter; the most recent publications are displayed first, all archived resources, starting in 1970, are available. Membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding. Newsletters – Current and archived newsletters for the library and archive community.
Presentations – Presentations from both guest speakers and OCLC research from conferences and other events. The presentations are organized into five categories: Conference presentations, Dewey presentations, Distinguished Seminar Series, Guest presentations, Research staff
