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Nancy Drew 50th Anniversary Gala

Harriet Stratemeyer Adams arrives in the back of a blue roadster.

As sales declined in the 1970s, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams considered whether to accept an overture from Simon & Schuster to publish new books in the series. First Grosset & Dunlap failed to do anything for the Bobbsey Twins 75th anniversary. Then they admitted they had no plans for Nancy Drew’s 50th in 1980. Simon & Schuster stepped in and hosted a gala event.

Artifact — Holiday Bookselling

Part of a Grosset & Dunlap pamphlet called Best Books for Boys and Girls, 1914.

Edward Stratemeyer was more than an author of books and proprietor of a literary syndicate, he was interested and actively involved in nearly every phase of the production, publication, and promotion of his books. For several years publisher catalogs were printed and mailed after Thanksgiving upon his direction.