The Mildred A. Wirt Benson website was created to inform collectors and the more avid series book researcher about this lively and spirited author. I am currently writing a biography of Mildred. This website is based on several years of research and interviews with Mildred. Mildred is known most famously as the first Carolyn Keene, ghost name for the popular Nancy Drew® series, created by Edward Stratemeyer. Mildred has written many short stories, children's books, and newspaper articles over the last 83 years since her first published piece, The Courtesy appeared in the children's magazine St. Nicholas.

Below is a guide to the tool bar at the left, so be sure to read on about the various areas of this website and bookmark this site for future reading and research. Please do not copy text or use photos and images from this website without first asking for permission! For clues to my bio, click here.

Come Fly With Me: A Tribute to Mildred and Mini Guide on all her various books and series & 2005 Calendar by Jennifer Fisher. Featured are images from the covers of each series, brief information about each, and a list of titles for each series. A great mini-guide. Her Nancy Drew® books are not featured in this calendar! Makes a great collectible and a great gift for a fellow collector!

This calendar is a wall-style calendar with a top and bottom with the page in landscape style and is comb bound. Size of pages is 8 1/2 x 11. Top features the images and text, bottom page features the calendar. Cover is glossy photo paper and pages inside are a nice sturdy matte photo paper. Holds up well! Printed in good dpi quality and in color.

The Newsworthy Tales of Penny Parker: 2005 Calendar. Featuring all the covers from Mildred Wirt Benson's favorite 17 volume Penny Parker series and the 4 revised covers. Also featured is trivia from the books. Penny Parker was a teenage sleuth who was quite plucky and often wrote stories for her father's newspaper that involved a mystery she solved in each book. It's Pennyrific! This calendar is a wall-style calendar with a top and bottom with the page in landscape style and is comb bound. Size of pages is 8 1/2 x 11. Top features the images and text, bottom page features the calendar. Cover is glossy photo paper and pages inside are a nice sturdy matte photo paper. Holds up well! Printed in good dpi quality and in color.

$15.00 each. Wholesale: $ 10.00 each on orders of 10 or more. Checks, money orders, and Pay Pal accepted. E-mail here to inquire or place an order.

The Dust Jacket Artwork for the Books of Mildred Wirt Benson by Rick Sayers. 36 page booklet in FULL COLOR showing the dust jacket artwork for every childrens series book written by Mildred Wirt Benson. Opened booklet is 8 1/2 x 11. $15.00 each. Wholesale: $13.50 each. Rick accepts PayPal, money orders, and personal checks (allow time to clear). Shipping is $1.50 for one booklet. To inquire or order from Rick, click here.

Mildred lived through quite a century of change, yet her short stories and books reflect a timeless world ripe with mystery and adventure that transcended many generations. In this section you'll read about her childhood and her desire to write at an early age, her college days at the University of Iowa, and her career writing short stories, children's books, and her reporting.

You'll find a list of all of Mildred's published works neatly organized in a handy chart, a list of her various pen names, as well as lists of children's magazines such as St. Nicholas for which she wrote over 100 short stories. Information on unpublished works such as The Runaway Sea Lion will also be profiled.

Read about the mystery behind the real Carolyn Keene and how the mystery was finally solved thanks to many collectors who like Nancy Drew®, were determined to solve a most baffling mystery!

Mildred donated papers, photographs, and working copies of manuscripts among other special items to her alma mater, The University of Iowa. These archives are housed in the Iowa Women's Archives. The University of Iowa also houses a special collection of Mildred's books including the elusive Pirate Brig, a historical novel, which was published in 1950. You'll find links to the University of Iowa online and to the contents of Mildred's archives.

In 1993, Nancy Drew® was the focus of her own conference at the University of Iowa. Mildred was in attendence at the conference and was Person of the Week on ABC News the night the conference began. Read about the various events, themes, and discussions that went on during the conference. You'll find source information on books and articles published about the conference.

Books & Series by Mildred A. Wirt Benson

From her first series, Ruth Fielding, to her last, The Boy Scout Explorers, Mildred wrote more than 130 published children's books--many part of a series and some were individual books. Her most popular series, The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories®, is still being published today, 71 years after Mildred's first Nancy, The Secret of the Old Clock debuted in 1930. You'll find links to the following series and books at the left:
Nancy Drew®, Penny Parker, Dana Girls, Kay Tracey, Penny Nichols, Madge Sterling, Ruth Fielding, Ruth Darrow, Doris Force, Trailer Stories for Girls, Flash Evans, Connie Carl, The Mildred A. Wirt Mystery Stories, individual books under Mildred A. Wirt, Dangerous Deadline and Quarry Ghost(U.K. version Kristie at College) under the name Mildred Benson, Honey Bunch, Dot and Dash, The Brownie Scouts, Dan Carter, Cub Scout Series, Girl Scout Series, and the Boy Scout Explorer Series.

You'll find invaluable information on sources and links to sites devoted to some of Mildred's series books. Several websites are featured that revolve around the Stratemeyer Syndicate which created some of the series Mildred wrote books for.

If you would like to post your thoughts and condolences and memories of Millie, please send them to me by clicking on the e-mail form here and I will post them for you! For the Millie Benson Memorial page, click here.