The Author of the Original Nancy Drew Books is from Iowa

In the realm of twisty, engrossing mystery novels written by an author whose identity was a mystery in itself, my generation had Lemony Snicket. Multiple generations prior had Nancy Drew, the plucky young detective who still remains enduringly popular as a subject of contemporary books and movies.

The pseudonym of authors who write Nancy Drew books has been "Carolyn Keene" for multiple generations. One thing I didn't know until recently was how the University of Iowa was partly responsible for finding out the original author behind the series and the bulk of the character's novels from 1930 - 1957.

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The Original Author of Nancy Drew Books is from Iowa:

Anna Holland, the Interim curator of University of Iowa women's archives, told KCRG that she grew up reading Nancy Drew, and only learned of the identity and background of the original "Carolyn Keene" when she began working in the archives.

For decades no one knew who the original author was. The original author of the Nancy Drew books was a woman named Mildred Wirt Benson, a native of Ladora, IA. Benson wrote 23 of the first 30 books in the series. Per KCRG, Benson was ghostwriting books before she even graduated college.

Holland contextualized Benson's background to KCRG in a special report:

[Benson] was hired by the Stratemeyer Syndicate shortly after getting her bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa. They were a little worried when she gave them Nancy Drew. They thought, ‘Oh, she seems like a little... she was a little too flip. People won’t enjoy her.’ But of course, once it was published, she started flying off the shelves - Anna Holland, per KCRG

In addition to being an author, Benson worked as a journalist and even obtained her pilot's license at 59-years-old. The original author of the Nancy Drew books garnered national attention when she attended the University of Iowa's Nancy Drew conference in the 1990s. Finally, she was out of the shadows, no longer a mystery:

The College of Journalism discovered that they had this famous alum that they had kind of forgotten about because it was so long ago. The conference at the University of Iowa, which garnered national attention because they wanted to know who this woman was, and she was able to come - Anna Holland, per KCRG

Benson died in 2002, but the University of Iowa has extensive archives on her life and works that remains open to the public. You can find those here, and read more about the mysterious woman behind the original Nancy Drew books on KCRG's website.