Editing Nancy Drew (section)

=== 1930–1959: Early stories ===
{{Main|Nancy Drew Mystery Stories{{!}}''Nancy Drew Mystery Stories''}}
The earliest Nancy Drew books were published as dark-blue [[hardcover]]s with the titles stamped in orange lettering with dark-blue outlines and no other images on the cover. The [[Cover art|covers]] went through several changes in the early years: leaving the orange lettering with no outline and adding an orange silhouette of Nancy peering through a magnifying glass; then changing to a lighter blue board with dark blue lettering and silhouette; then changing the position of the title and silhouette on the front with black lettering and a more "modern" silhouette.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nancy Drew Mystery Stories |url=http://www.series-books.com/nancydrew/nancydrew.html |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=www.series-books.com}}</ref>

Nancy Drew is depicted as an independent-minded 16-year-old who has already completed her high school education (16 was the minimum age for graduation at the time).{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} While the first four books of the series are noted for their strong continuity and sense of passing seasons and time, it is lost throughout the series with changes like Nancy's hair color being changed to [[Titian hair|titian]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} Her age is changed from 16 to 18 in book 31, ''The Ringmaster's Secret'' (1953), with no in-universe explanation.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} Affluent (her father is a successful lawyer), she maintains an active social, volunteer, and sleuthing schedule, as well as participating in athletics and the arts, but is never shown as working for a living or acquiring job skills.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} Nancy is affected neither by the [[Great Depression]]—although many of the characters in her early cases need assistance as they are poverty-stricken—nor [[World War II]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Nancy lives with her lawyer father, Carson Drew, and their [[Housekeeper (domestic worker)|housekeeper]], Hannah Gruen. Some critics prefer the Nancy of these volumes, largely written by Mildred Benson. Benson is credited with "[breathing]… a feisty spirit into Nancy's character."<ref name="Fisher">Fisher, "Nancy Drew, Sleuth."</ref> The original Nancy Drew is sometimes claimed: "to be a lot like [Benson] herself&nbsp;– confident, competent, and totally independent, quite unlike the cardboard character that [Edward] Stratemeyer had outlined."<ref>Kismaric & Heiferman (2007), 24.</ref>

This original Nancy is frequently outspoken and authoritative, so much so that Edward Stratemeyer told Benson that the character was "much too flip, and would never be well received."<ref>Quoted in Plunkett-Powell (1993), 33.</ref><ref>While Benson repeatedly stated in interviews that Stratemeyer used these words to her (Keeline 25), James Keeline states that there is no independent confirmation of this; Stratemeyer's written comments to Benson upon receipt of the manuscript for ''The Secret of the Old Clock'' contain no such criticism (Keeline 26).</ref> The editors at [[Grosset & Dunlap]] disagreed,<ref>Plunkett-Powell (1993), 33.</ref> but Benson also faced criticism from her next Stratemeyer Syndicate editor, [[Harriet Adams]], who felt that Benson should make Nancy's character more "sympathetic, kind-hearted and lovable." In Benson's words, Adams repeatedly asked Benson to "make the sleuth less bold… 'Nancy said' became 'Nancy said sweetly,' 'she said kindly,' and the like, all designed to produce a less abrasive, more caring character."<ref>Quoted in Kismaric and Heiferman (2007), 28.</ref> Many readers and commentators, however, admire Nancy's original outspoken character.<ref>See, for example, Kismaric & Heiferman (2007), Lapin (1986), and Fisher.</ref>

A prominent critic of the Nancy Drew character, at least the Nancy of these early Nancy Drew stories,<ref>. At the same time, Mason's book was originally published in 1975 after the Drew books began to be revised and rewritten; Mason cites the unrevised volumes almost exclusively.</ref> is mystery writer [[Bobbie Ann Mason]]. Mason contends that Nancy owes her popularity largely to "the appeal of her high-class advantages."<ref>Mason (1995), 49.</ref> Mason also criticizes the series for its racism and classism,<ref>Mason (1995), 69–71.</ref> arguing that Nancy is the upper-class [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestant|WASP]] defender of a "fading aristocracy, threatened by the restless lower classes."<ref>Mason (1995), 73.</ref> Mason further contends that the "most appealing elements of these daredevil girl sleuth adventure books are (secretly) of this kind: tea and fancy cakes, romantic settings, food eaten in quaint places (never a [[Howard Johnson's|Ho-Jo's]]), delicious pauses that refresh, old-fashioned picnics in the woods, precious jewels, and heirlooms… The word dainty is a subversive affirmation of a feminized universe."<ref name="mason-60">Mason (1995), 60.</ref> At the bottom, says Mason, the character of Nancy Drew is that of a girl who can be "perfect" because she is "free, white, and sixteen"<ref name="mason-50" /> and whose "stories seem to satisfy two standards&nbsp;– adventure and domesticity. But adventure is the superstructure, domesticity the bedrock."<ref name="mason-60" />

Others argue that "Nancy, despite her traditionally feminine attributes, such as good looks, a variety of clothes for all social occasions, and an awareness of good housekeeping, is often praised for her seemingly masculine traits… she operates best independently, has the freedom and money to do as she pleases, and outside of a telephone call or two home, seems to live for solving mysteries rather than participating in family life."<ref>Parry (1997), 148.</ref>