THE PHANTOM TITLE, ETC.
I am indebted to James Keeline for most of the material in this section. He has spent a lot of time researching the files of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, and has e-mailed me numerous times with information he has unearthed, which relates to the X Bar X Boys series. Thanks to his references, I have also been able to acquire personally copies of some of most cogent material from the New York Public Library.
James wrote, "The Stratemeyer Syndicate was purchased by Simon & Schuster in 1984. At that point, the files and book collection of the Syndicate were boxed, inventoried, and stored in a Bristol, Pennsylvania warehouse. There the materials were stored for approximately a decade. Various inquiries were made to special collections which might be candidates to hold the Stratemeyer Syndicate Records Collection. At the Nancy Drew Conference in 1993, researchers asked Simon & Schuster editor, Ann Greenberg, when the stored materials would be available to researchers. A few months after this, announcements were made that the collection was being donated to the New York Public Library but that it would take several years for the material to be cataloged.
"What was not known immediately was that Simon & Schuster did not give any money with the collection to pay for the cataloging of it. Learning of this, James Duncan Lawrence Jr. (son of the Syndicate author of most of the Tom Swift Jr. volumes) arranged meetings with his employer, Chubb Insurance, where he and five Stratemeyer researchers (Jack Dizer, Deidre Johnson, Ilana Nash, Kathleen Chamberlain, and James D. Keeline) made a proposal that Chubb donate $75,000 to pay for the cataloging and preservation. This proposal was enacted due to the tireless work of Jim Lawrence Jr., and cataloging began.
"The collection was opened in the Fall of 1998. Like most special collections, the New York Public Library staff has made provisions to ensure that the materials are accessible to researchers yet are preserved for future generations. Some of the most fragile materials have been recorded on microfilm and others exist in photocopies in file boxes."
Regarding the X Bar X Boys series, memos in the files reveal that Edward Stratemeyer sent a one-page note to Grosset & Dunlap on January 11, 1926, with the heading "Suggestion for new series." Copyright restrictions prevent me from quoting from the memo directly, but it presented a rudimentary idea of developing a series of western stories for boys with a level of excitement with the characteristic Stratemeyer style: thrilling, but not too extreme. Ideas for stories were listed in descriptions of few words, such as storms, prairie fires, being lost in the wilderness, tracking down desperadoes on the lam, hunting for lost gold, property disputes, etc. The series had several working titles, such as "The Ranch Boys," "The Young Cowboys," and "The Trail Boys," but the X Bar X Ranch was there from the first and the series quickly became known as "The X Bar X Boys." The pen name James Cody Ferris was also there from the first, though without explanation of where Edward Stratemeyer came up with it.
Plot summaries two and three sentences long abound in subsequent memos, with intriguing titles. Most of them were never developed, while others eventually grew into the published volumes. Lists of titles exist in memos dated up to April 23, 1942, long after Edward Stratemeyer’s day. Many titles give hints of terrific stories that were never developed, such as The X Bar X Boys on Elk Ridge, The X Bar X Boys Tracing the Fugitive’s Footprints, The X Bar X Boys and the Silver Smugglers, The X Bar X Boys Trapped in the Flooded Caves, and The X Bar X Boys Battling the Eagles. There are probably more than fifty titles, fewer than half of which were used.
James noted, "I have found for other series that Stratemeyer was interested both in plot and title in his proposals to the publishers. Harriet and Edna [his daughters and successors in the business after Edward’s death in 1930] seemed to focus first on a good title, and long lists of possible titles would be compiled and submitted to the publisher."
There are also a few pages of research notes, explaining western terms and duties on a cattle ranch. There is an extended quotation from a western novel by J. Frank Dobie, called The Longhorns, showing how typical, popular western fiction could be written. There are notes used to develop the various characters in the books, both the main characters as well as minor characters who appear in only one volume.
Finally, there is a two-page, undated memo with a cast of characters for the phantom title, The X Bar X Boys With the Border Patrol, and an eight-page summary of the plot. James’ most recent message included this startling news from his investigation of selected Stratemeyer files on microfilm: "In reel 6 is a series of letters to McFarlane discussing the offer for him to write X Bar X Boys 22 and indicating the receipt of the manuscript!! It was written--just not published."
For further information, including a summary of this story, see the section of this web site called "The Books," and click on Volume 22.
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