"Allen Chapman" was a pseudonym of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a
"book packager," to use a modern phrase, which was responsible for
many popular juvenile series books published between 1905 and 1986,
including the Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew books, among
thers. The Syndicate produced some 1,600 volumes which were written from
outlines by hired "ghostwriters" for a flat fee (ie no royalties).
Over the 75+ years of their operation, the Syndicate hired about 100 different
ghostwriters for their series. Some writers completed only a short story
or a partial manuscript while some others wrote more than 100 volumes. In one
case, Howard R. Garis, wrote more than 315 books for the Syndicate.
The "Allen Chapman" name was used on several Syndicate series and many writers worked on books published under that name. One story may have been written by the founder of the Syndicate, Edward Stratemeyer (1862- 1930), but the others were by hired writers. For example, the Chapman name was used on the Ralph of the Railroad series and five different writers were involved in the ten volumes in the series. The first five were written by Weldon James Cobb (1849-1922), the Syndicate's first ghostwriter, followed by two books by Walter Bertram Foster (1869-1929), one book by John William Duffield (1859-1946), one by Roger Carroll Garis (1901-1967), and one by John Franklin Carter (1881-?).
In 1911, the first Stratemeyer Syndicate book featured a radio theme.
This book, TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE, (Grosset & Dunlap,
1911) was written by Howard Roger Garis (1873-1962) and published under the
"Victor Appleton" name. The spark-gap radio was not described in
great detail but it did help Tom and his friends escape from Earthquake Island
on which they were marooned.
In 1912, Weldon J. Cobb suggested to Stratemeyer that they start a
"wireless boys" series of some sort. Edward passed on this idea by
saying that he had already supervised one story and had another in the
works. He had Cobb write THE BOYS OF THE WIRELESS, (Cupples &
Leon, 1912) which was published in 1912 under the "Frank V. Webster"
pseudonym.
A non-Syndicate series written by John Henry Goldfrap (1879-1917) and published under the "Capt. Wilbur Lawton" pseudonym was the Ocean Wireless Boys series, published by Hurst between 1914 and 1917. Goldfrap wrote several series for Hurst which were published under various pen names.
One of Stratemeyer's female writers was Josephine Lawrence (1892-1978), a writer for the NEWARK SUNDAY CALL and author of several books under her own name as well as Syndicate volumes. In 1921 she worked on some stories which were broadcast on the Call's radio stations, among the first broadcast stations in the U.S.
As broadcast radio became a popular fad in 1922, several publishers tried to capitalize on this enthusiasm. Naturally, this was not the first time that multiple series were created around a given event. The foundation of the Boy Scouts of America in 1910 saw several series, often with little or no connection to the activities of real Boy Scouts, published by between 5 and 10 publishers. Some of the non-Syndicate radio series to be established in 1922 include:
along with many single titles in longer series.
Syndicate ghostwriter, St. George Rathborne (1854-1938) suggested that
Stratemeyer create a "radio boys" series. Stratemeyer paid for the
idea this time and barred Rathborne from writing such stories for other
publishers.
He later released Rathborne from this contract so he could try to make some money with the idea. At the same time, Stratemeyer planned the Allen Chapman Radio Boys series. Twelve of the thirteen volumes were written by John William Duffield based on Stratemeyer's outlines. The final volume, published in 1930, was written by Howard R. Garis.
Each book in this series featured an introduction by Jack Binns, the radio expert for the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE who:
had the distinction, as "wireless operator" of the sinking S.S. Republic, of sending the first Marconi "CQD" message ever to bring about a major rescue at sea
according to the April 1934 article on the Stratemeyer Syndicate in FORTUNE magazine anonymously written by Ayres Brinser.
Jack Binns wrote a book called THE FLYING BUCCANEER: A NOVEL OF ADVENTURE IN THE SKIES (NY: Nicholas L. Brown, 1923). In the listing in the WorldCat database is given birth and death dates of (1884-1959) but the biographical entry in WHO WAS WHO IN AMERICA, volume 3, describes a corporate executive, not a radio expert. Most likely, the author of the aviation book is the right person but the dates were misattributed by a library cataloger. A few other "Jack Binns" are listed in the Social Security Death Index.
The Chapman Radio Boys books were reasonably successful in the first year, 1922, and it is quite possible to find the volumes published in 1922 and 1923. After this point, the sales dropped off signifi- cantly. Some sales figures may be seen at my site:
http://www.keeline.com/sales.html
As you can see, the sales in 1929 towards the end of the series were very small which is why these books are so hard to find. The series ended in 1930, cutting off sales for all itents and purposes.
John William Duffield (1859-1946) was a prolific writer for the
Stratemeyer Syndicate. Between 1916 and 1936, he wrote about 116
stories for the Syndicate. Prior to writing the three volumes in
the Rushton Boys series, wrote a series about a character named Bert
Wilson (1913-1914), which included one radio-themed title, BERT
WILSON, WIRELESS OPERATOR (Sully & Kleinteich, 1913).
Duffield attended Colgate and graduated from the college in 1882 and its seminary in 1884. He was listed as a book publisher between 1900 and 1910, a bookseller in 1910, and head of a Booklovers' Society in 1916 according to New York City Directories. He was also a reporter for the NEW YORK TIMES and author of eight signed book reviews in the last five months of 1921. He wrote two signed articles for the TIMES' CURRENT HISTORY series of books about WWI in 1918 and 1922.
In addition the Bert Wilson books, Duffield wrote two volumes in the Radio
Boys series which were published by M.A. Donohue of Chicago: THE RADIO
BOYS IN THE FLYING SERVICE (M.A. Donohue, 1922) and THE RADIO BOYS
UNDER THE SEA (M.A. Donohue, 1923). He also wrote some Boy Scout books
in a series published by Saalfield of Akron, Ohio under the "Major Robert
Maitland" pseudonym. Duffield's Syndicate books include selected volumes
in the Bobby Blake series, Baseball Joe series, Don Sturdy series, Bomba the
Jungle Boy series, and Ted Scott series, among others.
His daughter, Elizabeth M. Duffield Ward (1895-1983), also wrote for the Syndicate. In addition to her own Lucille Payton series (1915- 1918), between 1916 and 1936 she wrote 71 manuscripts for the Syndicate. She wrote the fourth and final volume in the Radio Girls series (1922-23). The first three volumes were written by Walter Bertram Foster.
The final volume in the 13-volume Chapman Radio Boys series was written by Howard R. Garis, the author of more than 315 Syndicate manuscripts and a very large number of books and stories on his own, including the famous Uncle Wiggily stories which were published weekly in the newspapers for about fifty years, beginning in 1910. Many of these stories were collec- ted into books.
One of the main competitors to the Chapman Radio Boys series, published by Grosset & Dunlap, was one published by A.L. Burt and written by Gerald Breckenridge (1889-1964). A respected researcher, Everett F. Bleiler, has written that Breckenridge's name was Gerald B. Breitigam though there is a Social Security Death Index record for Breckenridge.
Roy Judson Snell (1878-?) wrote the Radio-Phone Boys series. Some books
were published under the "James Craig" pseudonym but most were under
his name. Other Radio series were much shorter and sold very poorly. This
makes series like the Radio Detectives series by Alpheus Hyatt Verrill
(1871-1954) published by Appleton are extremely difficult to find. The
Hurst editions of the Ocean Wireless Boys series are hard to find as
well. These stories were also reprinted in pulp paperback format by
Arthur Westbrook and the fragile nature of these books makes them very
hard to find as well.
Many ordinary series had single volumes which had radio as a theme such as TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE (Grosset & Dunlap, 1911) and two volumes in the Boy Inventors series: THE BOY INVENTORS' WIRELESS TRIUMPH (Hurst, 1912) and THE BOY INVENTORS' RADIO TELEPHONE (Hurst, 1915). Even the Bobbsey Twins participated in a "radio play" in a volume published in a 1937 volume written by Elizabeth M. Duffield Ward. The Hardy Boys solved a mystery involving short-wave amateur radio called THE SHORT-WAVE MYSTERY (Grosset & Dunlap, 1945) by "Franklin W. Dixon" (Leslie McFarlane (1902-1977)) which was first published in 1945 and later republished with the same title and an extensively revised plot in 1966.
And of course there were many nonfiction juvenile books to teach young people about the wonders of electricity and show them how to make telegraph and telephone wireless receivers and transmitters.
 
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