Used Nancy Drew books bear unexpected mystery

Becky Willhite loves a good mystery.

Growing up, she was a Nancy Drew fan. When her mom gave her the first book from the classic series about the plucky, no-nonsense investigator for her birthday, she thought it would be fun to build her collection. Willhite still has 10 of the books from her childhood.

She recently found a used copy of “The Hidden Staircase,” No. 2 in the series, at The Book Bin and purchased it.

When she sat down at home to read it, a baseball trading card slid out from among the pages. The card features Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants.

Willhite later returned to the downtown Salem bookstore and bought three more used Nancy Drew titles, each of them harboring a trading card. One was of Bob Watson, first baseman for the Houston Astros. Another was of Drew Pearson, wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys. The fourth was not a sports card, but one from a set based on the “Planet of the Apes” TV show.

“It’s a fun mystery to figure out. How did they get there?” said Willhite, a special programs employment specialist for the Independent Living Program at Salem-Keizer School District. “I just want to know if somebody did it on purpose, like Benny.”

Benny is the mystery philanthropist who leaves $100 bills for people to find at local stores and festivals. He’s still active, by the way, with several people reporting they found his signed $100 bills during the Oktoberfest in Mount Angel.

But back to this mystery.

When Willhite spoke to employees at The Book Bin about what she had found, they didn't quite share the same level of excitement. For them, it's an everyday occurrence. They even keep a shrine to forgotten bookmarks near their checkout counter, a pillar covered with photographs and other items they have plucked from used books, including an R2-D2 playing card autographed by somebody.

“Imagine anything you can use as a bookmark, and we’ve found it,” store manager Kat Baird said. “Money, train tickets, photos, cards, notes, love letters ...”

A collection of such items recently filled a glass display case in the Mark O. Hatfield Library at Willamette University. Alice French, a technical services specialist, discovered many of them while mending books.

When the exhibit was removed, she said, the items were placed in an archival box and submitted to the Willamette Archives.

"It's like a little time capsule," French said.

She already has a new collection going that includes ticket stubs, parking tickets, hall passes, a Cold Stone Creamery coupon from 2009, a partially used pack of Zig-Zag cigarette rolling papers, doctor appointment cards, a 1982 blank tax form, shopping lists, pressed and laminated leaves, a drawing of an octopus and fish, and directions to a party.

Staff and volunteers at the Friends Bookstore at Salem Public Library also have discovered more than their share of discarded mementos, including notes, ribbons, receipts, newspaper clippings and pieces of poetry.

“It’s whatever somebody has handy that they grab for a bookmark, then they leave it in the book and forget about it,” said Dana Lynne Roy, manager of the store operated by the nonprofit Friends of Salem Public Library. “I have a collection of bookmarks, and I usually just grab a scrap of paper.”

One of my personal favorites is an airline boarding pass.

Some of Roy's most interesting finds in the 12 years she has been store manager include an old passport and a significant amount of Mexican currency. The currency was so out of date, though, that it was basically worthless. She did find a $100 bill and two $50 bills in one book that was among several in a box that had been donated by the family of a deceased person.

French found money only once, a $5 bill, and since she knew who the book had once belonged to, she was able to return it.

Oftentimes donations to the Friends Bookstore are what Roy refers to as “drop and run” situations because the books are old and battered. The store may not be able to sell them, but she still has to make sure there isn't a treasured title or something valuable inside. The ones the store does plan to sell are inspected for broken spines and loose or missing pages.

A similar process happens with the used inventory that comes into The Book Bin.

“We flip through the books," Baird said, "but there's always things that slip by us. We consider it a bonus if you find something in one of our books.”

A colleague's mom recently found a $50 bill between the pages of a book purchased there.

Willhite plans to use the trading cards she found as bookmarks. Back when she read the Nancy Drew series the first time around, she recalls being partial to a cat bookmark that had a yarn tassel.

She would be thrilled to learn the story behind the cards and, if they were sentimental to someone, she would be willing to return them. I imagine a girl swiping the cards from her brother and stashing them in her favorite books.

The cards aren't valuable, although three of them feature professional athletes who were stars in their day. They aren't autographed, and they aren't in mint condition. The Watson (Hostess) and Pearson (Wonder Bread) cards were issued by food manufacturers. The Marichal card is by Topps, and Willhite said she looked online and saw that it's worth 99 cents.

“Forward This” appears Wednesdays and Sundays and highlights the people, places and organizations of the Mid-Willamette Valley. Contact Capi Lynn at clynn@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6710, or follow her the rest of the week on Twitter @CapiLynn and Facebook @CapiLynnSJ.

Time capsules

Stories like this make me wonder where time capsules are buried in the Salem area. When I was doing research on the history of the Oregon State Fair, I learned one was placed on the fairgrounds during the centennial celebration in 1965 and is to be opened Aug. 29, 2065. If you know of others, please contact me at (503) 399-6710 or clynn@StatesmanJournal.com.