Title: Carl Russell Fish Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1852-1932

Creator:

• Fish, Carl Russell, 1876-1932

Call Number: Wis Mss HS; PH 6531

Quantity: 4.4 c.f. (10 archives boxes and 2 card file boxes) and 14 photographs

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Correspondence, photographs, lectures, and writings, mainly 1891-1932, of Carl Russell Fish, a professor of American history at the University of Wisconsin.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000hs

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The correspondence is particularly strong for the World War I period, including not only many letters from former students in the military (including a few from Archangel in 1919), but also showing Fish's many local, state, and national patriotic activities. Among these was service with the National Board for Historical Service, which assisted history teachers in adjusting their teaching to wartime conditions, and work as director in London of the American University Union, which was established for college men in the Army. Documented peacetime activities include the University Curriculum Committee, the Anglo-American Club, and various peace groups. The papers also show Fish's connections with the General Board of Religious Education of the Episcopal Church and the American School of the Air. Fish was widely acquainted with American and British historians and other intellectuals and the collection includes correspondence with Edward Channing, E. Merton Coulter, Charles G. Crump, Albert Bushnell Hart, J. Franklin Jameson, Alexander Meiklejohn, Frederic L. Paxson, Winifred T. Root, Lucy M. Salmon, Asa C. Tilton, Frederick Jackson Turner, and many others. Correspondence is also frequent with the American Book Company, a textbook publisher. (Published syllabi for several classes taught by Fish are held by the Historical Society Library.) His popular course, “Representative Americans,” is documented by lecture notes, readings, and an unpublished book manuscript on the same subject. Research for a posthumously published book on the Civil War includes transcripts of manuscripts in the Library of Congress and two boxes of note cards of data from foreign sources. A typewritten manuscript by Lester J. Cappon references many ideas from Fish scholarship. In addition, there is a diary of brief entries for the years 1852-1853 kept by his father Isaac of Providence, Rhode Island during a trip to Europe, Egypt, and the Near East. The financial miscellany includes pre-Revolution Russian government bonds. The photographs were enclosed with the World War I correspondence and include several of Chanute Field from Robert Brown, a pilot.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Carl Russell Fish, 1932-1944; other items received in 1948 and 1952; one letter presented by Mrs. Thomas E. Coleman, Madison, Wis., 1968.

Processing Information

Re-processed by Carolyn Mattern, 2008.

Wis Mss HS	Series: Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1-8	1891-1915 May
Box   2 Folder   1-9	1915 June-1918 June
Box   3 Folder   1-10	1918 August-1922
Box   4 Folder   1-9	1923-1929 June
Box   5 Folder   1-6	1929 July-1932, undated
	Series: Speeches and Writings	⇧
Box   5 Folder   7	Addresses, speeches
Box   5 Folder   8	Articles
Box   5 Folder   9	Book reviews
	Curriculum Committee writings
Box   5 Folder   10	Report
Box   6 Folder   1	Humanities course
Box   6 Folder   2	Miscellaneous pages
Box   6 Folder   3	“Diplomacy” notes
Box   6 Folder   4	Lincoln, Abraham
Box   6 Folder   5	Miscellaneous writings
Box   6 Folder   6-7	National Board for Historical Service, “Suggestions for Teachers” draft
Box   6 Folder   8	Manuscript by Lester J. Cappon, on American history, undated
	“Representative Americans”
Box   6 Folder   9	Lecture notes, 1925
Box   7 Folder   1	Course syllabus and readings
Box   7 Folder   2-4	Correspondence re posthumous publication, 1926-1936
	Book manuscript
Box   7 Folder   5-8	First-4th generations typed draft
Box   8 Folder   1-5	Handwritten draft chapters
	Unpublished Civil War history
Box   9 Folder   1-10	Handwritten transcripts from Library of Congress
Box   10	Handwritten transcripts, continued
Box   11	Notes from foreign sources
Box   12 Folder   1-4	Notes from foreign sources, continued
	Series: Miscellany	⇧
Box   12 Folder   5	Biographical miscellany
Box   12 Folder   6	Diary, 1915
Box   12 Folder   7	Isaac Fish diary, 1852-1853
Box   8 Folder   6	Stock certificates
PH 6531	Series: Photographs	⇧