Early Years
Daniel Willard Fiske was born in Ellisburg, New York, near Watertown, on November 11, 1831, the son of Daniel H. Fiske and Caroline Willard. Daniel Fiske was a businessman; Caroline Fiske helped to support the family through dressmaking. Willard Fiske attended Cazenovia Seminary and entered Hamilton College in 1847. At Hamilton, Fiske became a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity; he remained an active member throughout his life. In his sophomore year, Fiske was suspended for a student prank. Although he never returned to Hamilton, the college conferred an honorary degree upon him in 1856.
After leaving college, Fiske worked for a short time at the Syracuse Post Office while he studied languages. He became particularly fascinated with Norse cultures, an interest that inspired him to travel. In 1850, he left for England, then lived in Copenhagen and Stockholm, where he attended lectures at the University of Uppsala. Upon his return to the United States, he obtained a position as an assistant librarian at the Astor Library in New York. There, he founded and edited The American Chess Monthly with the famous chess player Paul Morphy. In 1859, Fiske became General Secretary of the American Geographical Society. Two years later, he obtained an appointment as an attaché with the American Legation in Vienna. He returned to the United States in 1863 to become an editor of the Syracuse Daily Journal and later joined H. P. Gregory in running a bookstore in Syracuse. Fiske was invited to join the faculty of the newly established Cornell University in 1868 as Professor of North European languages and Librarian of the University Library.
Parents
Daniel H. Fiske came from Massachusetts, Caroline Willard from Vermont. Both moved to Ellisburg, N.Y., as children and were married in 1827. They had a second son, William Orville, in 1835. Two years later, they moved to Pulaski; in 1845 they went to Cazenovia, and in 1847, to Syracuse. When Willard Fiske moved to Cornell, his parents joined him in Ithaca. After Daniel Fiske’s death in 1884, Caroline lived with her son in Italy until 1891. Throughout her life she remained a Swedenborgian. She wrote for the Pulaski Courier and published a book of short stories. She died in 1897.
Hamilton College
Founded as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 by Samuel Kirkland as part of his missionary work with the Oneida Indians, Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., is the third oldest college in New York State. Charles Dudley Warner, who became a well-known author and editor, was a lifelong friend of Fiske’s. They were classmates at Cazenovia and at Hamilton and members of Psi Upsilon. They corresponded extensively until Warner’s death in 1900.
Travels
To support his travels, Fiske served as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the Syracuse Star, and carried dispatches for the U.S. Legation. His letters home reflected his enthusiasms and describe the political and military events of the time, especially the Schleswig-Holstein conflict. Throughout his travels, he also commented extensively on the libraries he visited. While at the University of Uppsala, he presented a series of talks in Swedish on prominent American and English writers. He also began collecting books. Fiske had hoped to visit Iceland, but his travel plans did not work out.
Syracuse Daily Journal and other Enterprises
As an editor of the Syracuse Daily Journal, Fiske wrote articles about European political events, literary topics, local history, and poetry. He wrote the editorial on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and commented on the Morrill Land Grant Act and the bill to establish Cornell University.
Letter from Willard Fiske to Charles Dudley Warner, March 12, 1866.
Letterhead from “Gregory and Fiske: Dealers in Theological and General Literature, Publishers, Importers, Stationers”
In 1865, Fiske left the Syracuse Daily Journal to join H. P. Gregory in an unsuccessful partnership in a bookstore. He briefly served as the managing editor of the Hartford Courant, which his old college friend, Charles Dudley Warner, owned, resigning to travel to Europe, Egypt, Syria, and Palestine with Andrew Dickson White’s cousin, Barrett White.
Cornell Professor
Willard Fiske joined the faculty of the newly established Cornell University as Professor of North European Languages and Librarian of the University Library. While not the first university to teach modern languages, the Cornell’s emphasis on modern languages, literature, and history was unusual for the time. Fiske gave instruction in German, Swedish, and Icelandic, and even offered a class in Persian. He befriended and assisted many students, particularly the members of the Psi Upsilon chapter that he helped to found at Cornell. Through Fiske’s initiative, his longtime friend Bayard Taylor was appointed as a non-resident professor of German literature.
Cornell Press
Having served as a professional journalist, Fiske also supervised Cornell’s publications and provided news of the university to newspapers. He edited the Registers and the first alumni directory. Under his direction, the University Press, the first university press in America, published the early Registers, a student magazine, the Cornell Era, examinations, and miscellaneous university publications, although financial troubles led to its failure in 1880. When Andrew Dickson White advocated a course in journalism, Fiske gave a series of lectures and instruction in the art of printing, phonography (shorthand), and telegraphy, as part of a two-year course, from 1874 to 1878.
Ithaca
Left to right: George Hartt, brother of Professor Charles F. Hartt; E. L. Williams, later University Comptroller; J. W. Williams, his brother, University Treasurer; Willard Fiske.