Fiske, Horace Spencer, 1859-1940

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1859

Death 1940

Biographical notes:

Editor and writer.

From the description of Papers, 1882-1938 (inclusive). (University of Chicago Library). WorldCat record id: 45478697

Editor and poet.

From the description of Papers, 1882-1938 (inclusive). (University of Chicago Library). WorldCat record id: 52248148

Horace Spencer Fiske was born November 4, 1859, in Dexter, Michigan. He received a B.A. degree from Beloit College in 1882, and M.A. degrees from Beloit and the University of Michigan in 1885. He taught at Beloit College Academy and Wisconsin State Normal School before going abroad in 1893 to continue his studies at Oxford, Cambridge, and Trinity College, Dublin.

Fiske came to the University of Chicago in 1894 as Lecturer in English Literature in the University Extension Division. He continued in that capacity until 1912, and in addition took on other positions including Assistant Recorder, 1903-1912, Editor of the University Record, 1903-1914, and Associate Editor of University of Chicago Magazine, 1908-1914. In 1912 he began working for the Publications Department of the University of Chicago Press, transferring to the University Public Relations Office in 1924, where he remained until his retirement in 1930. Fiske died on June 2, 1940.

Although his career involved mainly editorial work, Fiske published many volumes of poetry and prose, and had pieces printed in Century, Nation, Harper's Weekly, Metropolitan, and other magazines. In 1919 he founded the John Billings Fiske Prize in Poetry for University students, in memory of his father.

From the guide to the Fiske, Horace Spencer. Papers, 1882-1938, (Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)