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Vardis Fisher papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS 0401

Scope and Contents

The Vardis Fisher papers contain plays, correspondence, articles written about and by Vardis Fisher, and newspaper clippings.

Dates

  • 1959-1989

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

The items in box 1, folder 2 have been removed and placed in Reserve. Access must be given by the Manuscripts Curator and by appointment. An archivist must remain with the items if being used. Photocopies are available in the collection for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Biographical Sketch

Vardis Fisher (1895-1968), was born in a log cabin without running water, electricity, or heat, in Annis Idaho. He and his brother Vivian, were educated at home until the fourth grade, at which time they entered public school in Idaho. After graduating from the University of Utah in 1920, Vardis Fisher acquired a Master of Arts degree (1922) and a Ph.D. (1925) at the University of Chicago. He then returned to Utah, to teach English at the University of Utah (1925-1928), and then to New York University. He also taught as a summer professor at Montana State University (1932-1933), and directed the Idaho Writer's Project for the WPA (1935-1939). Vardis Fisher was married three times, to Leona McMurtrey, from 1917 to 1924, with whom he had two children before she commited suicide. His next marriage, to Margaret Trusler, was from 1928 to 1939, and produced one child. Finally, in 1940 he married Opal Laurel Holmes, which lasted for twenty-eight years until his own suicide in 1965.

A prolific writer, Vardis Fisher wrote thirty-eight books, ranging from western naturalism, to prodigious works on the nature of man and religion. He is most famous for his 1965 work Mountain Man, A Novel of Male and Female in the American West, which was an inspiration for the Sydney Pollack film, Jeremiah Johnson. His other western fiction includes The Mothers, 1943; Pemmican : a novel of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1956; Tale of Valor; a Novel of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1958. He wrote the semi-autobiographical series, cumulatively called the Vridar Hunter tetrology. Individually, these books were titled In Tragic Life, 1932; Passions Spin the Plot, 1934; We Are Betrayed, 1935; and No Villain Need Be, 1936.

Two of his most ambitious works concern Vardis Fisher's study of the Christian ethic, and Mormonism in particular. The son of an L.D.S. bishop, Fisher was an avowed atheist, and the study of the roots of Christianity and its effect on humankind were of enormous interest to him. He won the Harper Prize in 1939 for his study of Brigham Young and the Mormons in Children of God, but his opus might be considered "The Testament of Man" Series, in which he attempts to explore the entire history of mankind, with particular attention to religion. These books include Darkness and the Deep, 1943; The Golden Rooms, 1944; Intimations of Eve, 1946; Adam and the Serpent, 1947; The Divine Passion, 1948; The Valley of Vision, 1951; The Island of the Innocent, 1952; A Goat for Azazel, 1956; Jesus Came Again: A Parable, 1956; Peace Like a River: A Novel of Christian Asceticism, 1957; My Holy Satan, A Novel of Christian Twilight, 1958 and Orphans in Gethsemane, 1960.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet (1 Box)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Vardis Fisher papers contain plays, correspondence, articles written about and by Vardis Fisher, and newspaper clippings. Fisher (1895-1972) wrote thirty-eight books, including the 1939 Harper Prize Winner, Children of God.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Folders 1-2 were donated anonymously in 1982.

Folders 3-8 were purchased in 2007 from Ken Saunders

Related Materials

See also the Vardis Fisher papers, (Manuscript Group 218) located at the University of Idaho, in Rexburg Idaho.

Processing Information

Processed in 1984 by Sharon Thorup and in 2007 by Elizabeth Rogers.
Title
Inventory of the Vardis Fisher papers
Author
Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Rogers.
Date
2007 (last modified: 2019)
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections Repository

Contact:
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Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
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