Archives West Finding Aid

Vardis Alvero Fisher was born March 31, 1895, at Annis, Idaho, of Mormon parents. He received an A.B. degree in English at the University of Utah (1920). He followed this up with graduate work at the University of Chicago where he received an M.A. (1922) and Ph.D. (1925). He subsequently taught at the University of Utah, New York University, and the University of Montana. In 1928 his first novel was published, a forerunner of a long and productive writing career. By 1935 he had retired from teaching to continue his writing. Within a few years, as an impoverished author, he eagerly accepted the position as director of the Idaho Guide project, a part of the depression-based Works Progress Administration. Fisher's directorship produced the first state guide published. It was written almost entirely by Fisher as none of his relief workers were writers. Following his experiences with government relief projects Fisher returned to his own writing, moving to a ranch near Hagerman, Idaho. His writings include a twelve volume series The Testament of Man, the four volume Vridar Hunter tetrology, and a score of other works. He died at his home near Hagerman July 9, 1968, and was survived by his wife Opal.

Inez Puckett McEwen, 1899-1987, was born in Oyens, Iowa. Her parents then moved to Wyoming, Idaho, and California while she was still a child. McEwen went to school in California, attending USC, Pomona, and Scripps, and earning a B.A. in dramatics and also winning an art scholarship. After her formal education, she became a newspaper reporter and feature writer, radio reporter and private speech instructor. She also taught school both in California and later in Alaska. In 1943 McEwen moved to a ranch in Idaho with her husband and it was there that she wrote the popularly acclaimed book, "So This Is Ranching". She also wrote scripts for a serial program, "Hodgepodge," that ran on a Twin Falls radio station. McEwen also spent the early 1960s in Somalia, Africa from where she penned her impressions of a culture different from her own. Moving in circles with regional writers, McEwen became acquainted with Vardis Fisher, the Idaho novelist. Apparently the two became romantically involved, as suggested by correspondence included in the papers.

Born in 1942, Ronald Warren Taber was a graduate student in the American Studies Program at Washington State University when he first approached Vardis Fisher in 1965 with the idea of basing his dissertation on Fisher's historical novels. Eventually changing his topic to a study of the Federal Writer's Project, Taber continued his contact with Fisher through correspondence and interviews, especially regarding Fisher's role in the project. The title of his dissertation, presented in 1969, was The Federal Writer's Project in the Pacific Northwest: a case study. In addition Taber wrote Vardis Fisher and the Idaho Guide: Preserving Culture for the New Deal, which appeared in Pacific Northwest Quarterly, v. 59 (April 1968). While these studies were based in part on the material in the present collection, additional material was compiled by Taber in contemplation of a full-length biography of Fisher.