Vardis Fisher Papers, 1938-1930

Vardis Fisher was born March 31, 1895 in Annis, Idaho. After graduating from Rigby High School and receiving a bachelor's degree form the University of Utah, he attended the University of Chicago, where he received master’s and doctorate degrees in English. Following teaching at the University of Utah and New York University, Fisher returned to Idaho in 1931 to devote himself full-time to writing. During the Depression he directed the Federal Writers’ Project in Idaho. While directing this project, Fisher met and married his third wife, Opal Laurel Holmes, who would become his chief promoter after his death. From 1943 to 1960, Fisher completed his “Testament of Man” series. He passed away July 8, 1968 in Jerome, Idaho.

Fisher’s 1928 novel Toilers of the Hill placed him in the ranks of significant American writers. His most critically acclaimed works focused on the Rocky Mountain region of the West. He wrote prolifically, authoring or editing thirty-six books, including several historical novels and works of non-fiction, dozens of essays and stories, and several hundred weekly opinion columns for various Idaho newspapers. Children of God, his 1939 historical novel on the origins of Mormonism, won the Harper Prize for fiction. Fisher won the first ever Distinguished Achievement Award in 1965 from the Western Literature Association. In 1966 Fisher won the Wrangler Trophy for outstanding Western novelist with his work, Mountain Man. This novel was the basis of the 1972 Sydney Pollack film, Jeremiah Johnson, starring Robert Redford.

Sources: The Deseret News, 11 July 1968, Obituaries. Flora, Joseph M. Rediscovering Vardis Fisher Centennial Essays. Moscow, ID: University of Idaho Press, 2000.