Scope and Content Note
The papers of Walter Lowrie Fisher (1862-1935) span the years 1871-1963, with the bulk concentrated in the period 1909-1920. The two subjects that dominate the material in the collection are Chicago, Illinois, municipal affairs and Fisher's incumbency as secretary of the interior under President William H. Taft. The papers are organized into the following series: General Correspondence, Letterbooks, Secretary's Private Files, Subject File, Speech and Article File, Miscellany, Photograph Album and Scrapbooks, Clippings, and Printed Matter.
The General Correspondence and Letterbooks cover the Chicago phase of Fisher's career, his term as secretary of the interior, and beyond. Correspondents include Kate Barnard, Louis Dembitz Brandeis, James Rudolph Garfield, William Kent, Robert M. La Follette (1855-1925), Franklin K. Lane, Franklin MacVeagh, Frank B. Noyes, Gifford Pinchot, Julius Rosenwald, Harry Slattery, William H. Taft, Ida M. Tarbell, Henry Cantwell Wallace, George W. Wickersham, and Clinton Rogers Woodruff.
The Secretary's Private Files contain personal and professional papers kept during Fisher's term as secretary of the interior. Topics include investments, engagements, his homes, the Railroad Securities Commission, and his membership in various conservation and reform associations. Correspondents include President Taft, cabinet members, and his predecessor, Richard Achilles Ballinger. Further materials relating to the Department of Interior and Fisher's official trips to Alaska and Hawaii are located in the Clippings and the Printed Matter. Memoranda from the Department of Interior are in the Subject File. A photograph album from 1911 documents a trip to Twin Falls, Idaho. Fisher's interest in Chicago continued while he was in Washington, D.C., and many of the files kept by his office staff pertain exclusively to Chicago matters.
The Subject File contains material related to conservation, the American National Livestock Association, the League to Enforce Peace, Oklahoma Indians, and the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Included also are legal cases and the Chicago, Illinois, traction ordinances dispute of 1903-1905.
A typescript of an autobiographical note prepared circa 1932 appears in the Speech and Article File along with college themes, articles, and speeches spanning his career. A dissertation written on Fisher in 1963 is included in Miscellany.