page_title: George Fiske
hierarchical_section_title: George Fiske
caption_attribution_description: English: Galen Clark on Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park, ca.1900 Photograph of Galen Clark, Yosemite pioneer and discoverer of Mariposa Grove, standing on Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. Ice and snow cling to the precarious rock formation. Photographer: Fiske, George Filename: CHS-1207 Coverage date: circa 1900 Part of collection: California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960 Format: glass plate negatives Type: images Part of subcollection: Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960 Repository name: USC Libraries Special Collections Accession number: 1207 Microfiche number: 1-60-54; 1-60-55 Archival file: chs_Volume94/CHS-1207.tiff Rights: Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Repository address: Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Geographic subject (country): USA Subject (naf): Clark, Galen, 1814-1910 Publisher (of the digital version): University of Southern California. Libraries Subject (adlf): parks Project: USC Repository email: specol@usc.edu Contributing entity: California Historical Society Date created: circa 1900 Call number: CHS-1207 Format (aat): photographic prints; photographs Geographic subject (state): California Legacy record ID: chs-m10656; USC-0-1-1-10805 Access conditions: Send requests to address or e-mail given. Phone (213) 821-2366; fax (213) 740-2343. Subject (file heading): Photographers -- Fiske, George Format (aacr2): 2 photographs&#160;: glass photonegative, photoprint, b&amp;w&#160;; 22 x 17 cm. Subject (lcsh): Yosemite national park (Calif.); Glacier Point (Calif.); National parks and reserves; Mountains
context_page_description: George Fiske was an American landscape photographer.
  Fiske was born in Amherst, New Hampshire and moved west with his brother to San Francisco. He apprenticed with Charles L. Weed and worked with Carleton E. Watkins, both early Yosemite photographers. Fiske and his wife moved to Yosemite in 1879 and lived there until he committed suicide in 1918. Fiske was living alone when he shot himself and he often told his neighbors he was "tired of living." Most of his negatives were destroyed when his house burned in 1904.
  Years later, when photographer Ansel Adams was a boy, his Aunt Mary gave him a copy of In the Heart of the Sierras when he was sick. The book piqued his interest enough to persuade his parents to vacation in Yosemite National Park in 1916. Most of the photographs in the book are by George Fiske.
  After Fiske's death, his remaining negatives were acquired by the Yosemite Park Company and stored neglected in a sawmill attic, which burned in 1943. Ansel Adams suggested they be stored safely in the Yosemite Museum fireproof basement, but his suggestion was ignored.
context_section_description: George Fiske (October 22, 1835 – October 21, 1918) was an American landscape photographer.
  Fiske was born in Amherst, New Hampshire and moved west with his brother to San Francisco. He apprenticed with Charles L. Weed and worked with Carleton E. Watkins, both early Yosemite photographers. Fiske and his wife moved to Yosemite in 1879 and lived there until he committed suicide in 1918. Fiske was living alone when he shot himself and he often told his neighbors he was "tired of living." Most of his negatives were destroyed when his house burned in 1904.
  Years later, when photographer Ansel Adams was a boy, his Aunt Mary gave him a copy of In the Heart of the Sierras when he was sick. The book piqued his interest enough to persuade his parents to vacation in Yosemite National Park in 1916. Most of the photographs in the book are by George Fiske.
  After Fiske's death, his remaining negatives were acquired by the Yosemite Park Company and stored neglected in a sawmill attic, which burned in 1943. Ansel Adams suggested they be stored safely in the Yosemite Museum fireproof basement, but his suggestion was ignored. "If that hadn't happened", said Adams, "Fiske could have been revealed today, I firmly believe, as a top photographer, a top interpretive photographer. I really can’t get excited at [Carleton] Watkins and [Eadweard] Muybridge—I do get excited at Fiske. I think he had the better eye." (Hickman & Pitts, 1980).
caption: Galen Clark standing on Overhanging Rock, Glacier Point. Photograph by George Fiske
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