Daniel Willard Fiske (1831–1904) was an American librarian and scholar. On November 11, 1831 Daniel Willard Fiske was born at Ellisburg, New York. University librarian and professor at Cornell University from 1868, he made a reputation as an authority on the Northern European languages, and Icelandic language and culture in particular. He married in 1880 Jennie McGraw, whose death in 1881 made him a rich man; but the legacies Jennie made involved him in The Great Will Case. He subsequently spent much time in Italy, and collected manuscripts. He left a large bequest, the Fiske Collection, to Cornell. His interests include chess: he compiled a tournament book for the first American Chess Congress in 1857, and edited The Chess Monthly from 1857 to 1861 with Paul Morphy. On September 17, 1904 Daniel Willard Fiske died at Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He is buried next to his wife Jennie McGraw Fiske in the elaborate crypt of Sage Chapel at Cornell University.
External links
- Willard Fiske: Journeys of a Bibliophile (PDF)
- Daniel Willard Fiske Biography (1831–1904) on biography.com
- Daniel Willard Fiske at Sarah's Chess Journal
- Fiske Icelandic Collection at Cornell University Library
