Carl Russell Fish

The Civil Service and the Patronage (1905) by Carl Russell Fish

Carl Russell Fish (October 17, 1876 - July 10, 1932) was a University of Wisconsin-Madison historian. Born in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to Fredrick E. and Louisiana N. Fish on October 17, 1876. He claimed later in life that he wanted to be a professor since he was four years old. He graduated from Brown in 1897, and completed his Masters and Doctoral degree at Harvard University, finishing in 1898 and 1900, respectively. He was appointed Professor of History later that year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He served in a factory during World War I, then visited England in the fall of 1917 to direct the American University Club. There he met Rudyard Kipling, John Masefield, John Singer Sargent, Lady Astor, and James Bryce, all of whom he considered friends. After he returned, he married Jeanne l'Hommedieu of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1919. They met while he was overseas. He was again a professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison upon his return to the United States. He remained at Wisconsin until his death of pneumonia after finishing teaching his summer semester classes in 1932. He had a variety of opportunities for teaching elsewhere, and sometimes did teach summers on other campuses, but for the most part he remained at Wisconsin because he found its democratic atmosphere unsurpassed.