The Arthur Fiske Genealogical Library aka “The Fiske”

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By Linda Blais

I first learned about the Fiske Genealogical Library in June of 2017 when doing research for a biography that I writing about the founder of the first Sunday school west of the Mississippi. WorldCat has been one of my favorite places to go to find books that cover my research topic and to see if they are in a local library. While searching for books dealing with Missouri, I discovered that the only library locally that had the book I needed was the Arthur Fiske Genealogical Library in Seattle.

Since this was a new library to me, checking out this repository became a fun task. Of course, I needed to know where it was. Two immediate places to find more information came to mind: Google Maps and the Internet. Yeah! Fiske had a website: https://fiskelibrary.org. Their "Library Information" page gave me the address and information that the Library was housed in Washington Pioneer Hall. Google Maps showed me that the building was right on Lake Washington. How cool is that! Other information I ran across showed they were a private "subscription" library and had classes covering a variety of genealogical and DNA topics for only $5 a class. I definitely had to visit this place.

With Google Maps displaying my route to the library, I set off on my adventure. Of course, traffic in Seattle was not good, so my route led me to get off at Martin Luther King Way and head north until I was directed to turn east on S Othello St and then north on Seward Park Ave S. To my delight, the next piece of my journey took me north on Lake Washington Blvd. What a beautiful way to navigate through Seattle and avoid all the ugly traffic.  Trees, birds, ducks, water views, boats and interesting homes with landscaped yards provided an awesome vista as I wound my way north to McGilvra Blvd E and then down Madison Ave to E Blaine, which led me straight to the Pioneer Building.

I discovered a small drawback to going to the Fiske Genealogical Library is the parking situation. Because the Pioneer building is in a residential area next to Madison Park Beach and several high-rise condominium buildings, parking is at a premium, but if you are willing to walk a couple of blocks, there are spots available. The only other drawback is that currently there is no elevator. You have to take the stairs on the north side of the building down to the basement where the library is housed.

For those members of the South King County Genealogical Society who live a distance from Seattle, taking a research trip to visit the main Seattle Public Library or the University of Washington libraries can be a daunting task. So why would you want go off the beaten track to visit a small, obscure library in the Madison Park area of Seattle? The answer: because this library is a treasure trove of genealogical information that you might not find anywhere else and that is just what I found when I arrived. The specific book I wanted was there, and a whole lot more.

Even though the Fiske is a small library with a focus on genealogy and history, it has a wealth of information available. The collection’s main focus was originally on New England, and now has expanded to include materials on all regions of the United States, some Canadian and European information, as well as a nice religion section. It also has a good size map collection and many published family histories.

The history of the library is quite interesting. Arthur Fiske started collecting information about his New England ancestors while in college in the early 1950's. Through the years his collection got so big that in 1992, he had a collection of 5000 volumes. Unfortunately, the books had to be moved from the building that he was using on Queen Anne hill. Through some of his students, he found out about the Pioneer Association of Washington. They offered him space in the basement of the Pioneer Building. At that time, Gary Zimmerman (recent past President of Fiske Genealogical Foundation), who was involved with the Pioneer Association helped move the collection into its new home, where it continues to grow. The Fiske Library now has a collection of over 12,000 volumes.

The library still houses the original card catalog that Arthur created to cross-reference surnames found in a variety of books in the Fiske collection, the Seattle Public Library and the Seattle Genealogical Society collection. Also, there are multiple binders that have articles and family group sheets collected by Mr. Fiske's students as well as binders that have donated family genealogical collections. A fun note – while doing research recently to complete my DAR application, I used the card catalog to locate information on my Connecticut patriot, David Lusk.

The majority of the Fisk Genealogical Library collection is searchable through the fiske.org website which feeds into WorldCat. Some of the uncatalogued items are the state and county notebooks with miscellaneous copies of articles, genealogies and historical items of interest to that particular location. Volunteers (of which I am one) are working on developing finding aids for these notebooks. A favorite area of mine contains the Seattle City Polk Directories starting from 1889. Even though the Polk Directories can be found on-line, having a hardback copy to peruse can be fascinating.

I hope you find the time to visit the Arthur Fiske Genealogical Library in the near future. Even with the drawbacks, it has become my home away-from-home. Almost every Wednesday you can find me at the library participating in the genealogy class of the day (the list of classes is in the Fiske newsletter that can be found on-line), and researching or volunteering in the afternoons. In fact, it is because of the Fiske Library classes taught by Janet Camarata and Winona Laird that I decided to join the South King County Genealogical Society.


Linda Blais


Fiske Genealogical Library
1644 43rd Avenue East
Seattle, WA
206-328-2716

Hours
Monday 10am to 3pm
Wednesday 12 Noon to 6 pm
Thursday 1pm to 6pm
Friday Open by appointment for groups
Saturday 10am to 3 pm
Sunday All year 2nd Sunday of the month, 1-4 pm (Pioneer Museum also open)
Sunday 4th Sunday of the month, 1-4pm, April through October
Fees Daily $5.00, Annual $50.00

Comments

  1. ValorieOctober 29, 2018 at 6:28 PM

    Thanks so much for this great blog post, Linda. I'm unlucky enough to live well over an hour's drive from the Fiske, but my visits have always been both inspiring and fruitful. Good to know that it is now on WorldCat!

    ReplyDelete

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