Genevieve Fisher was born August 24, 1879, in Lovington, Illinois. She attended grade school and high school in Springfield, Illinois. She also received a diploma from the City Training School for Teachers at Springfield (1899). Fisher continued her studies at University of Chicago. She received her Bachelor of Science degree (1914) and her Masters degree (1927), both from Columbia University.

Genevieve Fisher first came to Iowa State College (University) in 1914, when she was employed on the staff as a supervisor of teacher training in the Ames school system. She left Iowa State in 1919, when she was chosen as a special agent for the Federal Board for Vocational Education. She left the force in 1922, to join the Carnegie Institute of Technology at Pittsburgh where she directed the home economics program for teachers-in-service.

Genevieve Fisher became dean of the Home Economics Division (College of Family and Consumer Science) in 1927. While dean she reorganized the Department of Household Administration into three departments: Home Management, Child Development, and Household Equipment. Iowa State was the first institute of its kind to introduce a course in household equipment. Fisher was also active in the campaign for passage of the Smith-Hughes Bill. After the bill was passed, Fisher helped to draft the first federal plan for vocational education in Iowa.

Fisher was a member of many organizations: Omicron Nu, Phi Kappa Phi, Kappa Delta Pi, Phi Upsilon Omicron, Sigma Delta Epsilon, Mortar Board, American Vocational Association, and the American Economics Association. She was also the home economics editor of the Vocational Education magazine.

After retiring from Iowa State in 1944, Dean Fisher began a different career, establishing a small hotel in North Carolina. Fisher also worked three days a week as an assistant to occupational therapists in a local Veteran's hospital teaching weaving and how to keep the looms threaded.

Genevieve Fisher died November 4, 1974.

Collection includes Genevieve Fisher's biographical information, newspaper clippings, writings, correspondence, and a file on the Cummins-Vaile bill on vocational education.

The collection is arranged alphabetically.