Lawrence H. Larsen

Born 1931-01-18 Racine, WI (USA)

Died 2017-02-18

A prolific historian writing about urban history, the Midwest, the South, the Gilded Age and Federal justice, including several books about Omaha, and others that touched on Nebraska. He was the historian for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. He wrote a history of the court, Federal Justice in Western Missouri: The Judges, the Cases, the Times, 1994. Larsen taught for many years at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. His best known work on Nebraska was The Gate City: A History of Omaha. 1997, now updated by Harl Dalstrom in the Bison Books edition as Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs. 2007.

While he researched and wrote about Nebraska topics, Larsen was not a Nebraska writer. He is included in the database for inquiries.

Author Of

Nonfiction

Keywords

Omaha, Nebraska-History; Urban History; Steamboats; American West

Education

BS, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI
MA and PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Occupation

Professor emeritus of history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City

Associations

Barbara J. Cottrell (Larsen) his wife and frequent co-author, was a longtime archivist with the National Archives-Central Plains Region.

Bibliography

Partial Listing:

The Gate City: A History of Omaha. 1997. (with Barbara J. Cottrell Larson)
Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs. 2007. (with Harl Dalstrom)
Steamboats West: The 1859 American Fur Company Missouri River Expedition. 2010. (with Barbara J. Cottrell for the Western Lands and Waters Series)
Federal Justice in Western Missouri: The Judges, the Cases, the Times. 1994.

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