Abstract Karl Gottfri[e]d Larson was born in Husvalla, Sweden on November 5 1883. He immigrated to the United States as a young boy, and attended the Augustana Academy in Rock Island, Illinois. Larson graduated from the Academy in 1911, and then earned his BA from Augustana College in 1915. He also earned his MA from the University of Wisconsin in 1929, and completed further graduate work at the University of Chicago. As a young man, he trained as a mechanic, and made tools at the Rock Island Arsenal...