Atherton was born on March 1st, 1905, in the small town of Bosworth, Missouri. He was the son of Caleb Atherton and Ethel Framer. Although born in Missouri, his family originated from Brown County, Ohio. His early years were spent on the family farm.
Education
He attended Carrollton High School and went on to enrol at the University of Oklahoma in 1923, transferring to the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1925, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1927. He received his M.A. in 1930 and an PhD. in history in 1937 having been mentored by his friend and fellow scholar, Elmer Ellis.
Career
Atherton became a teacher at the New Mexico Military Institute, Roswell, NM, moving onto become an instructor at St. Joseph Junior College, St. Joseph, followed by 5 years at Wentworth Military Academy Junior College, Lexington, Missouri. He became an lecturer at the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1936. Between 1939 and 1973 he was their professor of history. Since 2000, the Lewis E. Atherton Prizes at the University of Missouri are awarded to an outstanding doctoral dissertation and master's thesis on Missouri history or biography on an annual basis.
Atherton was a distinguished historian of the South and the American West. He actively acquired manuscripts for the Western Historical Manuscript Collection, where he served twice as director in the 1950’s. Prior to 2011, the Western Historical Manuscript Collection was jointly held by the State Historical Society of Missouri and the University of Missouri. The Western Historical Manuscript Collection is accessible at various locations throughout the state. Each of the four locations offer different historical material; the WHMC in Kansas City, specializes in the history and culture of Kansas City; the WHMC collection located at the Missouri University of Science and Technology features material concerning the Ozark highland and southern Missouri; and likewise, the WHMC office in St. Louis focuses on collecting material relating to the history of St. Louis and its surrounding region. The WHMC location in Columbia, Missouri, specializes on the history of the state from prior its establishment to the present, as well as, "the trans-Mississippi West: social and cultural, religious and educational, military and political, economic and legal, business and labor, urban and rural, ethnic, environmental, and many others." The Columbia collection consists in part of diaries, letters, photographs, and other material, of Missourians ranging from farmers, bankers, and frontier pioneers. However, during 2011, the Western Historical Manuscript Collection was absorbed into the State Historical Society and ceased to exist. The manuscripts and collection of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection can be accessed at the Society's Research Center located in Ellis Library and at Society research centers in Kansas City, St. Louis, Rolla, Cape Girardeau, and Springfield.
Personal life
While teaching in New Mexico he met Mary Louise Webb. They married on June 5th, 1929 in Roswell, NM. He was father to three children; Richard F., and two adopted daughters, Mary Ann and Barbara Lee. Both Lewis and his wife Mary and their daughter set up a number of endowments for educational benefit. Atherton was also an active researcher of his own family history; this legacy was donated to the University of Missouri.
