Lawrence Martin (geographer)
Lawrence Martin was an American geographer and President of the American Association of Geographers.
A native of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Martin received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 1904, before heading to Harvard University to work with William David Morris for his Master's degree, received in 1906. He then returned to Cornell and completed his PhD in 1913.
From 1903 to 1917 he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey as an expert in geomorphology.
From 1906 to 1917 he was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin, rising from Lecturer to Assistant Professor and authoring major works on the physiography of Wisconsin. With the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered to instruct draftees in map interpretation at Fort Sheridan, IL. He quickly was made Colonel and served in the Military Intelligence Division, including assisting in the redrawing of boundaries after the war.
After the war, he served as the Geographer in the Office of the Geographer at the Department of State before heading the Geography & Maps Division of the Library of Congress, a position he held until 1946.
