Lyle P. Koehler (March 6, 1944 – July 30, 2015) was an American historian and author.
Early life and education
Koehler was born in
Sparta, Wisconsin
Sparta is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Wisconsin, United States, along the La Crosse River. The population was 10,025 at the 2020 census.
History
Sparta is located on former Ho-Chunk territory acquired by the United States ...
on March 6, 1944, to parents Irene and Lyle Koehler Sr.
He attended
Black River Falls High School
Black River Falls High School is a public school serving grades 9 through 12 in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, United States.
Administration
The principal is Luke Madsen. Kim Penza is the assistant principal.
Academics
Black River Falls High Sch ...
for two years and finished at
Sparta High School before enrolling at the
University of Wisconsin–La Crosse
The University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (UWL or UW Lax) is a public university in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Established in 1909, it is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. With 9,600 un ...
.
Koehler earned his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
degree in 1966 and his
Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in 1968 from the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
.
He worked towards a PhD in philosophy for three years before saying "I began generating history and never got the PhD."
Career
Upon completing his Master's degree, Koehler began working as the director of tutorial and referral services at the University of Cincinnati.
During the summer of 1973, Koehler began his research in various New England courthouses reading arrest records of 17th-century Colonial women.
His work accumulated into his first book, ''A Search for Power: The 'Weaker Sex' in Seventeenth Century New England,'' which was a finalist for the 1981
Pulitzer Prize for History
The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...
.
Following this, Koehler left Cincinnati and became an editor and technical writer at New Mexico State University. While there, he wrote his second work, ''Black Peoples: A Chronology and Bibliography, 1787-1982,'' for the 1988 Cincinnati Arts Consortium. It "provided valuable details, dates and names for this series on black leaders."
Koehler died on July 30, 2015, at Lakeview Health Center in West Salem.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koehler, Lyle
1944 births
2015 deaths
University of Wisconsin–La Crosse alumni
University of Cincinnati alumni
University of Cincinnati faculty
New Mexico State University faculty
20th-century American historians
20th-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers