Dorsett, Lyle W.

Lyle Wesley Dorsett (1938- ) served as Professor of History at the University of Denver, Denver, Colo. from 1972-1983, specializing in urban history. He earned his Ph. D. in history from the University of Missouri in 1965. His dissertation on the political machine of Kansas City, Missouri Alderman Jim Pendergast was published in 1968 under the title, The Pendergast machine. He taught at the University of Missouri, The University of Southern California and the University of Colorado at Denver before joining the University of Denver faculty. He wrote The queen city: a history of Denver(1977) and The pioneer western bank: First of Denver, 1860-1980. Students in Dorsett's classes at the University of Denver conducted interviews with people knowlegeable about the history of Denver and of Colorado. These interviews served as background for books and articles. In 1983 he accepted a position at the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. A large portion of his writings from this time center on the life and philosophy of C.S. Lewis, which is one of the Wade Center's major collections.