Andrew Karl Larson was born on 11 December 1899, in Washington, Utah, the great grandson of Robert D. Covington, the founder of Washington. Larson graduated from Dixie High School in 1921 and later graduated from Dixie College, having studied art, history, English, and music. In the late 1920s, he taught music at various schools in Washington County, and taught history, biology, civics, English, art, and debate at Hurricane High School for twenty years. On 14 November 1928, Larson married Katharine Miles in the St. George Tabernacle. In 1946, Larson received his masters degree from Brigham Young University in Provo. His thesis, "Agricultural Pioneering in the Virgin River Basin," was a first step in Larson's long career as an historian of Utah's "Dixie," the place of Larson's birth and childhood, and the area of southern Utah that is comprised of the valleys and hills surrounding the Virgin River. The purpose, Larson wrote, of his thesis, was "to set forth the agricultural contributions of the settlements now found in the Virgin River Basin, and to note the influence of these contributions towards establishing a permanent, stable society in that region."

Larson's career was now based on the study and research of his home region of "Dixie." In 1946, he accepted a position at Dixie College teaching English and History. In 1957, the Deseret News Press published Larson's , followed by in 1961. In the winter of 1962, reviewer David E. Miller wrote in the that was a publication that "opens the door to an understanding and fuller appreciation of the Mormon colonizing effort in a region that has, until now, been virtually neglected by historians. It is a significant contribution to the history of Utah and the West." Critic Ernest H. Linford called the book "undoubtedly the most complete and authoritative account of the historic Cotton Mission to Utah's Dixie -- an invaluable source of solid information on the social, intellectual, economic and ecclesiastical history of Washington County -- an excellent addition to anybody's shelf of Mormon Americana." (Quoted from a November 1971 alumni tribute at Dixie College, Mss A 2072) Larson had begun to achieve success as a Utah historian. In 1965, Larson was made a fellow of the Utah State Historical Society, in honor of his scholarly historical works.

Larson retired from his teaching position at Dixie College in 1965, and although he was of retiring age, his work as an historian did not cease. He continued with research on notable "Dixie" personages with the 1971 University of Utah Press publication of . Erastus Snow was born in 1818 in Vermont, joined the Mormon Church in 1833, and was with Orson Pratt when Pratt's company entered the Salt Lake Valley for the first time. In 1849, Snow was called to become an apostle of the church and in 1861 was called to preside over the Southern Utah Mission, the "Cotton Mission," which sought to farm and settle the Virgin River area. Snow founded St. George in December 1861, and died in 1888. Many of Larson's sources for the Snow biography were family and church correspondence of the Snow family, and he was given access to more primary sources through the cooperation of the Erastus Snow Family Organization. Publication of prompted a follow-up biography of Erastus's son, , published by Pioneer Press, Dugway Utah, in 1973.

Larson's wife, Katharine Miles Larson, died on 3 July 1975. She had helped Larson edit a two-volume edition of the numerous diaries of Charles Lowell Walker, of whom Katharine was a descendent. The book, , was published by Utah State University Press in 1980.

In 1979, Larson completed his autobiography: , published by the Deseret Press. The book is an account of his life from his childhood only to 1955, because, as Larson wrote in the preface " in that year I began keeping a diary." A volume of Larson's poetry, , The Art Press, St. George Utah, and dedicated to his wife and daughter, Judith, was published in 1981. In that year Larson also wrote an informal biographical account of his friend Leonard Sproul -- .

In addition to these books, Larson also published many articles and reviews in historical periodicals. In the 1960s, he served ward and stake clerkships in St. George. Larson also was president of the Washington County Education Association, president of Dixie College Faculty Association, and vice-president of Utah Education Association. He also was a member of various associations, including the Utah Academy of Arts, Sciences and Letters, the Utah State Historical Society, and the Cotton Mission Chapter of the National Sons of Utah Pioneers. On 23 July 1983, Larson died in Ogden, Utah. Throughout the span of his life and career, Larson's devotion had been to his home region of Dixie. In a November 1971 Dixie College alumni tribute to Larson, it is written that: "He is acknowledged as the historian of the Virgin River Basin."

NOTE: Much of this biographical material has been gleaned from a 1971 Dixie College alumni tribute (found in Mss A 2072), Larson's 1983 obituary (found in Mss B 144: box 13, folder 4), and a 1983 memorial statement in the Summer 1983 issue of the , pages 289 to 290.