Harry W. Lawton was a journalist, historian, author, and professor in Riverside County. Born in 1927, he grew up in Riverside, California. Harry Lawton received his degree from Riverside College and later attended the University of California, Berkeley. After owning the Haunted Bookstore in Berkeley, he left for Riverside in 1953 to become a journalist. He worked on local stories as a columnist for the Press Enterprise from the early 1950s to mid-1970s. In 1960 he published his book Willie Boy: A Desert Manhunt which was adapted in 1969 into the film Tell Them Willie Boy is Here starring, Robert Redford. The book told a version of the 1909 story of a Chemehuevi-Piute Native American from Banning, California who was accused of murder and eventually killed. Harry Lawton became a professor in the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of California, Riverside in 1965, retiring in 1991. While at UC Riverside he focused on the citrus industry, helped with the excavation of Riverside's Chinatown, and founded the Creative Writing Department. He created the first annual Writer's Week in 1977 which continued to be a part of the UC Riverside creative writing program long after Lawton passed away. The event invites writers to give talks to students about their works and experiences as authors. Harry Lawton was involved with the Malki Museum in Banning and the non-profit Malki Museum Press as well as working alongside Native American civil rights groups. In 2005 he passed away at the age of 77 in Dana Point, California.

Citation: McLellan, Dennis. "Harry W. Lawton, 77; Was Author, Historian and Former Journalist." latimes, 05 December 2005, http://articles.latimes.com/2005/dec/05/local/me-lawton5. Accessed 28 February 2019.