Larry D. Lankton was born in Jackson, Michigan in 1947. Growing up as the son of a machinist and living only a stone’s throw from the Motor City until he was thirteen, Lankton developed an early fascination with machines and the way machinery and humans functioned together. He pursued this interest in science and engineering through advanced coursework and summer programs throughout high school, but, when he arrived at Indiana’s DePauw University, Lankton selected American literature and American history as his major fields of study. After graduating from DePauw in 1969, Lankton enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania’s American Civilization program to deepen his knowledge of history and literature. He supported himself through work in the university’s metallurgical lab, where he met Dr. Patrick Malone, one of the most prominent names in the field of industrial archaeology. Lankton’s experiences with Malone proved transformative, prompting him to shift his educational focus to the history of technology. Malone and Lankton would later become founding members of the Society for Industrial Archaeology (SIA), and Lankton would serve as the society’s president beginning in 1983.

Following a stint as curator of the Henry Ford Museum, in 1976 Lankton joined the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), a branch of the National Park Service; he received his Ph.D. in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania the following year and was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship by the Smithsonian Institution. He also spent part of the decade teaching at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, George Washington University, and at summer institutes at the University of Vermont.

In 1978, Lankton’s work as a staff historian for HAER brought him to Hancock, where he was charged with surveying and recording the Quincy Mine. Like meeting Patrick Malone, Lankton’s encounters with Quincy represented a sea change for his career: in 1981, he joined the faculty of the Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University, where he would remain until his retirement more than thirty years later, and devoted himself to studying the Lake Superior copper industry.

As a professor at Michigan Tech, Lankton enjoyed new heights of career success and established himself as arguably the preeminent expert on the history of the Copper Country through several seminal publications. In 1982, "Old Reliable," his collaboration with Wayne State University’s Charles K. Hyde, was published, providing a new and accessible history of the Quincy Mine to the public. In 1991, Oxford University Press released Lankton’s "Cradle to Grave: Life, Work, and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines," which quickly became a cornerstone of not only Copper Country history but industrial history more generally. "Beyond the Boundaries: Life and Landscape at the Lake Superior Copper Mines, 1840-1875" was released by the same press in 1997, and 2010 saw the publication of "Hollowed Ground: Copper Mining and Community Building on Lake Superior, 1840s-1990s" through Wayne State University Press. For these written works and others, Lankton has received numerous awards and accolades, including the university’s Faculty Research Award, the Great Lakes History Prize, a distinguished faculty prize from the Michigan Association of Governing Boards of Governors of State Universities, and a State History Award from the Historical Society of Michigan.

Lankton also quickly emerged as a popular professor among Michigan Tech students for his impressive command of his subject, his engaging and energetic multimedia lectures, his unorthodox exams, his emphasis on student archival research, and his sense of humor. Among the courses he taught were classes addressing the history of the Copper Country, the American automobile, Hollywood legends and masculinity, material culture of the United States, and modern American history. Students flocked to his Copper Country course in particular, with enrollment sometimes reaching nearly 250. During his time at the university, Lankton fostered the growth of a Science, Technology, and Society (STS) program and led the way for the creation of the graduate program in Industrial Archaeology; Michigan Tech became one of only a handful of universities in the United States to offer such a degree. Lankton mentored many budding scholars in this program and through his close work with research assistants as he prepared his various publications.

In addition to his research and writing, Lankton has been active in various areas of professional interest. In 1983, Lankton served as an editor for Technology and Culture, a journal dedicated to the history of technology. Around this time, he sat on the board of directors of the Public Works Historical Society, dedicated to documenting the public works of all municipalities in the United States, and he was head of the Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Tech from 1983 to 1987. In May 2013, Governor Rick Snyder appointed Lankton to the Michigan Iron Industry Museum Advisory Board for a term extending through October 2014; he was subsequently reappointed to his seat through October 2018.

Lankton retired from Michigan Technological University in 2012 and was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus. He remains active in the community of Copper Country historians, continuing personal projects in this field and serving as a voice of expertise on matters of local history.