Arthur Bestor, Jr. was born in Chautauqua, New York in 1908. He received his Ph.D. from Yale and was an accomplished scholar receiving multiple academic awards. He taught at universities such as Stanford, Yale, and Oxford during his career. He arrived at the University of Washington in 1962 where he served as a professor of History as a leading scholar in American constitutional history. With his advanced knowledge of the constitution, he was asked to testify before Congress on several occasions and involved himself in politics when he saw a violation in constitutional policies.

He also studied various communal societies that preached Utopian ideals, particularly the Oneida community. The American Historical Association awarded Professor Bestor the Alfred Beveridge Prize for his book “Backwoods Utopias” published on this topic. Other publications Bestor produced were on education and pedagogy.

Bestor’s other interests were photography for which he won several awards, and travelling. He continued to work at the University of Washington as a professor of history until 1976 where he reportedly remained popular with students. Arthur Bestor passed away in his Laurelhurst home in 1994 as a result of lung cancer.