Craven graduated from Simpson College (affiliated with the Methodist Church) in Indianola, Iowa, in 1908, and at his death he left his library and papers to that institution.
After briefly teaching at Simpson College and North High School in Des Moines, Iowa, Craven moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was influenced by Frederick Jackson Turner and earned an M.A.
Craven then married and taught at North Division High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, until 1920, when he moved to Chicago to complete a doctorate in history under the guidance of Marcus Jernegan and William E. Dodd.
Craven especially emphasized exaggerated abolitionist attacks on slavery and argued that the war could have been avoided if selfish politicians had not escalated the psychological fears to their own advantage.
[2] In his first book Craven argued that tobacco caused systematic soil depletion that shaped both agricultural development and the broader socio-economic order.
The lack of proper plowing and cultivation methods led to destructive erosion, while continuous replanting depleted essential plant nutrients and encouraged harmful soil organisms.
"[5] In July 2020, the group's board decided “to suspend the name of the Avery Craven Award … as a result of consideration of a powerful article" by historian David Varel arguing that Craven's Lost Cause advocacy meant the change would “better honor the OAH’s professed commitment to ‘the equitable treatment of all practitioners of history.’” Varel proposed naming the award instead for the late scholar Lawrence D. Reddick.