History Books - Oklahoma City / County Historical Society

A Passion for Equality: The Life of Jimmy Stewart

By Bob Burke, Vicki Miles-Lagrange and Kenny Arthur Franks, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 1999, in print, $18.95

Great biography of a pioneering civil rights leader and executive with Oklahoma Natural Gas who deserves much of the credit for Oklahoma City’s relatively peaceful transition from the Jim Crowe era through the 1964...

And Satan Came Also: An Inside Political History of Oklahoma City

By Albert Leroy McRill, Britton Publishing, 1955, out of print, a few copies can be bought online or at antique stores for $150 to $200. ESSENTIAL OKC HISTORY

As with other things, the writing of history may be specialized into any number of fields or limited to a certain interest. One area of historical inquiry oftentimes neglected is any forthright approach to...

Baseball in Oklahoma City

By Bob Burke, Arcadia Press, 2003, in print, $19.99

Oklahoma City is completing its first century of minor league baseball. Since 1904, organized professional teams called the Mets, Indians, Senators, Boosters, 89ers, and now the RedHawks have thrilled fans of all ages. Several...

Belly Up, the Story of Penn Square Bank

Belly Up, the Story of Penn Square Bank, by Philip Zweig, Ballentine Books, 1986

Wall Street Journal reporter Zweig details how the Oklahoma City Penn Square Bank went under. PW recommended Mark Singer’s account of the same events in Funny Money unless “the reader’s appetite is for unembellished...

Born Grown

By Roy P. Stewart, published by Fidelity Bank, 1974, out of print, copies easily obtainable online, at second hand book stores for $10 to $30.

Roy Stewart is a literal sort of guy. He’s the product of many years of journalism, long service in the military, successful ranching, an avid thirst for history. His knack for description came in...

Celebrate 100: An Architectural Guide to Central Oklahoma

By Oklahoma City Foundation for Architecture and American Institute of Architects, 2007, in print, $19.95, in print.

Great survey of the city’s most significant architecture. This book makes a nice pocket guide for anyone wanting to do a driving or walking tour of the city. Do you want to share a...

Charlie and the Deuce

By Anita Arnold, published by the Black Liberated Arts Center, 1994, not in print

Ever since the Charlie Christian Jazz Festival was inaugurated in 1984, it had been held during the latter part of April or the first week of May. This year [1995] the 12th annual Charlie...

Chihuly: Oklahoma City Museum of Art,

By Anna Katherine Curfman, Barry Rosen, Teresa N. Rishel, and Terry Rishel, Portland Press, 2005, in print.

People who have seen the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s Dale Chihuly collection are almost certain to want to buy a beautiful book picturing the exhibit. Å Chihuly (Portland Press, $40) is apt to...

Country Boy Odyssey

By Roy P. Stewart Oklahoma Heritage Association, $24.95

A decade after the death of legendary Oklahoma newspaper columnist Roy P. Stewart, the Oklahoma Heritage Association has released his autobiography. Stewart was an editorial writer, city editor, Washington correspondent, roving feature writer and...

Deals, Deals, and More Deals: The Life of John W. Nichols

By Bob Burke and Gini Moore Campbell, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2004, in print, $26.95.

In 1950, John W. Nichols created the world’s first public oil and gas drilling fund registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The novel idea, which attracted some of the nations wealthiest investors, changed...

Final Report: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Bombing

By the City of Oklahoma City, 1996, out of print, but available online for $5

I bought this book in error, thinking it was the same as the 556-page Final Report based on the work of the Oklahoma Bombing Investigation Committee, and funded by private citizens . But this...

For All Good Sports: A History of the Oklahoma City All Sports Association

By Bob Burke and Dick Dugan, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2007, $29.95, in print. Synopsis: For a half century the All Sports Association has made a huge economic impact on Ok...

By Bob Burke and Dick Dugan, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2007, $29.95, in print. Synopsis: For a half century the All Sports Association has made a huge economic impact on Oklahoma City. A sponsor of...

Funny Money

By Mark Singer, Mariner Books, still available in paperback ESSENTIAL OKC HISTORY

This account of the collapse of Penn Square Bank is a quick, interesting reader but probably not the book all of Oklahoma City has been waiting for. The thin-skinned may bristle at the author’s...

He Made It Safe to Murder: The Life of Moman Pruiett

By Howard K. Berry Sr., Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2001. In print.

A great act of preserving Oklahoma’s early day legal history has been accomplished with the recent publication of Howard K. Berry’s original 1940 manuscript of the life of lawyer Moman Pruiett. Titled “He Made...

Heart of the Promised Land: Oklahoma County

By Bob Blackburn, Windsor Publications, 1982, out of print.

This 1982 book with commentary by Bob Blackburn contains a nice blend of text and images tracing the historical develpment of Oklahoma County. Unfortunately, toward the end, the book takes on a “commercial” flair...

Hero: An Oral History of the Oklahoma Health Center

By Robert C. Hardy, published by the Oklahoma Health Sciences Foundation, 1985, out of print.

Oklahoma City author Robert C. Hardy has been cited for his book chronicling the history of the Oklahoma Health Center near downtown. In an article in Oral History Review, Hardy’s book is termed the...

Historic Photos of Oklahoma City

By Larry Johnson, Turner Publishing, 2007, in print

“Buddy” and I have known each other since high school, and it was while I was doing research for OKC Second Time Around that we got to catch up on what we’ve been up...

Historic Stockyards City and Oklahoma National Stock Yards

By Bonnie Speer, Reliance Press, 1997 Archive editor note (not part of the original article): Related History Archive stories: Bricktown ; A Very Nice Mention of OKC Second Time...

By Bonnie Speer, Reliance Press, 1997 Archive editor note (not part of the original article): Related History Archive stories: Bricktown ; A Very Nice Mention of OKC Second Time Around . More Oklahoma City...

Honor Bound: The Life of Harvey P. Everest

By Christopher A. Mauldin, Oklahoma City University Press, 1989

In 1989 Oklahoma City University entered the publishing business and it’s no surprise the school started with a biography of the long-time downtown Oklahoma City powerbroker and former president and chairman of Liberty National...

Images of History, Oklahoman Collection

By Bob Blackburn and Jim Argo, published by the Oklahoma Historical Society, 2005, in print

Bob Blackburn is someone I admire - he has been a big influence on both Jack and I as we’ve endeavored to learn more and more about Oklahoma City’s history. Likewise, Jim Argo was...

Me and My Big Mouth

By Walter Mumford Harrison, Britton Printing Co., 1954, not in print, available at www.amazon.com .

Walter Harrison was an outspoken writer and editor during the early years of the Daily Oklahoman, then a broadcaster and then a city councilman. Harrison tells all - enough said? - Steve Lackmeyer Reader...

Mr. Oklahoma History: The Life of George H. Shirk

By Howard and Mary Ellen Meredith, University of Oklahoma, 1982. Essential OKC History

If this biography were to be written today, would it reveal more of this extraordinary historian and former mayor’s personal life? Having read Shirk’s diaries, his story is far more extraordinary than what is...

Norick: The Mayors of Oklahoma City

By Bill Moore and Rick Moore, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2005, in print, $26.95. Mini-review: A good effort at detailing the careers of two pivotal Oklahoma City leaders, bu...

By Bill Moore and Rick Moore, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2005, in print, $26.95. Mini-review: A good effort at detailing the careers of two pivotal Oklahoma City leaders, but the story dwells too much on...

OKC: Second Time Around

By Steve Lackmeyer and Jack Money, Full Circle Press, 2006, in print, sold at locally-owned book stores and gift shops in Oklahoma City and at www.fullcirclebooks.com . The book...

Two award-winning journalists from The Oklahoman have written a beautiful coffee-table book about the history and development of downtown Oklahoma City. “OKC: Secon

Oklahoma City Air Material Area: Tinker Air Force Base [1962: 20th Anniversary]

Directorate of Maintenance, Army and Navy Publishing, 1962. It exists. That’s all I know. Archive editor note (not part of the original article): Related History Archive stories: Bricktown ; A Very Nice Mention of...

Oklahoma City Rediscovered

By William D. Welge, Arcadia Publishing, 2007, in print.

Mr. Welge’s book is a welcome addition to the various Images of America series of books which focuses on Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City Rediscovered focuses on downtown Broadway, particularly “Automobile Alley,” Capitol Hill, Deep...

Oklahoma City Zoo 1902-1959

By Amy Dee Stephens, Arcadia Press, 2006

Everybody loves animals and stories and picture books, so what’s not to like about Oklahoma City Zoo: 1902-1959? Zoo naturalist educator, Amy Dee Stephens, has put together a delightful collection of stories and pictures...

Oklahoma City: 1930 to the Millennium

By Terry L. Griffith, Arcadia Publishing, 2000, in print.

Arcadia Publishing entered the Oklahoma City market with three Griffith books, all of them mostly drawing from the collection of photos assembled by Griffith and his father over 100 years of the city’s history....

Oklahoma City: A Centennial Portrait

By Odie B. Faulk, Laura E. Faulk and Bob Blackburn, Windsor Publications, 1988, out of print, easily obtainable online or at second-hand book stores. Expect to pay $15 to $50. A...

By Odie B. Faulk, Laura E. Faulk and Bob Blackburn, Windsor Publications, 1988, out of print, easily obtainable online or at second-hand book stores. Expect to pay $15 to $50. Archive editor note (not...

Oklahoma City: Capital of Soonerland

By Lucyl Shirk, published by the Oklahoma City Board of Education, not in print, not too hard to find for sale online or at second-hand book stores. Steve’s note: Before there w...

By Lucyl Shirk, published by the Oklahoma City Board of Education, not in print, not too hard to find for sale online or at second-hand book stores. Steve’s note: Before there was “ Born...

Oklahoma City: Land Run to Statehood

By Terry L. Griffith, Arcadia Publishing, 1999, in print.

Arcadia Publishing entered the Oklahoma City market with three Griffith books, all of them mostly drawing from the collection of photos assembled by Griffith and his father over 100 years of the city’s history....

Oklahoma City: Statehood to 1930

By Terry L. Griffith, Arcadia Publishing, 2000, in print.

Arcadia Publishing entered the Oklahoma City market with three Griffith books, all of them mostly drawing from the collection of photos assembled by Griffith and his father over 100 years of the city’s history....

Oklahoma Justice: The Oklahoma City Police, A Century of Gunfighters, Gangsters and Terrorists

By Ron Owens, Turner Publishing, 1995, in print, $29.95

While it would be a stretch to regard Ron Owens’ book as a “serious” history book (for example, while it does contain a bibliography, it contains no footnotes citing to references, and, for one...

Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889

By Stan Hoig, published by the Oklahoma Historical Society, 1984, not in print.

There have been a number of books about the world’s only land opening of its kind and one that can never be repeated, because the factors that made it possible no longer exist, and...

Oklahoma Rescue

By Jon Hansen, Mass Market Paperback, 1995, not in print, but copies widely available online at about $5. NOTE: I wrote the following review in July, 1995 - when emotions were s...

By Jon Hansen, Mass Market Paperback, 1995, not in print, but copies widely available online at about $5. NOTE: I wrote the following review in July, 1995 - when emotions were still running raw...

Old Man River: The Life of Ray Ackerman

By Bob Burke and Joan Gilmore, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2002, in print, $24.95

Oklahoma City’s modern history can’t be told without giving prominent mention to Ray Ackerman, who built the state’s largest advertising agency and boosted his adopted city at every opportunity. Bob Burke, writing with Joan...

One Man in His Time (Jack Conn autobiography)

By Jack T. Conn, Western Heritage Books, 1979. Not in print, but can be found at antique stores, collectable book shops, sometimes online.

Jack Conn, president of Fidelity Bank, was a leading civic leader who developed downtown’s underground pedestrian tunnels, which were named the Conncourse in his honor until being renamed as The Underground. It’s a decent...

One O’Clock Jump: The Unforgettable History of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils

By Douglas Henry Daniels, Beacon Press, 2007, in print. Reviews: Daniels chronicles a little-known but hugely influential jazz band: the Oklahoma City Blue Devils, which counted...

By Douglas Henry Daniels, Beacon Press, 2007, in print. Reviews: Daniels chronicles a little-known but hugely influential jazz band: the Oklahoma City Blue Devils, which counted among its members Count Basie, Oran Page, Buster...

OPUBCO’s First Century

By David Dary, Oklahoma Publishing Co., 2003, in print.

Realize that this is a tribute book, and not a history of the family-owned company that owns The Oklahoman and played a key role in shaping Oklahoma City and Oklahoma’s direction, and also helped...

Out of the Shadows: The Life of John J. Hardin

By Bob Burke and Kenny Arthur Franks, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 1998

Coming Soon! Do you want to share a review of this book? It’s easy! Simply register with an email address on the main page, then log in and leave a comment. It’s that simple....

Photographing Oklahoma 1889/1991

By Mark Klett, published by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 1991, not in print. Steve’s note: Jim was a veteran photographer at The Oklahoman and ended his career as photo edit...

Oklahoma City Art Museum in col

Pody Poe: From Tinhorn Gambler to Kingpin of Organized Crime

By Catherine Johnson, Grant Books, 2005, in print.

What can be said about Oklahoma City retired gambler Tracy Coy “Pody” Poe? That he is colorful cannot be disputed; that he has been a warm friend to many people cannot be denied, either....

Roscoe Dunjee: Champion of Civil Rights

By Bob Burke and Angela Munson, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 1998

Coming Soon! Archive editor note (not part of the original article): Related History Archive stories: Bricktown ; A Very Nice Mention of OKC Second Time Around . More Oklahoma City history photography at Retro...

Simple Truths: The Real Story of the Oklahoma City Bombing Investigation

By John Hersley, Larry Tongate and Bob Burke, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2004 Steve’s note: Nolan Clay was The Oklahoman’s lead reporter on the investigation into the Murrah...

Two retired FBI agents wrote in a new book on the Oklahoma City bombing that only convicted murderers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were

Staring at Sound: The True Story of Oklahoma’s Fabulous Flaming Lips

By Jim Derogatis, Broadway Press, 2006, in print

Chicago rock journalist DeRogatis (Let It Blurt) chronicles the Flaming Lips’ 23-year journey from local oddities to nationally famous stars. Formed in 1983 by charismatic front man Wayne Coyne, the Flaming Lips have enjoyed...

The Autobiography of Charles Francis Colcord

By Charles Colcord, privately published by C. C. Helmerich, 1970

This just might be the rarest OKC history book out there. One reference copy exists at the Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library (someday soon I plan to spend an afternoon reading it in the...

The First Eight Months of Oklahoma City

By Bunky, The McMaster Printing Co., 1890 (reprinted in 1988). Reprints are widely available and sold for as little as $5. ESSENTIAL OKC HISTORY

Early day journalist “Bunky” records it all - the euphoria of the initial run, the politics of establishing a new town, the rush to establish industry, the unsuccessful effort to build a canal from...

The Judge: The Life of Robert A. Hefner

By Clifford Earl Trafzer, University of Oklahoma, 1975. Biography of the Ardmore attorney who became Oklahoma City mayor and an Oklahoma Supreme Court justice Archive editor not...

By Clifford Earl Trafzer, University of Oklahoma, 1975. Biography of the Ardmore attorney who became Oklahoma City mayor and an Oklahoma Supreme Court justice Archive editor note (not part of the original article): Related...

The Making of a Merchant: R.A. Young and T.G.&Y. Stores

By Odie Faulk, 1980, Western Heritage Books. Biography of Raymond Young, who along with Rawdon Tomlinson and Enoch L. “Les” Gosselin started TG&Y variety stores in Oklahoma ...

By Odie Faulk, 1980, Western Heritage Books. Biography of Raymond Young, who along with Rawdon Tomlinson and Enoch L. “Les” Gosselin started TG&Y variety stores in Oklahoma City in 1935. At its peak, the...

The Story of Oklahoma City: The Biggest Little City in the World

By W.F. Kerr, published by S.J. Clarke, 1922

Our friend Doug Loudenback has something better than just a review - he’s got the whole book online. To read this title for yourself, go here: http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2009/06/angelo-c-scotts-story-of-oklahma-city.html#author Do you want to share a review...

The Vietnamese in Oklahoma City: A Study of Ethnic Change

The Vietnamese in Oklahoma City: A Study of Ethnic Change By Charles C. Muzny, AMS Press, 1989 I’ve not been able to find any information on this title other than that it exists and...

Vanished Splendor

By Jim Edwards and Hal Ottaway, Abalache Book Shop Publishing, 1982, not in print. Copies of all three Vanished Splendor books can be obtained online or at second hand book stor...

All of the Oklahoma City picture books published the past 20 years still can’t top this excellent collection of post cards. You’re not a serious collector of OKC history

Vanished Splendor II

By Jim Edwards and Hal Ottaway, Abalache Book Shop Publishing, 1983, not in print. Copies of all three Vanished Splendor books can be obtained online or at second hand book stor...

All of the Oklahoma City picture books published the past 20 years still can’t top this excellent collection of post cards. You’re not a serious collector of OKC history

Vanished Splendor III

By Jim Edwards and Hal Ottaway, Abalache Book Shop Publishing, 1985, not in print. Copies of all three Vanished Splendor books can be obtained online or at second hand book stor...

All of the Oklahoma City picture books published the past 20 years still can’t top this excellent collection of post cards. You’re not a serious collector of OKC history

Victor Wickersham: Your Best Friend

By Bob Burke, UCO Press, 2001

A great Oklahoma history trivia question is, “Who has run for public office more than anyone else?” The answer is longtime Congressman Victor Wickersham, according to Oklahoma City attorney, author and historian Bob Burke....

When Oklahoma Took the Trolley

By Allison Chandler and Stephen McGuire, published by Interurbans, 1980, not in print. Review by Doug Loudenback, www.dougdawg.blogspot.com Part of national “trolleys” series, t...

By Allison Chandler and Stephen McGuire, published by Interurbans, 1980, not in print. Review by Doug Loudenback, www.dougdawg.blogspot.com Part of national “trolleys” series, this book covers trolleys and interurbans throughout Oklahoma, but its coverage...