James K. Wright and H.M. Bradbury were photographers in Woodward for decades. Wright owned Wright’s Photographic Studio, and Bradbury bought him out in the late 1940s and, for obvious reasons, changed the shop’s name to Bradbury Studios. Both men were hard working photographers in the post World War II years who captured just about everything on film — weddings, parties, accident scenes, school and civic functions, and family portraits — in this west Oklahoma town on the prairie. A few years ago, a collection of negatives from both studios taken from approximately 1946-1954 were discovered in an abandoned warehouse in Woodward, and the man who found them began selling the town’s history one negative at a time on eBay. Luckily, I stumbled across the negatives and made a deal to buy the entire collection before it was scattered, piecemeal, all over the country. I’ve scanned this incredible collection of daily life in small-town Oklahoma and thought it would be fun to share it here for all to enjoy.
Click the tabs below to see the collection:
Social/Religious Organizations
All photos in the Woodward collection are the property of Lynne Rostochil and may not be copied or used without her permission.