It has been no secret that I love my hometown of Oklahoma City an I am very proud of what it has become.  We have spent years fending off stereotypes people have of us throughout the nation  As our leadership’s vision continues to grow, our city reaps the harvest of those actions.  In recent days the National Basketball Association (NBA) has announced that our city is at the top of the list for obtaining a new franchise after the support we have given to the New Orleans Hornets after Hurricane Katrina.  Our dilapidated downtown. has begun to revive itself with new life.

With this new life, I wanted to look at our past and stumbled on a book by Larry Johnson, Historic Photos of Oklahoma City.  Larry Johnson, a reference librarian for the Metropolitan Library System in Oklahoma City has compiled many historic photos of Oklahoma City and put them in a very nice hard back book with narrative descriptions of the photos.  Some of these photos go back to the 1800’s and tell a story of the early days.  Some of the buildings in these pictures are still there and they reveal the history behind them.  This book is a walk through history in Oklahoma City showing the good times and the bad.

As most are aware, OKC has a long history with the aviation industry and one of the photos shows a primitave biplane flown by Charles Willard in the Capitol Hill area as early as 1910.  As one that has spent most of my life in Oklahoma City, I learned a lot from this book.  Many of these pictures are full page high resolution for their day.  This book follows a timeline from the early days until more recent times so one can follow the history of our great city.  I think this book is a wonderful addition to any collection.  It is well put together and has a historic look that is even pleasant to look at in your library.

This book can be purchased through many of the large retailers such as Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Target, and Alibris.  The book is published by Turner Publishing Company from Nashville, TN, and Paducah, KY.  As a person that is very proud of my hometown, I would certainly recommend this book.

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Tags: OklahomaCity, photos, book, Larry Johnson, Historic Photos of Oklahoma City