The Bill Wood Photo Company Photograph Collection is composed of 6,406 photographs and 70 safety negatives, most of which date from 1946 through 1969. Only 54 photographs are color prints; all others are black and white. Most of the prints are 8″×10″ in size. The photographs were taken in and around Fort Worth, Texas, by Will S. (Bill) Wood, Jr., or by employees of the Bill Wood Photo Company, a local commercial photography firm. In most cases, each print was stamped on its verso with a Bill Wood Photo Company stamp after processing. Subsequently, the staff added an identification number, which indicated the year of production. In almost every case, the identification number also designated the chronological sequence of the film exposures. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of the subjects in the prints and negatives were identified. The subjects of the photographs include a wide range of mostly middle and upper class subjects in and around Fort Worth for over three decades including people, organizations, events, and business and industrial firms. By far the greatest number of photographs in the collection was the result of the employment of Bill Wood by local business and industrial firms. These are relatively impersonal records of activities, equipment, events, facilities, meetings, merchandise, personnel, and procedures. Although some social occasions are included, such as holiday office parties, most of these photographs were taken for business, financial, insurance, or legal purposes. Many were taken for use in advertisements. These include depictions of billboards, exhibits, signs, and window displays. Public relations events, such as contests, demonstrations, grand openings, and home shows, are also represented. Photographs of the industrial environment provide the only examples in the collection of the lives of low income groups and minorities. Industrial workers are portrayed both in group pictures and while performing their jobs. These individuals are not identified, except in some cases by the company for which they work. The photographs provide good evidence of prevailing industrial working conditions in Fort Worth at that period. Other significant topics in the collection include scenes of the countryside around Fort Worth, the medical community, schools, sports, transportation, city streets, and damage caused by catastrophic events. When considered within the context of the uses of commercial photography, the Bill Wood Photo Company provides excellent visual documentation of the culture of mid-twentieth century Fort Worth and its surrounding area.
Finding aid available here. Materials provided by Special Collections and Archives at the University of Texas at Arlington.
