Oil Patch Reads

Oil Patch Reads draws its identity from Bartlesville's twin legacies as the headquarters city of Phillips Petroleum and the home of Frank Lloyd Wright's only realized skyscraper, the Price Tower. The store occupies a downtown storefront within sight of the Tower, and its architecture section features an extensive collection of Wright monographs, Prairie School studies, and books on Oklahoma's oil-boom-era building tradition. The petroleum history section tells the story of the wildcatters, roughnecks, and corporate titans who built northeastern Oklahoma's economy on black gold, with everything from technical geology texts to colorful oral histories of boomtown life. The rare books collection includes original Phillips Petroleum company publications, early Oklahoma oil field photographs, and signed copies of books by Bartlesville-connected authors. The cafe, furnished with mid-century pieces that echo the Price Tower's aesthetic, serves as a gathering spot for the town's surprisingly active cultural community, which benefits from the legacy of corporate philanthropy that the oil industry brought to Bartlesville.