J. F. Standiford is a native of West Virginia, part of his life having been spent in Illinois and Kansas. He came to Muskogee, Indian Territory, in the spring of 1878, and there erected his art gallery and residence, engravings of which will be found in the grouped illustration. Mr. Standiford is the only licensed photographer in the Indian Territory, and has, without comparison, the neatest and best equipped gallery in the nation. He is ably assisted in his work by his wife and sister, the latter doing all the negative retouching, etc. A novel feature in the finishing department is a revolving printing room, a most complete addition to his gallery, and wholly an invention of his own, there being not another of its kind in existence. Another original device, his own recent invention, is an ingenious electric retouching apparatus, which is novel and useful. Mr. Standiford is, unquestionably, one of the finest photographic artists in the Southwest. A large number of the best engravings in this volume have been made from photographs taken by J. F. Standiford.
