Arcadia Publishing has produced a long list of historical zoo books and the publications are slightly larger than the size of traditional paperbacks. The books have lots of black-and-white photographs, and for those that are intrigued by zoo history they are "must-owns" because many of the images can be seen nowhere else. Amazingly, Arcadia has a catalog of more than 12,000 books and 23 of them are about zoos and they've all been published in the last 23 years.
- all of the zoo books feature mainly black-and-white photos except for the ones about Elmwood Park Zoo and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (which are filled with colour photos)
- every book is 128 pages in length
- all the books go in chronological order, thus charting the history of each zoo
- photos dominate the books. For example, the one about San Francisco Zoo has exactly 230 photos
- The series is a great reference source, with many historic photos that show zoos as they used to be and I enjoy seeing construction photos of exhibits that were built decades ago.
Here is the complete list of the 23 zoo books that have been published by Arcadia in the Images of America series. I own them all and I really like the series, even though there's never quite enough depth in the text for my liking. For many of these zoos, this is the only printed record of their history.
Central Park Zoo (2002)
New York City Zoos and Aquarium (2005)
Oklahoma City Zoo 1902-1959 (2006)
Knoxville Zoo (2007)
Oak Park and the Montgomery Zoo (2007)
Brookfield Zoo (2009)
San Francisco Zoo (2009)
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (2010)
Cincinnati Zoo (2010)
Marineland (2011)
Benson's Wild Animal Farm (2011)
Jungleland (2011)
Oklahoma City Zoo 1960-2013 (2014)
Turtle Back Zoo (2014)
Milwaukee County Zoo (2014)
Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park (2015)
Memphis Zoo (2015)
Elmwood Park Zoo (2016)
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (2017)
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (2017) - via The History Press
Phoenix Zoo (2018)
Roger Williams Park Zoo (2022)
Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park (2025) - via The History Press
- all of the zoo books feature mainly black-and-white photos except for the ones about Elmwood Park Zoo and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (which are filled with colour photos)
- every book is 128 pages in length
- all the books go in chronological order, thus charting the history of each zoo
- photos dominate the books. For example, the one about San Francisco Zoo has exactly 230 photos
- The series is a great reference source, with many historic photos that show zoos as they used to be and I enjoy seeing construction photos of exhibits that were built decades ago.
Here is the complete list of the 23 zoo books that have been published by Arcadia in the Images of America series. I own them all and I really like the series, even though there's never quite enough depth in the text for my liking. For many of these zoos, this is the only printed record of their history.
Central Park Zoo (2002)
New York City Zoos and Aquarium (2005)
Oklahoma City Zoo 1902-1959 (2006)
Knoxville Zoo (2007)
Oak Park and the Montgomery Zoo (2007)
Brookfield Zoo (2009)
San Francisco Zoo (2009)
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (2010)
Cincinnati Zoo (2010)
Marineland (2011)
Benson's Wild Animal Farm (2011)
Jungleland (2011)
Oklahoma City Zoo 1960-2013 (2014)
Turtle Back Zoo (2014)
Milwaukee County Zoo (2014)
Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park (2015)
Memphis Zoo (2015)
Elmwood Park Zoo (2016)
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (2017)
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (2017) - via The History Press
Phoenix Zoo (2018)
Roger Williams Park Zoo (2022)
Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park (2025) - via The History Press