Wood was a public school teacher and administrator and Texas Tech University agricultural history professor. Born in 1937 in Hemingford, Nebraska, he received a B.A. degree from Benedictine College (1959) and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Kansas (1969 and 1974). He joined the Texas Tech University History Department in 1976. Wood authored Cattlemen, Big Business, and Government: the Kansas beef Industry, 1890-1940 (1980) and performed extensive research on a biography of Murdo Mackenzie. Wood died in 1981 in Lubbock, Texas.
From the guide to the Charles L. Wood Papers, S 1214. 1., 1901-1981 and undated, (Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University)