Wright attended Hilton High School and Brockport Normal School, and upon graduating high school, enrolled at
Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York, where he studied herpetology. He earned his PhD from Cornell in vertebrate zoology in 1908. Both Wright and his wife were interested in studying
amphibians; as such, they would eventually co-author the 1949
Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada and
Handbook of Frogs and Toads of the United States and Canada after years of extensive travel. The handbooks were finally published in 1957 and outline over 300 species. Perhaps Wright's most notable work is that which was completed between 1921 and 1922 at Okefinokee Swamp in Georgia; as a result, Wright authored the book
Life-Histories of the Frogs of Okefinokee Swamp, which he originally intended to be used as a reference source for teachers and students alike. It outlined the reproductive process of various amphibian communities native to the swamp. A recent edition of this work contains a foreword by
J. Whitfield Gibbons. Furthermore, he also worked with Frances Harper, a scientist who researched the culture behind Okefinokee Swamp. In addition to herpetology, Wright was also interested in
genealogy and researched the Wright family, as well as the history of Cornell University. ==Professional affiliations==