Anna Blom, a Russian immigrant, opened the Anna Blom Book Shop in 1938 at the current location of Drees. She was a beloved and long-time fixture in downtown Olympia, presiding over the store until 1968. The bookshop still exists, now called Browser’s, on Capitol Way. Anna is pictured here surrounded by some of the thousands of books at the store. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. For more information see olympiahistory.org.

Daily Olympian photo, 1964, State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society