Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Between 1891 and 1894, photographer Agnes Mitchel operated a studio at 507 4th Avenue. The State Capital Museum collection at the Washington State Historical Society contains two photographs by Mitchel, including this photograph of Belle (Mandana Isabelle) Bush Gaston, daughter of noted agriculturalist and state representative William Owen Bush, and granddaughter of early settlers George and Isabella Bush.
Agnes Mitchel photograph, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1950.3.101
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025