Ida B. Smith Studio – 4/27/25

Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Pictured here is the studio of photographer Ida B. Smith, who was active in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. The studio, shared with her sister, photographer Agnes Mitchel, was near the corner of Jefferson and 4th Avenue, next door to the Olympia Opera House. The identity of the woman posing for the photograph is not known. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, https://olympiahistory.org.

Unknown photographer, 1895, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society

Eliza Olney – 5/11/25
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Charles M. Moore arrived in Washington Territory with his family in 1877 and was a merchant in downtown Olympia, as well as an avid amateur photographer in his later years. Shown here is Moore’s aunt, Eliza Olney (sister of prominent suffragists…
May 11, 2025
Charles M. Moore – 5/4/25
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Charles M. Moore arrived in Washington Territory with his family in 1877 and was a merchant in downtown Olympia. When photographic technology became widely available to nonprofessionals in the late 19th century, Moore captured local people and places as an amateur…
May 5, 2025
Ida B. Smith Studio – 4/27/25
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Pictured here is the studio of photographer Ida B. Smith, who was active in the late 19th and early 20th century. The studio, shared with her sister, photographer Agnes Mitchel, was near the corner of Jefferson and 4th Avenue, next door…
April 27, 2025