This photograph of milliner Katherine Eugley Musgrove is one of a series, taken by Robert Esterly around 1914, of local businesses and their owners. Mrs. Musgrove was one of a handful of female proprietors in downtown Olympia. A milliner is a hat maker, an important trade in days when a woman’s hat defined her status in society. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum.
Robert Esterly photo, circa 1914, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society