Book Review: Mrs. Musterman Milliner of Main Street

 

Such a valuable new title for scholars of millinery history! Available in paperback and digitally on Kindle, this biography of Lillian Musterman, a milliner and hat shop owner in Annapolis MD in the early 20th century, was written by her granddaughter, nonfiction author Elizabeth Leah Reed. 

Reed draws from newspaper articles, personal correspondence, family lore, and local history to document the life and career of this extraordinary woman. Full of fascinating details about the American millinery trade outside the epicenter of NYC, this important book illuminates rare aspects of life in this career path including the role of the traveling milliner, employed by a firm in a large city like Baltimore and sent to work on-location at sponsoring stores and boutiques around the state. What an exciting opportunity for young women in the 1910s!

The book may also be of interest to readers of women's history and anyone with a connection to the state of Maryland.