Madame Anna Ben-Yusuf was a German

milliner Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of ...

and teacher based in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. She wrote ''The Art of Millinery'' (1909), one of the first reference books on millinery technique. She was the mother of the portrait photographer Zaida Ben-Yusuf.

Early life

Born Anna Kind in Berlin in around 1845, she married an Algerian man, Mustapha Moussa Ben Youseph Nathan, who lived in Hammersmith, London.Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1869-1898
on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009 They had four daughters - Esther Zeghdda Ben Youseph Nathan, better known as Zaida (1869-1933), Heidi (c.1873-1915), Leila (c.1877-1967) and Pearl (c.1878-1940), before the marriage fell apart. Anna and her daughters moved to Ramsgate, England, where she supported her family by working as a governess. Her ex-husband remained in London, occasionally giving lectures on Arab culture for the Moslem Mission Society. In 1891, he and his second wife Henrietta Crane, had a daughter, also called Zaida (1891-1967) and a son, Mussa, who died in infancy in 1893.

Career

During the late 1880s, Anna Ben-Yusuf emigrated to the United States, where by 1891, she had established a

's shop on Washington Street in Boston.Jones, Stephen & Her eldest daughter Zaida also emigrated to the US in 1895, setting up a milliner's at 251 Fifth Avenue,

before becoming a successful

portrait photographer Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective Photographic lighting, lighting, Painted photography backdrops, backdrops, and poses. A portr ...

. Zaida published occasional articles on millinery for ''

Harpers Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

'' and the ''

Ladies Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In ...

''.Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1898-1900
on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009 From September 1905 to June 1907, Anna Ben-Yusuf was an instructor in millinery at the Pratt Institute in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

.Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1901-1906
on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009
on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009 She resigned in 1907 to set up a school of her own on West 23rd Street. Her book, ''The Art of Millinery: Practical Lessons for the Artiste and the Amateur'' was published in 1909. It was one of the first reference books for teaching the art of hat-making in all its aspects, and remains a useful resource for leading contemporary milliners such as Stephen Jones. It was formatted as a series of lessons, each dealing with a particular aspect of constructing a hat, treating the fabric, or creating different types of trimming. On a more practical note, it also advised on correct storage, renovating fabrics, and the business side of millinery, and included a glossary of terms used in millinery. In 1992, a revised edition was reprinted as ''Edwardian Hats: The Art of Millinery''.

Books

* 1909 — ''The Art of Millinery'' * 1992 — ''Edwardian Hats: The Art of Millinery''

Death

Anna Ben-Yusuf died in New York on 8 December 1909.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Yusuf, Anna 1840s births 1909 deaths Emigrants from the Kingdom of Prussia Immigrants to the United Kingdom Immigrants to the United States German women fashion designers American women fashion designers German milliners American milliners 19th-century American businesswomen 19th-century American businesspeople