Joel Wolff photograph and film collection, circa 1890s-1980s

George J. Wolff (1870-1931) was born in Kempen, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1888. He settled in Olympia, Washington, and worked with I. Harris & Sons Dry Goods. Wolff opened a branch store in Aberdeen in 1897 and launched his own dry goods store several years later in Aberdeen. George Wolff led the Grays Harbor Jewish congregation and was pivotal in establishing Temple Beth Israel.

George and his wife Bertha Staadecker Wolff raised two children, Sylvia (1905-1992) and Joel (1908-2004), who managed the Wolff store after his father's death. The family lived at 408 E. First St. in Aberdeen and later built a home at 102 W. 11th St., where they kept chickens, a vegetable garden, two horses and a carriage with a fringe on top.