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Museums 401: Shoes (photo diary) [1]
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Date: 2023-12-02
As a part of their clothing ensemble, modern humans wear coverings on their feet known as shoes. When did humans first start wearing shoes? One of the important clues comes from biological anthropology and more specifically from the anatomical study of the foot bones of people who wear shoes and those who do not. Studies have found that some of the toe bones are less strongly built among people who wear shoes. Studies of the feet of early Homo sapiens in Europe (also known as Cro-Magnon) show that they were wearing shoes.
The earliest shoes were probably sandals. Leather wraparound shoes, similar to the American Indian moccasins, appeared sometime prior to 1600 BCE (archaeological data shows this type of foot covering in Babylon at about this time).
About 200 BCE, the Roman shoe guilds were established. The Roman cobblers were among the first to make shoes specifically for the left and right feet. These shoes were, of course, made only for the upper classes. In his book Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, Charles Panati writes:
“Roman footwear, in style of color, clearly designated social class. Women of high station wore closed shoes of white or red, and for special occasions, green or yellow.”
With the decline of the Roman Empire, the custom of cutting shoes specifically for the right or left foot fell out of practice and was not revived again in Europe until the fourteenth century.
Oxford, England, surprisingly enough, is where the oxford shoe—a low, calf-leather shoe which was laced up the front through at least three eyelets—actually originated.
In North America, the colonial cobblers used straight lasts which meant that they did not make left and right footwear. The first American shoe factory opened in the mid-eighteenth century in Massachusetts. Charles Panati writes:
“These mass-produced shoes were still cut and stitched by hand, with leather sewn at home by women and children for a shameful pittance, then assembled at the factory.”
In England, the Mansfield Shoe Company began the mechanization of shoemaking in 1892 with machines the produced shoes in standard sizes. The standardization of shoe sizes, by the way, had actually started in 1305 with a decree from King Edward I.
With regard to etymology, the current English word shoe comes from the Old English scoh which is from the Proto-Germanic *skokhaz. Some etymologies indicate that shoe is from the Anglo-Saxon word sceo meaning “foot cover”.
Until the sixteenth century, the plural of shoe was shoon.
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
Shown above are examples of Roman soldiers’ footwear.
Shown above are early leather shoes and some of the tools used to make them.
Dublinia, Dublin, Ireland
The interpretive center/museum Dublinia devotes one entire floor to an explanation and interpretation of Medieval Dublin. Medieval Ireland dates from 1169 with the arrival of the Anglo-Normans and ends by 1600 with strong English rule.
Fort Nisqually Living History Museum, Tacoma, Washington
Fort Nisqually was established by the Hudson’sBay Company (HBC), a London-based fur trading company, onthe Puget Sound in present-day Washington state in 1833. The Fort Nisqually Living History Museum is a reconstruction of the fort which visitors a glimpse of life in the fort in 1855.
Shown above are shoes in the Sale House.
Wallace Historic Mining Museum, Wallace, Idaho
Pioneer Village, Cashmere, Washington
Shoshone County Mining and Smelting Museum, Kellogg, Idaho
Wright Brothers National Museum, Dayton, Ohio
Shown above are suede shoes manufactured by the Stetson Shoe Company.
Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington
Shown above is Shoe by American artist Amber Hauch (1969- ) and Italian artist Pino Signoretto (1944-2017). Hot-sculpted glass made at MOG in 2004.
Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Spokane, Washington
One of the displays, shown below, is of baby’s shoes—different styles as well as different states of preservation.
Carriage House, Campbell House, Spokane, Washington
Heritage Museum, Astoria, Oregon
Shown above are a pair of Chinese woman’s shoes.
Shown above are logging shoes. Notice the spikes on the soles.
Mai Wah Museum, Butte, Montana
Shown above are women’s shoes from the 1890s. In 19th century China, as in Europe, women were considered to be the property of their husbands and in the Americas, Chinese women were often confined to their homes to avoid contact with Euro-Americans and other Chinese men. In the American Chinatowns, women’s lives were similar to that in China: full of restrictions and limitations.
Deschutes Historical Museum, Bend, Oregon
Shown above are replica hide skiing boots from the mid- to late-19th century.
Old Montana Prison, Deer Lodge, Montana
Shown above are shoes with concrete soles; each shoe weighed about 20 pounds.
Presby House Museum, Goldendale, Washington
Fort Dalles Museum, The Dalles, Oregon
Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, Missoula, Montana
More museum exhibits
Museums 201/301/401 show similar exhibits from several museums.
Museums 201: Antique farming equipment (photo diary)
Museums 201: Railway offices (photo diary)
Museums 201: Ancient Beds (photo diary)
Museums 301: Medicines (photo diary)
Museums 301: Telephones (photo diary)
Museums 301: Washing machines (photo diary)
Museums 301: Bathrooms (photo diary)
Museums 401: Typewriters (photo diary)
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