Browse Items (13 total)

Baby boots, 1860s Made of brown leather with a cloth lining, these boots have a flexible sole designed to be worn by an infant who has yet to walk. They lace up the center front and have four eyelets on each side. A sewing machine was used in their…

Baby shoes, late 1850s, early 1860s These shoes are constructed of brown kid and held in place at the ankle with thin black elastic bands. They have decorative brown-and-white rosettes with buckle-shaped ornaments in the center of the vamp. Machine…

Child’s shoes, 1860s/1870s Flat shoes like these were worn by both boys and girls. This pair is very small at only 4 ¾ inches long. The shoes are decorated with small bows and wooden buttons, two of which are missing. The remaining buttons have lost…

Baby shoes, late 1880s These baby shoes of white kid leather were worn by Harold Babcock, who was born in 1888. These were his christening shoes. The baby would have worn a long white gown with the shoes for the christening ceremony. They are machine…

These shoes were worn by the donor, Nathalie E. Briggs (1912-2004), who headed the URI Library’s Catalog Department for thirteen years. She graduated from URI, then known as Rhode Island State College, in 1933 after starring in basketball, softball,…

Child’s Congress Gaiters, 1865-1875 These boots are made of brown cotton serge with elastic side inserts called “goring.” The elasticized gore originated in England, but did not appear in the US until 1848. This style mimicked adult women’s shoes…

These baby shoes belonged to Abbie Read, who wore them in the 1860s. They are made of black leather with a woven cotton lining. Though more vibrant colors were available, children at this time typically wore black or brown shoes (Buck 1996: 238). A…

Girl’s Berlin-work Slippers, ca. 1860 Many patterns for making slippers at home appeared in ladies’ magazines in the 1850s and 1860s. Women used them to make uppers which were then taken to a local cobbler for assembly into the slippers (Rexford…

These suede booties lace up the front and are lined with cotton twill. They are machine sewn, but they sport hand embroidery in a herringbone stitch around the opening. The brown-red color, known as “russet,” was popular in the late 1800s. Rounded…

Embroidered baby shoes, 1840s – 1870s These baby shoes are hand sewn, which widens the possible date range. They could have been made before the widespread use of the sewing machine, or even afterwards because women continued to use their hand sewing…