Baby Shoes, ca. 1870

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 their thread coverings. V-shaped elastic gores in the vamp would have made these shoes easy for an adult to get on and off the child’s foot. Elastic gores came into widespread use with the so-called “congress boots” of the 1840s and 1850s which had side inserts. In the 1860s, elastic gores moved to other areas of the shoe upper. The elastic of the nineteenth century was made with two-ply yarns that had a rubber core and spun yarn wrap.

It was common for leather shoes to be worn when children were learning to walk. Made with leather uppers in dark blue and tan, these shoes have painted canvas soles. They appear never to have been walked on as no scuff marks exist.