Eighteenth-Century Women's Shoes: A Valuable Historical Resource

Abstract

This article aims to prove how important eighteenth-century women's shoes are as a historical resource by demonstrating the copious information that can be gleaned from the extant corpus. By interpreting the shoes from various angles — such as fashion; manufacture; the materials from which they were made; how they were bought and sold; the size, shape and wear patterns — the current understanding of eighteenth-century social life, manufacturing processes and retailing can be expanded. Having established this, the article goes on to examine the importance of maintaining and conserving this resource for continued future access. Factors that cause deterioration in shoes and the role of the conservator are addressed.