Boots, white canvas high-buttoned, 1915, side and front view

1915. High-button walking boots. White canvas with a vamp (toe) coming to an oval point in front, finished with a fabric toe cap, and joined to the quarters (backs) with a vertical side seam. The quarters continue the line of the vamp to the back of the boot, imitating the construction of whole foxing (which is usually made of leather). The top is seamed to the vamp and quarters and has a center back seam and a center front seam, with a closed-tab curved fly on the outside of the boot. This is made with an overlap instead of a separate tongue and closes with sixteen domed buttons painted white. The buttonhole side is reinforced with leather. The top edge is cut higher in front than in back. The sole is leather with a knock-on stacked leather heel. Lined in cotton. Stamped with a date, May 17, 1915. Professionally made. Machine-sewn.

The Irma G. Bowen Historic Clothing Collection digital catalog was produced by the UNH Library Digital Collection Initiative, supported in part by a grant from the Mooseplate program and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Additional funding provided by the E. Ruth Buxton Stephenson Memorial Fund.

Photography copyright, Astrida Schaeffer.