Boots, white satin side-laced, 1852-1854, side and front view

1852-1854. Evening boots. White silk satin indoor boot with a slightly rounded square toe shape and a toe cap with recede toe construction (a flat, low profile with no toe box) sewn to the rest of the boot. A center front seam runs from the toe cap to the top of the boot, and the inner side of the boot has a closed-tab opening. Eleven pairs of stitched eyelets are threaded with a white silk shoelace tipped with narrow metal aiglets, laced over a tongue long enough to meet the top of the boot. All edges are bound with twill tape. The sole is thin leather, completely flat with no heel, which is undifferentiated left from right. A paper label is glued to the insole. Lined with cotton. Professionally made and imported. Hand-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.