Paths Taken: Shoes and their journeys to the museum

Ever wondered about the journeys objects take before they end up in museums? This six-week exhibition explores four different paths that brought some remarkable shoes to the collections at Shoemakers Museum.

How did these shoes get here? This summer’s temporary exhibition explores a selection of shoes from the archive.

Every object tells a story and our shoes tell tales. Why have we kept the shoes in our archive and how did they get here? This Summer we are looking at some of the curious items in the collection and the journeys they took to get here.

From the ground

Whether buried on purpose or disposed of as midden, shoes found by archaeologists provide an astonishingly immediate connection to our ancestors. Bearing the traces left by their wearer’s feet or their maker’s tools, they can be evidence of lives lived hundreds, even thousands, of years ago.

Souvenirs

Portable, ‘authentic’ and included in your luggage allowance! Shoes have often been purchased as a souvenir of a holiday or as an exotic cultural curiosity. Sometimes these were displayed on mantlepieces, sometimes worn – or even exhibited in company museums! Discover some of our favourite shoe-venirs.

Footwear as keepsakes

Do you have some favourite shoes. Ones you can’t part with? Shoes are intimate items of apparel, we wear them so often or at special times, so that they become closely associated with their wearers. Families often keep them for generations as mementoes of a lost loved one, or nostalgic reminders of happy times.

Found concealed shoes

Builders and home renovators sometimes discover shoes blocked into the walls of old buildings. These strange discoveries relate to the centuries-old practice of deliberately concealing objects – and particularly shoes – in houses. But why? And why shoes?

This exhibition is open daily and free to visit with your Shoemakers Museum ticket.

Curators Talk – 19 Aug 11am

Spend the morning with curator Jude Saunders and Collections Officer Jordan Cole as they introduce Paths Taken and delve deeper into some of the intriguing shoes on display in this summer’s temporary exhibition. Through an illustrated talk they will reveal some of the hidden histories, unexpected stories and behind the scenes insights that could not be included in the exhibition itself. An enjoyable morning talk.

The cafe will be open and serving refreshments. Why not make a day of it enjoy the exhibition and stay for lunch!

Spaces will be limited so please book yours in advance £5 for Shoemakers Museum ticket holders £6 for those who haven’t yet got their annual museum pass.