Garfield Farm Museum to host lecture on history of shoe and boot styles
On Sunday, Nov. 5, museum volunteer Norman Walzer will give a lecture on the history of shoe and boot styles from the 1770s to the Civil War.
A collection of 30-40 slides of shoes from Europe and the United States will form the basis for the presentation. The slides are documented from visits to museums or professional literature on footwear.
Technically, cordwainers were skilled artisans who could make footwear from new leather whereas cobblers repaired or made shoes from used leather.
The presentation at at 1 p.m. will include reproductions of shoes/boots and wallets from the 1830s-1850 as well as examples of pre-Civil War shoemaking and harness making tools.
A discussion of the steps involved in shoe and/or boot making will be included as well. Topics such as "were there rights and lefts?"; "what are those little wooden pegs made of?"; "did black leather come from black cows?" and other commonly asked questions will be addressed.
Walzer collects leatherworking and shoe-making tools and has made 1820s-1850s boots and shoes for more than 15 years. He has attended workshops at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and has visited several major museums with large shoe collections such as the BATA Museum in Toronto and the Steamboat Arabia in Kansas City. He has been a volunteer interpreter on shoe-boot making at Lincoln's New Salem Historic Site since the early 1970s and periodically teaches shoe and wallet-making to volunteers. He has also served on the board of the Honourable Cordwainers' Company, an international Guild of shoemakers interested in historical practices and techniques.
The cost of the lecture is $7; refreshments are included. For reservations, contact the museum at (630) 584-8485 or info@garfieldfarm.org.
Garfield Farm Museum is located on Garfield Road, off Route 38, 5 miles west of Geneva.
The 374-acre site is a historically intact former 1840s farm and teamster inn being restored as an 1840s working farm museum by volunteers and donors from around the country.
Visit www.garfieldfarm.org or facebook.com/GarfieldFarmMuseum