The Business of Shoes
This ambrotype depicts a shoemaker or cobbler with tools and a violin. It is likely a studio photo, so the sitter would have brought or helped to select the props. Ambrotypes were usually for personal use, so this photo likely would have been made to show the sitter’s interests and profession rather than advertise his business.
Shoemaker, America; late 19th century; Ambrotype in case; Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library 85×188
This photo of a shoemaker’s workshop shows two men and their work in progress. Tools are strewn about, as are numerous pairs of shoes. Unlike the neat arrangement of the ambrotype studio portrait nearby, the messy appearance of the space and stains on the floor here allow a more dynamic, if somewhat staged, view of work and business.
Interior of shoemaker’s shop, New Mexico; early 20th century, Silver gelatin print, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library 2018×23.3
The men posed in this photo stand in Theodore Bacher’s shoe repair shop, which was on the first floor of a multi-use building at 703 North Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware. The workers are surrounded by shelves of shoeboxes, stacks of shoes, and piles of leather on the counter in the retail space of the shop. This open-plan, adaptable space allowed the workers to complete multiple tasks easily and efficiently. The rolled-up sleeves and fine dress of all the workers indicate they each performed skilled work in the relatively small space. The Bacher family and their employees continued to serve Wilmington’s shoe repair needs into the 1970s.
Interior of Theodore Bacher’s shoe repair shop, Wilmington, Delaware; ca. 1940, Silver gelatin print, Delaware Historical Society BUS202
Price List: Boot and Shoe Uppers, Leather and Findings, H. Herold’s Sons, New York: By the company, ca. 1895, Printed Book and Periodical Collection, Winterthur Library GT 2130 H56
Photographic prints were more expensive than other print forms, so many businesses continued to use drawings in catalogs instead of photographs to sell their goods. Photos such as that of the Bacher shoe shop, however, provide additional appeal to customers by showing the workers themselves.
011_Object label
In this studio photo, a woman poses draped in shoes. They dangle from cords attached to her dress and her hat. On the wicker chair next to her a sign reads, “FOSTER BROTHERS / THE / UP TO DATE / SHOE DEALERS.” Although the purpose is unclear, the frame indicates that this photograph was modified. It may have been created as an advertisement that was later transformed into a personal memento.
Woman with shoes
Lee, photographer
Danville, Pennsylvania; late 19th century
Framed albumen, textile
Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library Col. 182 2017×43.2
Objects in case on wall
Photos of businesses not only give glimpses of the shops, trades, and tools but also document the clothing and less frequently preserved objects used by workers. The small, worn boots here are not dissimilar to those worn by the boy in the Solarine image nearby. Did these belong to a child who wore down the boots at work or at play?
Pair of shoes
America; 1880–1900
Leather, cotton, brass
Gift of Eleanor A. Murphey in memory of Henry H. and Maria M. Albertson 1994.0107.097
Shoemaker Francesco Pennachia emigrated from Italy to America in the 1920s and set up shop in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York. He brought tools with him from Italy, but he purchased these lasts, marked by the companies that made them, in the United States.
Shoe lasts, United States; ca. 1920s, Wood, metal, ink, Marked: D&W LAST CORP. MILLER/O.A.M.CO., The Semento Family