Bootees
Unknown Artist
1840–60
Medium
Wool, silk
Classification
Bootees
Culture
American
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Louise M. Coleman, 1941
Accession Number
2009.300.4348a, b
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of 19th-century American domestic life with *Bootees*, a delicate pair of infant footwear crafted between 1840 and 1860. These tiny shoes, from the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, embody the everyday artistry of American homemakers during the antebellum and early Civil War eras. Produced anonymously, they reflect the cultural emphasis on handcrafted garments for babies, blending practicality with quiet elegance in a time when infant mortality was high and protective clothing held deep emotional value. Made from wool and silk, the bootees showc...