Shoe
Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is home to one of the largest collections of shoes and shoe heritage in the world. Arts Council England designates the collection as being of local, national and international importance.
The collection’s strength lies in its very broad range, from ancient Egypt to the latest fashions, from workwear to high-end designer creations and from Northamptonshire-made shoes to footwear from around the world. Our shoes are defined by the people that wear them. We tell these footwear stories.
The collection contains:
- More than 18,000 shoes
- Accessories including buckles and laces, shoehorns, shoe tress, spats and polish
- Shoemaking tools, machines, components and lasts
- Shoe retail objects including foot measuring devices and advertising
- Documentary archive including catalogues and trade journals
- Photographs, paintings and prints depicting shoes and shoemaking
- There is also an index of shoemakers and shoe companies from across the UK and further afield, and an international database recording concealed shoes found hidden in buildings.
The collection is a significant resource for all those interested in shoes, from students and researchers to local historians. The collection is open to donations and is governed by a policy, which helps to ensure that the collection is relevant to visitors.
Report a concealed shoe
We keep a concealed shoe index here at the museum. Concealed shoes are those that have been deliberately hidden in buildings and they have been a fascinating mystery for many years
If you find a concealed shoe or know about the discovery of one, then we would like to record the find. All information provided will help us to explore this phenomenon further. Please don’t worry if you cannot fill in all the fields as sometimes information about a find is patchy. Â
Where to view the Shoe Collection
View the Shoe Collection in our Shoe Gallery at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery.
