A pair of black leather high top athletic shoes, c. 1920s, photographed in three ways to capture all of their characteristics.

In my last blog installment, I announced the 2022 Digital Photography Project that is run with the assistance of the Government of Canada’s Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations employment program. Since that blog was posted, we have been busy capturing images of artefacts in the collection. In this blog and upcoming blogs, I will go over some of the details involved in taking the actual picture, processing the image files, and getting the images saved safely to the right place.

The preparation to photograph starts with selecting the artefacts in the storage area. Having been trained in the principles of safe artefact handling, the project team’s artefact handler Catharine Solomon gathers a trolley. She has selected objects that are going into the new exhibition All Dolled Up: Fashioning Cultural Expectations. A few of the items in that exhibition haven’t yet been photographed, and this needs to be done before they are installed as we will need documentation photos for reference while the exhibition is up. So Catharine pulls the catalogue datasheets for the objects flagged for photography (note the orange tags), and collects the artefacts from the storage area, placing them on the trolley. The photography room is just down the hall, and there she has a workspace set up with space to prepare the artefacts. Preparing the artefact most often requires the removal of storage mounts.

With the artefact prepared for photography, she places it on the shooting surface, centering it because the shooting surface and seamless backdrop are quite narrow at only 6 feet wide. Now the image capture begins!

Using a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera -- a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV – we capture the images in RAW format, saving each shot to the memory card and to the computer workstation, to which the camera is tethered. Shooting on the Manual setting, and using the 50mm range on the zoom lens, we shoot for maximum depth-of-field keeping the f-stop at f22. The Canon camera has complementary software that allows for remote shooting, so we never have to touch the camera and risk ‘shake’ of the image. The camera also allows for Live View shooting that gives a preview of what the camera is seeing. This large preview displays on the computer workstation. This feature gives the three of us the ability to see what is being captured while we remain a safe 2-metres apart for COVID-19 safety.

The remote shooting program open on the left screen, and the Live View shooting program in operation on the right screen.

Our lighting setup is simple. We have four 18” lamp heads on tripod stands. Each lamp has a nylon diffuser on its face. The lamps are fitted with cool compact bulbs, a necessity in our very small, not-well ventilated photography room. We arrange the lighting so that two lamps illuminate the backdrop and two lamps illuminate the artefact.

As Christine Spenuk, project photographer, checks for lighting, exposure, focus and composition issues, she captures a few test shots of the artefact. Getting all of the settings perfect for each shot takes time and attention. Both Catharine and Christine check for the quality of the image and even lighting. They keep a logbook of the artefacts they have shot that includes a list of the shots per artefact, the composition of each shot, and the file name of the best shot. This logbook will help with the later steps in processing. The catalogue datasheet that stays with the artefact is also updated with a penciled notation of the date it was photographed.

The final step is to check the composition to see if the shot is showing the most important characteristics of the artefact. Depending on the artefact, curators and researchers may want to see a specific aspect of the shoe emphasized in the shot, perhaps the heel, the closure mechanism, the toe shape, the silhouette or the vamp. Finding a composition and shooting angle that best represents the shoe in an overall shot is sometimes very challenging. This is where creativity comes into play.

After capturing the overall shot, we take at least two additional shots: a profile and a sole shot. So often the sole of the shoe is not seen, and the sole can give a good deal of information, so this in an important shot. If there are finer details on the shoe that should be captured, we will do additional shots. For very close detail shots, we change the lens on the camera to a 100mm macro lens and shoot with an f-stop of f/32, for the best depth-of-field.

After all of the angles have been shot, the artefact is ready to be prepped to go back into storage. The storage mounts that were initially removed are put back into place, and the artefact is placed on the trolley for the short trip back to the storage room.

In the next blog, I will talk about the image file processing that comes next in the process.

This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada’s Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations employment program.

Suzanne Petersen, Collections Manager

I am retiring this summer and thought my last conservation treatment should connect to the first one. Thirty-four years ago I was hired to work on the women’s 18th century collection. It was a unique moment, as there was a BSM collection but no exhibition space. Myself and another conservator conserved the footwear that was most in need of intervention.

These shoes were purchased in 1982 from a dealer specializing in historic clothing and accessories. While the embroidered silk faille vamps were very pretty, it was obvious someone had fiddled significantly with the quarters on both shoes. Remnants of the original silk faille were glued to a figured silk satin. Random embroidery elements some original, a couple with a completely different aesthetic, were also glued to the replacement fabric.

The flower on the left is a completely different style than the finely executed flower on the right.

The adhesive was disfiguring and damaging. It was an orangey-yellow colour, composed of brittle islands on the silk, as well as the leather lining to which it had been attached. The hard patches of adhesive were cutting through the desiccated fibres of the remaining faille. In several of areas the adhesive had dried out causing losses of embroidery, as witnessed by adhesive stains to which nothing was attached. The original silk ribbon binding was extant along the top edges of the tongue extensions but completely missing along the tops of the quarters. It had been replaced during the previous ‘restoration’.

After discussing these issues with the curator it was decided the figured silk satin should be replaced with a silk faille, the adhesive residue should be removed as much as possible and the replacement ribbon would be reused. Solvents were tested to determine which one would be best at removing the disfiguring adhesive. The topline ribbon was removed first, by clipping the stitches with a pair of curved blade scissors to prevent nicking the original fabric. Then the adhesive securing the original fabric to the replacement needed to be reduced in order to detach these components, and finally the quarters were removed.

Left: adhesive stains Right: removing adhesive residue from embroidery

The original faille was ivory but over time developed a very faint brown discolouration. The new faille, and hair silk for sewing, were dyed with tea to impart an aged appearance. The most complete replacement quarter was used as a template from which to cut the new quarters. It was lasted into the sole seam with a reversible adhesive and a spatula, taking into consideration that the weave of the new fabric needed to match the direction of the weave of the original remnants. The quarter was secured to the leather lining with tiny clips and rare earth magnets as anchors. The new fabric was sewn with hair silk and a fine beading needle that was passed through existing stitch holes along the topline.

Finding a replacement ribbon similar in weave and width to the 18th century ribbon is virtually impossible, at least I have yet to find a suitable source. The topline binding that came with the shoes was sewn back in place using the same technique as for the new quarters (hair silk, beading needle).

The treatment has stabilized the original fabric to prevent further damage, resulting in a shoe that looks more in keeping with the intention of the shoemaker.

This summer I am joined by Emma Pakstas and Eric Watters, both graduate students in Toronto Metropolitan University’s Photography Preservation and Collections Management program at the Creative School. Their work with me on the Digital Photography Project here at the Bata Shoe Museum is funded in part by the Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations program, Government of Canada.

Shooting in high resolution digital format with a Canon E0S 5D Mark IV, the photos produced during the project are publishable quality, allowing the museum to expand its reach to visitors, researchers and online visitors.

After the initial two weeks of intensive training in our photography process and in artefact handling procedures, the three of us have started to work through this summer’s shot list. Starting with a large stockings and sock collection we acquired in 2018, we are now photographing the Museum’s shoe art holdings which includes works by Marion Borgelt, Marilyn Levine, and Victor Guillen, to name a few. After that segment is done, we’ll move on to shoot new acquisitions.

In this video you can see Emma gently moving this pair of black silk stockings into place on the photo backdrop.

Emma Pakstas is trained as the Artefact Handler for the project and is tasked with the safe and proper movement of artefacts. She plans the shot-order and the movement of the artefacts from the storage rooms to the photography studio where she prepares the objects for photography by removing storage mounts. After placing an artefact on the photo backdrop, she works with the Photographer to perfect the composition of the shot, moving the artefact slightly in order to capture its most photographic angle, and it’s most important features.

Eric records the details in the logbook and selects the photo for processing.

Eric Watters is trained as the Artefact Photographer for the project. His work involves lighting, composition, exposure, focus and depth of field. He sets up the photography equipment for each shot and maintains the equipment, making sure he captures each object at its best angle, allowing its most important features to be captured. He also tracks all of the shots in a journal, a helpful reference for the image processing steps that follow.

After the actual shooting is done, the team will process, resize, format and renamed the image files. The metadata for each image is collected in an excel sheet. Finally, the images will be uploaded to the Museum’s collections management database, along with the metadata. The final step for the three of us on the project team is to update the data sheet hard copies for each artefact. These data sheets are kept next to every single object in the artefact storage room, for quick reference. It’s a great system that merges the digital with the analog, making information accessibility very straightforward for the whole curatorial team.

This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada’s Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations employment program.

Suzanne Petersen, Collections Manager

It’s important to have written and visual documentation on the condition of an artefact. This allows one to keep track of any changes to the materials, particularly for footwear composed of modern materials. Condition reports are written for incoming loans when other institutions and private collectors lend to upcoming exhibitions at the BSM. We also compose reports for outgoing loans to other museums that are borrowing to enhance the content of their future exhibitions. This allows the conservators at the destination to determine if any damage has occurred during shipment when comparing accompanying documentation.

The selected artefact is first photographed from a variety of angles (right foot first: sole, proper right side, vamp, proper left side, heel area and interior). Close-ups are taken of independent elements and to track potential changes in existing damage. Next, their documentation file is examined to see if there is any relevant information, such as a list of materials sourced from the manufacturer or previous conservation treatments.

The images are processed through Photoshop and printed off. The written report follows the same geography as the photography session. Additional information can include: if there are stains on internal supports or strong or unusual odours (and I’m not referring to stinky feet! which is a common question but a very rare occurrence). For instance, rubber can have a strong sulphur smell which is referred to as outgassing or off gassing and can cause internal supports to turn yellow over time.

Any physical abnormalities or unexpected historical additions are noted on the printed photographs. The condition report is attached to the annotated images and the documentation is added to the artefact file.

Currently we are examining plastics that have the potential to deteriorate. The shoes, pictured below, are covered with a polyurethane film that gives them the shiny white patent look. The vamp, which in parts is still shiny, has become quite dull and there are fine cracks in the film emanating from the holes created by the top stitching. These shoes were purchased by actor Catherine O’Hara as part of an outfit she created when reprising her character Lola Heatherton for a charity event. They were donated to the BSM in 2018.

Writing these condition reports is part of a much larger project. As mentioned in previous blogs, we are trying to determine which shoes will be moved to the new, retro fitted storage room. These baseline reports will establish current condition so that we have a reference with which to monitor any changes to component materials over time.

As we prepared for the new exhibition, Future Now, condition reports are updated or if they don’t already exist, baseline documents are created. This pair of sneakers was purchased specifically for the aforementioned exhibition. When they are new, fresh from the manufacturer, it’s the best time to write a report and photograph all the component materials in their original state. Details are taken of all the elements including the aglets at the ends of the laces.

Writing these reports is an ongoing project. It gives the conservator an opportunity to examine each shoe up close and in detail. Listing all the materials used in each structural component allows the observer to witness how they age over time as well as interact with each other.

Ada Hopkins

Conservator

I have had the good fortune to be able to travel as a representative of the BSM to install artefacts or exhibitions in museums around the world. The first trip was to Taipei, Taiwan in June 2001. The Canadian Trade Office (CTO), based in Taipei, contacted Mrs. Bata to see if it would be possible to send a curated exhibition on the history of Western fashion footwear. The exhibition was part of a greater CTO initiative that included the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), as well as several Canadian authors.

The exhibition, Shoes in Fashion from 200 to 2000, was planned in Toronto without the aid of email when faxes were the default means of long distance communications. John Vollmer, Vollmer Cultural Consultants Inc., was the project manager/curator/catalogue author and Reich + Petch were the exhibit/casework designers. The planning had its challenges: different primary languages, completely different time zones and multiple parties trying to bring everything together in a timely fashion so that casework could be fabricated and catalogues printed in Taiwan.

Left:catalogue front cover © Bata Shoe Museum Right: back of catalogue, photo by Ron Wood

Once all the conservation and condition reports were completed, everything was packed into five crates and shipped via Air Canada to Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport, Taipei. The artefacts, which arrived a week before John and myself, were picked up by drivers from National Museum of History (NMH), the host institution.

We had one day to ourselves and took in as many cultural sites as possible: National Palace Museum, Shung Ye Museum (featuring the belongings of Taiwanese indigenous peoples) displaying artefacts on loan from the ROM, and the Hsing Tien Temple.

Left: National Palace Museum, Peellden, wikimedia.org/3672985 Right: Hsing Tien Temple, tripadivsor.ca

It took us four days to install the exhibition. We were assisted by a volunteer, who had completed a work placement at the BSM, and just happened to be visiting a friend in Taipei. Cora Ginsberg LLC, based in New York City, loaned a woman’s 18th century dress to augment the exhibition. The threads on some of the seams had disintegrated over time, and with the owner’s permission, John and I performed a round of guerilla textile conservation one evening using a repair kit provided by the hotel in which we were staying, along with supplies from a local fabric store.

The staff at the NMH were most accommodating, making repairs to broken casework as we experienced two earthquakes over a period of twelve hours. We accomplished a lot in a short period of time aided by many strong Taiwanese iced coffee to combat the jet lag which never seemed to go away! We took our lunch breaks in the museum’s cafeteria, next to the incredibly beautiful lotus pond behind the NMH.

The opening of the exhibition was celebrated with officials from the Taiwanese and Canadian governments as well as Mr. and Mrs. Bata. The day was concluded with a lovely dinner at the home of the head of the Canadian Office of Trade, overlooking the city.

Ada Hopkins

BSM Conservator

Canada’s champion skater Ralph McCreath in the mid-1940s wearing the newer type of boot and blade. © Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame

We are celebrating the official launch of our new virtual exhibition Boots & Blades: The Story of Canadian Figure Skating at bootsandblades.ca. The exhibition is in French and in English and contains information on the development of the sport from 1600 to 2022. There are over 40 rarely seen videos and more than 350 images, artefacts and audio clips. The site is fully accessible with captioning, transcripts and more.

This blog will focus on some of the research that went into two sections of bootsandblades.ca: “1920-1945 Form Follows Function” and “1945-1965: Age of Internationalism.” Previously, I’ve written about early blade technology and also the origins of maker marks applied on skates. Both of these approaches give clues to when the skate was made. As we move forward in time to the middle of the 20th century, the sport continued to develop. At this time, skaters were doing fancy figures much less, having reduced the practice of tracing figure-8s and other line shapes into the ice. There was still a figure-8 component to the sport (figures), but it accounted for about half of the skill-set required to be a champion. The other half of the assessment was the free skate component. This is where changes in the sport were dramatic! The sport was getting more athletic and there were changes to the technique of figure skating.

So, how could a skater improve their performance in the free skate category? Adapting the skates to their needs was one way. Technology of materials and improvements in design are two areas in which we see skates improve at this time.

Unworn high-end skating boots made by E. Schmacher a.s., St. Moritz, Switzerland, c. 1930 -1938. Note the rounded toe for more toe movement. A view of the bottom shows the markings for blade placement.

Boot design. Boot design was improved by lowering the leg shaft to just below the skater’s calf, allowing for more free knee and ankle movement. The boot also allowed for more room in the toe area and a good fit over the instep provided improved overall support. The 1930s Schmacher boots shown here have all these features. It is interesting to note that boots and blades were still manufactured and sold by separate companies at this time for all levels of customers. High-end boots and blades have continued to be made and purchased separately, and still are to this day, but skates intended for leisure by the general public started to be sold as a ‘kit’ around this time. As the cost of skates came down, more people could buy them. Incidentally, one of the first companies to offer the kit of boots with blades was Spalding in the United States of America.

Blade design. Blades in the early 20th century were supported with only two stanchions. The toe of the blade was not connected and simply curled upwards, artfully. In the 1930s, a third point of connection became popular and it remains on blades today. This third connection is at the toe, as is illustrated by this early pair by CCM. This design improved stability at the front of the blade, making it preferred for the more athletic movements of the new skating style. The toe pick feature would be integrated on this type of blade soon after.

These CCM blades are marked with the Toronto Junction CCM factory location. Canadian, c. 1930-40s. Note that the blade is connected to the sole mount in three places.

Technology. The new free skate category required skaters to have a good grip of the ice. Sharpening the blades with deeper edges improves grip and control on the ice. The other effect of deeper edges is reduction in speed. The skater has to push ever harder to move when the blade has deep edges. A balance is needed therefore: not too much edge, just enough to grip the ice and enough for the moves performed.

The edges create resistance, and in doing that they slow the speed of the skater. Shallow edges allow the skater stability, speed and smooth motions. Speed skates, for example, have shallow edges. Deeper edges allow for precise moves needed for complex footwork and jumps. The deeper blade sharpening curve is used by free skaters today, allowing the needed control for the athletics. Still, blades that are cut too deep will slow down the skater, cutting too deeply into the ice. A precise balance is needed to achieve the correct blade sharpening to the exact needs of the skater.

Getting the right boots and blades is critical to a skater’s performance. The design and technology of skates is improving and changing all of the time. Beyond skates, the other aspects that will influence a skater’s performance include the quality of the ice surface, training, coaching, practice and artistry to name a few.

Suzanne Petersen, Collections Manager

The older boot style with higher leg shaft and narrow, pointed toe influenced by street attire. Wilson Skating Shoes catalogue, 1935-1936. Courtesy Yvonne Butorac The older blade style with only two stanchions. C.C.M. advertisement in the Toronto Skating Club Carnival Program, 1932. Courtesy Yvonne Butorac Wearing the older styles of boot and blades, French champions Andrée Joly and Pierre Brunet perform in the late 1920s. Courtesy Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame]

Right off the bat, I want to apologize for the quality of the photographs. The room in which we are working has extremely limited lighting, which results in murky images! In February, we removed all the tables that had been used for temporary storage in the future permanent storage room. The first step in retrofitting the room involved examining the two exterior walls to determine if all the surrounding city construction had compromised their impermeability. There were several vertical cracks in both walls that needed to be excised for the engineer to examine.

This stage created a lot of dust. To prevent the debris from moving through the HVAC system, filters were placed over all the intake vents, a sealed plastic curtain was hung in the hallway outside the room and a large hose to which a fan was attached pushed everything into an emergency stairwell.

Once the engineer gave the ‘all clear’, the cracks were sealed, then filled to bring them even to the surfaces of the surrounding walls. After this treatment had dried, parging was applied to all the cracks as an extra cautionary step to prevent ingress of moisture. We also performed tests to see if moisture was rising up through the floor which is the pad the museum is built on. This was a very simple procedure: the floor sealant was ground off, a square of plastic placed over this area and all four sides of the patch taped to the cement floor. A hand held device called a concrete moisture metre was used to measure accumulated moisture which turned out to be insignificant. These two exploratory patches will remain on the floor as we work through the different stages of the retrofit. As we move into spring, a traditionally wet time of year, these patches will indicate if there is seasonal shift.

Next step is to bring in electricians to install extra wall outlets and, as referenced at the beginning of this blog, much needed additional lighting! I’ll keep you updated with the progress.

Ada Hopkins

BSM Conservator

In 1995, just before the BSM opened to the public, the entire artefact collection was moved from its temporary location to its new permanent home. Previously, space was limited and the entire skate collection was stored in boxes. Now with new shelving and more space, the dilemma was how to safely store these artefacts so that they would be visible.

As one can imagine, skates do not naturally stand on their own! If left to their own devices, the skates would have to lie on their sides. This would expose the blades, creating potential for scratching their neighbours and making them challenging to handle. The storage solution needed to hold the skates in an upright position, support loose straps and shield the blades. The materials needed to be inert meaning they wouldn’t off gas, creating harmful vapours, which would make the metal corrode and cause degradation of the other materials of which the skates are composed. These could range from leather to modern plastics, depending on the age and specific function of the skate.

We settled on traditional and tested materials: polyethylene (PE) foam and polypropylene (PP) corrugated plastic sheet (Coroplast). We decided that in the upright position, in its support tray, the skates needed to be visible from the front and the back. This meant that you could see what the upper section of the skates look like without having to take them off the shelf, reducing over handling.

The storage containers are tailor made for each pair of skates. Each skate was placed in an acrylic ‘puck’ that held them in an upright position. The pair was placed, side by side, one facing forward, its mate facing backwards with enough space between so that they would not touch. The centre foam block was cut to these measurements plus the length of the skate blade, which is usually longer than the boot. Next two side blocks were cut to the same length but to a narrower width which is determined by the distance from the side of the blade to the widest part of the boot or footrest. A sheet of PP was cut to a dimension that would enclose these PE blocks, creating a base and covering the sides. The exposed surface of the PE blocks was covered with PE foam sheet to prevent scratching the metal blades or the sole of the leather boots at the point of contact. The overlapping corners of the PP container were skived down, then secured with hot melt glue. The foam blocks were placed inside the container, leaving a space between the outer blocks and the central block into which the blades would nestle. A variety of solutions is used to support the leather straps as they vary in condition and design.

Lastly, the artefact number is applied to the front of the container for two reasons: to tell you what the artefact is without having to remove it from the shelf and to match the storage tray back up to the skates should they become separated.

The end result is a collection of 111 skates that stand vertically on the shelves in the storage room. The support container keeps everything tidy and makes it easy to lift the artefacts without incurring damage.

Ada Hopkins, Conservator

John Wilson’s “The Syers Skate” blade, named after Madge Syers, the first women’s world champion, 1908. Maker of the boots is “The Lobby Shoes” company. Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum. Image © 2022 Bata Shoe Museum.

The skate research for Boots & Blades: The Story of Canadian Figure Skating took me down some fascinating ‘rabbit holes’ of interesting information and histories. In this blog, I will show the details we have found about three pair of skates. These are all from the 20th century.

The first pair here are tan leather boots fitted with blades that curl up in the front. These are constructed differently than the skates we use today. The toe has a ‘pick’, but the metal curl is set forward, so it does not connect with the mount plate of the blade. This would make it more unstable than the skates we have now. This type of toe curl and pick blade was developed in the 1870s, likely by A.G. Spalding & Bros. in the USA. The blades shown here were manufactured by John Wilson, the oldest known blade making company, at their factory in England in Portland Worms, Sheffield. The blades feature John Wilson’s trademark figure of a running greyhound dog on one side, and the model name "The Syers Skate" on the other.

Details of “The Syers Skate” blade. Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum. Image © 2022 Bata Shoe Museum.

Syers is the last name of Florence Madeleine Syers (née Cave) (1881 - 1917), best known as Madge Syers, who was a British figure skater. She is the namesake of this blade model. She is remarkable because she was the first woman to ever compete in figure skating. Before her involvement, women were simply not invited to compete as it was seen as a masculine aspect of the sport. She won the World championships in both 1906 and 1907, and then in 1908 when figure skating was part of the Summer Olympics in London, she won that honour as well. She was 27 years old; the oldest Olympic World figure skating gold medalist even today. Syers, unfortunately, had to retire from figure skating shortly after the 1908 Olympics because of her health. She died of Influenza in 1917, at the young age of 35. Madge Syers was certainly an inspiration to many women in sport at that time. The availability of “The Syers” blade is little known, but this model was most likely created during her peak of influence in the mid to late part of the decade, 1905 to 1910.

Related to “The Syers” skate blade is this pair in the Bata Shoe Museum collection made by A.G. Spalding & Bros. in the USA. Spalding innovated the upturned-toe blade with toe pick feature in the 1870s, which is seen in "The Syers" pair above. They likely produced this “Continental” model for several decades. To narrow down the date range for this pair of skates, we dug further into the name of the boot manufacturer.

Skate blades manufactured by A.G. Spalding & Bros. in the USA, fitted on boots made by the Northern Shoe Company, circa 1906 - 1918. Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum. Image © 2022 Bata Shoe Museum. Details of the Spalding/Northern pair of skates showing the maker’s marks indicating “Duluth Hockey Shoe” model and the Northern Shoe Company. Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum. Image © 2022 Bata Shoe Museum.

This pair of skates has been dated circa 1906 to 1918 because of the information we found about the boot manufacturer. The boots are the ‘Duluth Hockey Shoe’ model, made by the Northern Shoe Co., in Minnesota. That boot was produced after the Phillip-Bell Shoe company became the Northern Shoe Company in 1906, and a subdivision called Duluth Hockey was created. By 1910, Northern Shoe's four hundred workers produced 1,500 pairs of boots and shoes per day and sold over $1 million of footwear a year. It was a successful company with its own rail line and a dock for loading freighters. In 1918, the owner renamed the business A.J. Hartman Shoe Company.

The curl toe blade was produced in many countries over the period 1870 to 1930. This German-made pair is another example in the Bata Shoe Museum collection.

Skates manufactured by Germany’s Euchs brand showing the toe curl design that extends in front of the skaters boot. “Special” blade model. Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum. Image © 2022 Bata Shoe Museum.

Suzanne Petersen, Collections Manager

Last year the BSM received funding to support an online exhibition about the history of figure skating. This project was managed by the BSM's Collections Manager Suzanne Petersen. In the late spring of 2021 she went through all the skates in the BSM collection to determine which ones would best tell the story. Once her selections were finalized, I examined the skates to see which ones required treatment in preparation for photography.

Out of 53 pairs of skates 14 pairs needed conservation. Once COVID restrictions were eased, I was able to work full time at the museum. I had two months to complete my portion of the project before handing everything over to the photography team. There was a group of eight pairs of skates, from the 19th century, composed of wooden footrests, into which steel blades were imbedded. These would have been attached to the skater’s boots with leather straps, a few of which were extant. Some of the straps were exhibiting red rot, a form of deterioration that undermines the stability of the leather, causing embrittlement of the fibres. Several leather straps were so degraded, they had broken into smaller sections causing delamination of the grain (the smooth surface of the leather).

In several instances, leather straps had buckles and rivets used to keep everything in place. At some point, a previous owner had applied a leather dressing attempting to keep the leather supple. The oils from these applications interacted with the metal components creating a greasy, green crystalline residue called verdigris (you can see in the photo below how the paper support is stained yellow from the migrating oils). As the verdigris continued to accumulate it caused the leather to split and crack at the point of contact. The buildup of verdigris was removed with wooden picks, micro brushes and dental tools. Afterwards, soft bristle brushes were used to sweep the debris into a low suction vacuum.

Some of the wooden footrests had a buildup of dirt that had accumulated over their approximately 150-year lifetime. This was removed with latex free cosmetic sponges and dry cleaning sponges. The crumbs from this process were removed with a soft bristle brush and a low suction vacuum.

The BSM has shown individual pairs of skates in previous exhibitions but never together on such a specific topic. This project was a great opportunity to have a closer look at our collection of skates and treat them as a group. Boots & Blades: The Story of Canadian Figure Skating is now live and can be viewed here.

Ada Hopkins, BSM Conservator

The artefact collection of the BSM continues to grow through donations and purchases. For the past ten years we having been struggling with diminishing storage space along with the need to store items made of modern materials in an appropriate environment. The original architectural plan for the museum included the design of a potential third storage room that could be retro fitted when the need arose.

In 2019 we reorganized all the items stored in the room we call ‘061’. There were paint cans, old display cases, etc. for which new homes were found. In 2020 we hired an outside conservation company to prepare a feasibility study for this new storage room. For the past year we have been using this room to house overflow on adhoc tabletops made from old show case bases as seen in the photos below.

February is the beginning of the first phase of preparing this room for its new purpose. The walls will be painted, additional overhead lighting will be added and we will test the floor to determine what kind of sealant will be used for waterproofing.

More updates with photos to come as we work through the many stages of this project.

Ada Hopkins, BSM Conservator

This is the last blog in the series which reflects on the amazing skills of interns who chose the BSM lab for their placements. This particular intern was enrolled in the Master of Textile Conservation program at the University of Southampton, located in a port city on the south coast of England. They had worked as a shoe designer for Clarks, a British manufacturer and retailer founded in 1825, before enrolling in the conservation program. This previous experience made them uniquely qualified in understanding the physical structure of shoes, which was definitely an asset for a shoe conservator! In the summer of 2007 they traveled to Toronto for a two-month internship.

All conservation interns participate in the day-to-day activities of the conservation lab and are given a project to work on throughout their time at the museum. The shoes selected were made in the 1910s by Paris, France based company, Nicklich. These shoes were originally purchased by the BSM in 1986 from an Italian historic clothing dealer, as part of a collection of 22 pairs of shoes. Most were in good condition, however 3 pairs needed conservation, and this pair was in the worst condition.

The project required a strategic approach, first addressing the most fragile elements, then adding the final touches that would stabilize the shoes. The silk fibres of the satin upper had significant loss and the remaining strands were tangled; the topline ribbon binding was either missing or hanging loosely and the leather lining was distorted. The decorative buckle needed support as its weight, exacerbated by gravity, was creating stress on both vamps.

The first step was to remove accumulated surface dirt and dust with a low suction vacuum through a screen to prevent the fabric from being pulled into the nozzle. Particulate matter causes damage over time as these small particles become imbedded between the fibres of the fabric creating mechanical damage. Next, the leather lining and the satin fibres were passively humidified back into their original shape and alignment.

The picture on the left shows the satin upper/leather lining being humidified and reshaped. Passive humidification was accomplished using Gortex, dampened blotting paper and Mylar. The beige mat board sections were burnished to the shape of the distorted areas and held in place with rare earth magnets. The picture on the right shows how the twisted and tangled satin fibres were separated, gently humidified, then realigned. As work continued, these strands were held in place with entomology pins stuck into padded foam blocks.

The satin upper sections requiring support for the loose fibres were mapped with Mylar to create the templates for the plain weave silk fills. These fills were inserted between the upper and the lining then the loose fibres were couch stitched with dyed hair silk to the support. Silk crepeline ribbon was dyed to match the peacock blue of the original ribbon. This was used to encase the extant topline binding and was also stitched with the hair silk using an extremely fine beading needle through the existing stitch holes in the leather lining.

In the picture above you can see the stitching on the side of the shoe that holds the once loose satin fibres to the support fill underneath. The crepeline ribbon has been attached to the side of the topline closest to the viewer; the ribbon at the back of the photograph has yet to be stitched in place.

This was a time consuming but rewarding project. Before conservation, it was not possible to display these shoes. Now they are ready to be shown in future exhibitions.

The launch of our next virtual exhibition, Boots & Blades: The Story of Canadian Figure Skating, is coming up in the New Year, so the research into skates continues. In this blog, I’ll take a look at a few of the interesting makes and models of blades that we have been learning about.

One of the earliest skates with manufacturer’s marks in the collection are the three pairs shown in this blog post.

The English Club skates with blades rounded up to the foot bed in the front and in the back, are marked “Moulson Brothers Union Works Sheffield”. Knowing the name of the manufacturer allowed us to find out about the company and the dates it was in operation. It was founded in the early 1830s by five brothers and was reportedly bankrupt by 1875. Family descendants formed Moulson Bros & Co. at some point in the 1870s. For this pair of skates, knowing the date range of the company also helped us estimate a date of production for the skates.

Skates manufactured by the Moulson Brothers in Sheffield, England. Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum. Image © 2021 Bata Shoe Museum.

A similar pair of strap-on skates are the Club skates marked “H. Boker”. The blade silhouette on this pair shows a more developed design in the heel profile. We estimate this pair to have been made between the years 1837 and 1870. The company, H. Boker and Co., was founded in 1837 by Hermann Boker in New York City, which was a hardware manufacturing firm affiliated with his brother Heinrich who had his own company in Germany, called H. R. Boker. As an aside, it is interesting to note that the youngest Boker brother founded a branch of the company in Canada at about the same time. The Boker companies specialized in the manufacture of sabers, knives, tools and cutlery, a specialization in to which skate blades fits quite well.

The brand mark of the company is known as the ‘tree’ logo, which was introduced in 1870. As the ‘tree’ mark is not on the blades we have in the collection, we know they were manufactured prior to 1870. The research has aided us in narrowing down the possible date of manufacture to be between 1837 and 1870.

Skates manufactured by H. Boker of New York. Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum. Image © 2021 Bata Shoe Museum.

The final pair of club skates have a metal pressure clamp system instead of the leather strap and buckle attachment that most of the skates up to this date have. The leather strap system was hard to tighten and so the skater’s boots and the attached blades were often not moving in unison. That made it hard to skate. The metal pressure clamp system on this pair are likely an innovation that sought to solve the problem. Manufactured by “Hill, Late Coleman” at “4 Haymarket London”, we can verify that these are English in origin and the history of the company shows it existed from about 1855 until the early 20th century. They were knife and blade makers, who also sold outdoor equipment at that address, including compasses, barb wire nippers and folding axes. The company was run by the original owner without his son from 1855 to 1870, and at that point the company name changed to ‘Hill & Son’.

Skates manufactured by ‘Hill, Late Coleman’ at ‘4 Haymarket London’. Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum. Image © 2021 Bata Shoe Museum.

This history informs us that this pair of skates were manufactured between 1855 and 1870.

Suzanne Petersen, Collections Manager