. . .were made for tying (or buttoning) . . .

I’ve been looking at vintage photos on the Swedish Roots website and other sites such as Pinterest, this time taking special notice of the shoes on little kids. Since my stepchildren were 15 and 17 years old when I “got them” in 1992, I’ve never really had experience dressing or putting shoes on toddlers. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that this task is much easier today than it was in Victorian and Edwardian times. Some of the kids in the above photos have on tie up boots, and some are buttoned. Smart move to let the baby on the right go barefoot, I’d say.

A quick look on Amazon reveals the many improvements that have been made to children’s shoes since our ancestors were wearing them. Notice the stretchy elastic straps and Velcro closures. Even the tennis shoes only have a few holes for the laces to fit into.

I discovered a variety of actual vintage children’s shoes that are for sale on sites such as eBay and Etsy. Depending on their age and condition, Victorian children’s and baby shoes can sell for anywhere from less than $20 all the way to $200 or more.

The boots on the left were going for $129 online and the ones on the right were $118. In an act of irresponsible blogging, I failed to note the websites they were on, but they were most likely, well, eBay or Etsy.

I looked through some of my family photos to see what kind of shoes the kids had on. Here are Kermit and Leona Johnson (left), and some unknown children from Swedish Roots. It’s hard to tell if the Johnson kids’ boots are buttoned or tied. The older girl’s shoes in the photo on the right are definitely buttoned, while her sibling has on little tie up shoes. Notice the leggings on all of them. They look really thick (I’m assuming due to the cold climates), and I think they would have been hard to put on somebody that small. I do like the striped ones on the right, though.

I found “button hooks” on Wikipedia. Button hooks were used to make buttoning shoes easier. I read the directions (which I still didn’t really “get”), but I can’t see trying to do that with a toddler on your lap. However, based on how well behaved this adorable little Swedish girl looks in her photo, she probably did sit still to have her boots buttoned.

By the looks on their faces, I have my doubts about how still these four sat to have their shoes tied and buttoned. The boys on the right were identified as “Dad and Tor” on Swedish Roots.

I would consider the shoes pictures here to be “Mary Janes”. It seems that they came in various styles, with varying numbers of straps.

Compare the straps (and buttons) of the vintage models with the Velcro of the modern shoes on the right. Which ones would you rather fasten?

Here you can see my great grandparents, Anna Caroline and Nels Johnson, with their youngest son, Kermit, and granddaughters Leona and Mildred, in around 1922. On the right is a “1920s era postcard” I found on eBay where the little girl’s shoes are almost exactly like Mildred’s. You can’t really see Leona’s shoes, but I’m curious to know what style they were. Kermit had on tie up shoes, and I when I zoomed in to see if they were “high tops” or not, I noticed for the first time that one of them seems to be untied! I wonder if anyone else has noticed that in the 100-plus years that picture has been in our family.

Two sets of siblings with identical outfits and tie up shoes. Again, notice the leggings on each.

Speaking of leggings, look at “Eric and Tore” (left), as they were identified on Swedish Roots. Somehow, I envision their leggings to be red and white, but that could be because it’s Christmas time as I write this. I’m going to guess that the ones in the middle were black, and on the right, perhaps gray or brown. They all look like they would be hot and itchy, most likely made of wool.

How much were kids’ shoes back then, and where would you get them? I didn’t think I’d be able to find (or for that matter, read) any shoe ads from Victorian Sweden, so I went to my old favorite, Ludington Daily News. I looked for “back-to-school” and Christmas ads. The one you see here is from September 1920. I’m not sure how much the Educator School Shoes would “develop and train the growing feet”, but for $3 to $6 depending on the size, I guess it was a good deal.

Back-to-School shoes from Forslind Bros. on James Street, September 1905.

It’s worth noting that according to the Ludington city directory for 1907, Nels Johnson’s tailor shop was located at 514 S. James Street. Forslind Bros. shoe store was at 109 S. James, just a few blocks to the north (0.3 miles, per Google Maps).

An ad for Christmas shoes from December 1913. In the 1907 directory, Groening’s shop store was at 317 S. James, but was listed as “Groening & Washatka”.

And here we are, back at 505 E. Melendy Street in Ludington, with Kermit, Leona, and a boy who was labeled as their brother Axel in the photo album. I’m not sure it was Axel, though, because Axel was around 8 or 9 when the little ones were born (Kermit in 1909 and Leona in 1910), and the boy in this picture doesn’t look that much older than them. But then I’ve never been great at judging ages on kids. Regardless, it’s their shoes we are interested in. And they are all buttoned or laced up and ready for fun in the snow!