Summary

Cream canvas boots with tapered toes cut off square at the tip. Used in Victorian psychiatric hospitals prior to 1950. Canvas shoes were often made within the institution and issued to patients who might damage themselves or others if they wore heavy leather shoes.

Much of the Museum's Psychiatric Services Collection was assembled during the 1950s by Dr Charles Brothers while he was working within the Victorian system to bring about reforms. Dr Brothers' investigations uncovered the institutionalised poverty and lack of hope resulting from decades of government and community neglect. The texture of daily life in an impoverished and overcrowded institution is evoked by well-worn domestic objects, battered metal chamber pots and standardised clothing.

Physical Description

Cream canvas boots with tapered toes cut off square at the tip. Grubby. Newly soled with very stiff leather. The leather inner sole is pocked with bent over nails. Very low heels (1cm). Laces missing. Thre is a blue stripe inside the right shoe, around the ankle.

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