June 10, 2026

ARM Chapter 12 members tour the Bata Shoe Museum

Photo credit: Elzbieta Muir

The Museum staff divided us into 2 groups and provided us very informative tours of their exhibits. Rose was our tour guide and she has a M.A. and is very knowledgeable. In the Cowboy Boots exhibit we learned that Cowboys really were mainly groups of boys between the ages of 8 – 12 who were used to lead herds of cattle further west across the prairies contrary to the pictures in comic books, films and TV shows like Gene Autrey. They also showed the very broad range of cowboy boots that the men wore with the pointed toes to fit into the stirrups.

We also saw amazing exhibits of the rise of high heel shoes with some so high it was amazing that anyone could walk in them!

The new special exhibit shows the wide range of sandals that Romans wore. These have been found in a recent archaeological dig in northern England near Hadrian’s Wall.

Following the tour 8 of us went to the Duke of York pub on Prince Arthur.

Thanks go to ARM 12 Executive for covering our admission for the guided tour.