BY DALYA ALBERGE, ARTS CORRESPONDENT


The discovery of a huge Tudor rubbish dump is giving historians their best insights yet into the lives of the Londoners of the day.

Archaeologists from the Museum of London have unearthed thousands of objects dating from the 1480s to the early 1600s at a two-acre site around Tooley Street, on the south side of Tower Bridge.

Shoes and spoons, toys and tools offer rare glimpses into the lifestyles of all strata of society. Objects considered too insignificant to have been recorded in documents or paintings now reveal what Tudor Londoners ate, what they threw away, how they dressed and how they played. Until the site was found, relatively little archaeological evidence had been discovered. "What we've found has proved we didn't know half as much as we thought," said Simon Thurley, the museum's director.

Among more than 400 leather shoes are some that are perfectly preserved and as modern in design as anything for sale today in Knightsbridge. A pair of stylish black suede shoes with leather laces and an elegant buckle might have been made yesterday.

To judge from some of the styles, Tudor Londoners were prepared to suffer for fashion: one pair of shoes stuffed with moss to stiffen the curled point would have been less than comfortable.

Dr Thurley said that never before had so many Tudor objects been found together in such closely dateable deposits and in such a fine state of
preservation.

The dump was discovered during excavations for a new hotel complex two months ago. Its contents were preserved in the waterlogged remains of a Tudor fish farm in an area that was, from medieval times, home to the wealthy and influential. The objects were thrown into the disused fish tanks about 1560, when the property, known then as the Pike Garden, was sold. Others were thrown into a nearby sewer that was closed in 1610.

Dave Saxby, an archaeologist with the museum who is supervising the search for artefacts, said: "If you excavate any site in London, you're lucky to get one shoe or one knife. The majority have broken bits of pottery and animal bone. Here they are in mint condition, like the day they were thrown in."

The finds portray all levels of society on London's South Bank, from the wealthy with their padded armour to the poor with their worn pewter spoons.

Pottery tankards and a bottle in a wicker basket point to the taverns for which Southwark was famous. Many of the pots were imported and a piece of Chinese porcelain is the earliest example found in London.

Also extracted from the detritus was a delicate comb, which has a circular indentation that may have held a mirror.

Vessels such as a huge copper cauldron in which people would have cooked are almost intact. Other discoveries include rare armour; perfectly preserved tools, including a sickle, spade and shovel; and a musical instrument thought to be a bagpipe.

There is also a dagger; part of a saddle; an intricate leather fringe that may be from a belt; children's toys, including a whistle; a wooden bowls ball; part of a window shutter; and, of course, the banana.

Taryn Nixon, the head of the museum's archaeolgical services department, said that the objects conjure up "thriving industries of Tudor
Southwark . . . people going in and out of the ale-houses, the leather workers taking orders from the finely turned out gentleman with his metal outer corset, and perhaps even someone turning up their nose at the thought that this curious soft, yellow food - well, no, probably quite black and rotten - was to be eaten."

Dr Thurley said that the museum was keen to put the finds on show as soon as possible.

[submitted by Su Carter]

Solemates: The Century in Shoes

http://www.centuryinshoes.com/

Produced by The Marketing Store as an example of how the Internet can be used as a "multidimensional information delivery tool," this very attractive site is a joy for anyone with an ardor for footwear fashion. The heart of the site is a decade-by-decade look at shoes from the 1900s to the 1990s. Each decade features an illustrated introductory essay, six examples of representative footwear that can be examined in detail, period advertisements, and Quicktime clips of "Scenes from the Decade"

Other offerings include a timeline of great moments in shoe history and three special features: Dangerous Shoes, Ga-Ga for Gaza, and Ruby Slippers.

As some of you may know, Denis Houel and the ACC (a French Guild of Shoemakers and Allied Trades) also had a convention over the Saint Crispin's Day weekend. Here is his report from the convention:

(to translate the following into rough English, select the text, copy to the clipboard and then go to http://translator.go.com Paste the text in the window and select French to English and translate text)

Subject: Résumé du forum des Métiers du Cuir, au Conseil Général de Seine
Maritime, les 24 et 25 octobre 1999
Date: Saturday, October 30, 1999 12:58 AM

Bonjour


Résumé des deux journées du forum des métiers du cuir des 24 et 25 octobre
1999

Au Conseil Général de Seine Maritime


Le premier but de notre Amicale au travers du forum des métiers du cuir, a été atteint, REUNIR DU MONDE AU TOUR D'UN THEME, CELUI DES METIERS DU CUIR

Ce forum n'était pas fait pour comptabiliser des visiteurs ou des professionnels, mais pour faire de l'initiation, il les a quand même réuni dans la bonne humeur et la convivialité.

Et quelle réunion, des professionnels sont venus de plusieurs départements, découvrir ce premier forum aux travers de stands de fournisseurs, mais sont venus aussi découvrir des exposants qu'ils ne connaissaient pas.

Nous nous devons de saluer les équipes techniques du Conseil Général, qui, pour certaines ont travaillé le dimanche, pour la bonne marche de l'ensemble.

Sur l'ensemble du forum, nous avons reçu quatre groupes distincts de visiteurs ;

a.. Des professionnels (cordonniers, bottiers, orthopédistes, etc.)
b.. Le tout public (nos clients, qui ont découverts des démonstrations qu'ils ne connaissaient pas, et desquelles nous attendons des retombées dans les divers ateliers)
c.. Des établissements scolaires et lycée professionnel, par classes entières
d.. Des responsables du développements économiques de plusieurs conseils généraux, très intéressés par la démarche initiatique générale Les enfants (classe primaire) ayant participés à des initiations autant sur les cuir que sur l'entretien, sont allés questionner les exposants, en prenant des notes qui leurs serviront en classe, etc.

Personnellement, ce que j'attends de ce genre de forum, c'est que le grand public vienne redécouvrir les réelles possibilités des métiers du cuir, et par déduction, retourne ou revienne vers les artisans en général. C'est comme cela que le grand public se rendra compte qu'il ne faut pas que l'on laisse notre patrimoine professionnel transmissible, s'éteindre.

C'est pour cela que le Conseil Général de Seine Maritime a tenu absolument que l'on prenne dès à présent rendez vous pour le prochain forum des métiers du cuir, le premier du millénaire, qui aura lieu les derniers dimanche et lundi d'octobre 2000 ! ! !

Avis est donné aux intéressés souhaitant dès à présent, mettre en place avec nous, des projets pour ce forum .

L'Amicale des Métiers du Cuir, de la Chaussure et du Pied

Monsieur HOUËL Denis

127 Avenue Jean Jaurès 76140 PETIT QUEVILLY

Téléphone 02 35 62 11 35 Télécopie 02 35 73 66 32 Messagerie 06 68 44 36 75

E-mails acc@free.fr et cuir@free.fr

Site internet http://acc.free.fr

From: O'Brien, Alden
Subject: [CostumeDC] Foot fetish? Come to the DAR
Date: Monday, November 01, 1999 1:50 PM

From: "O'Brien, Alden"

Now that I have your attention, I'd like to announce a public program this Sunday at 1:30 at the DAR Museum entitled "The Art of the Foot"--I'll be bringing out scads of our shoes from ca 1750-1942, plus some shoe buckles, a few pairs of stockings, some pattens, and I'll show a couple of slides (quickly so we can get down to the good, real stuff) of the styles that went with the shoes, to put them in context for those less familiar with fashion history than the members of this illustrious list undoubtedly are!

The fee is $20, which all goes towards exhibit and storage funding...the program is about 1 1/2 hours long....the address is 1776 D St NW Washington, metro: Farragut West or North, walk down 17th or 18th St. til you get to D St. (I know the 17th St exit is closed Sundays at F. West, I don't know about F. North.)

For reservations (required!), please call 202-879-3241, or email museum@dar.org. Payment is "at the door." Hope to see some of you there!

Alden O'Brien
Curator of costume

To the forum

Just recently my pc went south and had to be completely re-built. The man who re-built it installed an intruder alarm. Mine went off a few minutes ago and I immediatly shut it down. The computer shop said his was hit just a few days ago and was zapped pretty good, and also there was another guy here who got hit. The hackers can really mess up your programs and steal your info or they can just destroy your pc. Have the intruder alarm installed!!!!! TR

Rusty Moore, the resident shoemaker dropped me a line reminding me about the excellent museum over at Plimoth Plantation--an early 17th century plantation near Plymoth Massachusetts.



There is a link over at The HCC webpage, but for those of you who are curious the url is:

http://www.plimoth.org/Museum/cc-shoe.htm

Bruno Magli Adds Custom Made Shoes

Bruno Magli is getting into the business of making custom-made footwear for men. The Bologna, Italy-based luxury vendor is launching its Sartorial line of hand-made, custom men's shoes. The collection will sell at opening price points of $975.

The shoes will be available nationwide for fall at stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Specialty men's apparel stores. Five measurements of each of the customer's feet will be taken by Bruno Magli' employees.

"The production is very limited," said Scott Prentice, president of the men's divison of Bruno Magli, UMA Shoe Co.,Carlstadt, N.J. "We just feel the market has grown for a discriminating customer who wants the finest in terms of fit."

The shoes will be made with hand-rolled leathers from England and box calf from Strasbourg, France, according to the company. This won't be a fast fix: The company said it could take as long as five months for consumers to receive the shoes.
Footwear News Feb.28,2000.

Check out this web article...very nice!

http://www.history.org/cwf/journal/Summer00/shoemaker.htm

DATELINE WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA:

News Flash--

'Author Saguto Warns of Egregious Errors in Bungled Online Version. Careful Editing Underway This AM. Corrections to Follow. Carpet-Baggers and Scalawags Suspected. Gallows Being Erected--Public Hanging To Follow...Photos At 11:00'

ROTFLMAO!! I love it!!

Which? The article or the hanging? BTW, all I have found "wrong" so far with the online version are just the two goofed-up captions to photos #2, and #3, which I have been promised will be corrected this AM, and about 4 or 5 fantastic photo illustrations [and captions] that were left out all together for some unknown reason.

If any of you want to read the article as laid-out in the actual magazine, and see *all* the photos, including a very nicely-restored [if I do say so myself] 17th century Virginia shoe, a 1633 shoemaker's shop, John Smith's actual hand-written inscription to The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, as well as the original passenger manifest listing the first, named, English shoemaker we're found so far, you're going to have to contact Colonial Williamsburg Foundation via the link off the website--or phone Ms. Redd at the CW 'Journal' Office at: [757] 220-7284 and buy a copy. I think it's under $5 a copy.

All,

The two captions are fixed, so it's safe to read now--yippeeeee ;>)

Al,
Great article, can't wait to see the real paper one, thanks for letting it be posted and the information about how to get the paper version.

M. & other

M.,

Thanks.

New Publication on the horizon-

Walking through Time.

A history of footwear ;
Prehistoric- W. Groenman-van Waateringe
Roman- C. van Driel-Murray
Medieval to modern - O. Goubitz

Language : English with Dutch summary.

Format : 23 x 29 cm., 500 pages, 2000 drawings and illustrations, sewn binding, hardbound with dust jacket. Available Spring 2001.

Subscription price before December 1, 2000 : 80.00 Euro paid through giro account 703734 of 'Stichting Promotie Archeologie,' Zwolle, the Netherlands ( Holland).

Retail price at time of publication : 94 Euro paid through giro account 703734 of 'Stichting Promotie Archeologie,' Zwolle, the Netherlands (Holland). ( Giro account is some kind of bank account to bank account transfer)

Publisher and distributer:

Stichting Promotie Archeologie (SPA) Lijnbaan 103, NL-8011 AP Zwolle, the Netherlands. Tel 0032 38 42122299 Fax 0031 38 4236016 Email archeologie.spa@wxs.nl

'Esquire' Magazine--September 2000 Issue.

'The Perfect Shoes', by Cal Fussman. "If we could all wear custom-made shoes it would revolutionize medicine", Dr. Nicholas Sol, medical director of the Walking Clinic, Colorado Springs, CO proclaims. From hip fractures--"one out of three is dead within a year" says Sol--to scoliosis and beyond, it's finally in print that footwear can and does play an all important role in health beyond mere bunions and ingrown toenails--and these are not extra-depth, cushy-squishy, padded-out foot-boxes either. Fussman takes us on a customer's-eye view of creeping up to, banging hard against, then finally breaking through the cultural barrier to spending $1,900 [yes that's right] for a pair of made-to-measure, hand-sewn welted, Perry Ercolino wing-tip Oxfords. He explodes the irrational customer reaction to having to spend more than $250 for a pair of shoes. If only all our customers would read this bit, coming not from a hungry-like-a-wolf shoe or bootmaker trying to drum up business, but from an uninitiated "civilian". If five year-old Nikes are your favorite kicks, Fussman says "you're just like I used to be", but after he had crossed over 'into the light' so to speak, he rejoiced saying: "I slide my feet over the horn and into the wing-tips, laced up, stood up, and smiled as if I was starting to levitate. They didn't feel like shoes; they felt like my feet! The shoes made me feel like a great athlete who seems to be moving in slow motion even though he's moving faster than everyone else." I couldn't have put it any better myself Cal, and probably not as succinctly.

PS--Sad to say apparently Cal Fussman read "Old Weird Harold", or somebody did, for 'The Perfect Shoes' article I mentioned above. He says:

"When the first left and right shoes were made in 1822, people sent them back to the manufacturer, complaining they were crooked. You'd have been one of them."

Never mind obscure archaeological footwear hundreds of year's old, it's probably too much to expect that any good Philadelphia shoemaker today would be even well-read in 'The Philadelphia Aurora/General Advertiser'. But, in the August 5th, 1801 issue of this newspaper [and a few after], W. Young, shoemaker of #24 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, advertised he was already fitting gentlemen in the "latest and most approved European fashions", with custom-made lasts "to suit the particular anatomical formation of each foot...not be made by one, but two lasts, as the shape of the feet may indicate". Lefts and rights an urban novelty? A similar ad ran in a rural Ohio newspaper the same year. Where do they get this stuff?

Al,

Which reminds me...I've been meaning to leap into the 19th-century for references to right-left shoes. One of my (and, I imagine, your) most common assertions by museum-goers is that "they didn't have rights and lefts until after the Civil War". I gently correct them, but I have only a few published refernces to cite. Would you mind posting some juicy ones here (perhaps in the Shoes in History section) to use on 'em? And do we know what proportion of military-issue footwear was r-l during the war?

Sim,

I'm jumping over to 'Shoes In History' to reply, see ya there...

Thanks to Tex for this ....

Local - KPRC Click2Houston.com
Bootmaker Nearly Crushed To Death
Thu Jul 25, 6:38 PM ET


A famous bootmaker who was robbed at gunpoint and nearly crushed to death by a car shared his story of survival in an exclusive News2Houston interview Thursday.

Rocky Carroll's handiwork has been worn by seven presidents and countless stars and dignitaries. But last week, Carroll, 64, nearly lost his life when three suspects tried robbing him at his northwest Houston business. They drove up to the building at 5:15 a.m. while Carroll was outside, and used the vehicle to pin him against the wall.

"So they backed me up against the wall and then they back up and hit me a second time," Carroll said. The suspects asked for Carroll's moneybag, but it was filled with donuts. "I reach in my pocket because I had my Walker PPK in there," Carroll said.

He then opened fire.

"I shot the driver maybe two times. I shot the passenger. I shot the guy in the back and came back and shot the driver again cause I had some ammo left," Carroll said. With a cell phone, Carroll called 911 for help.

"You figure -- they did all this (damage to my leg) for $1.85 worth of donuts," Carroll said. Carroll's left leg received major injuries and his pelvis was cracked. He's expected to be hospitalized for several more weeks.

Carroll has been making custom-made boots for the past 45 years. Several former customers called him over the weekend. "President George W. Bush called me Friday at 1 p.m. from Air Force One. He said, 'I'm sorry. I heard about what happened to you.' He said, 'You'll be in our prayers,'" Carroll said. The president also sent Carroll a signed picture wishing him a quick recovery. "Former President Bush, his dad, called me Monday from Kennebunkport," Carroll said. "Gov. Rick Perry called me from Austin."

Carroll said that he has never been robbed or attacked before.

The three suspects showed up at a local hospital soon after the attack, where they were arrested and taken to jail. "I hope they give them at least 100 years a piece," Carroll said. Derek Cooper, 18, and Sidney Lanear Lamb, 19, were charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Jonathan Charles Smith, 19, was charged with engaging in organized criminal activity.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Good thing Rocky hasn't been charged [yet] with, illegally concealing firearms, discharging a firearm on a public street, assault with intent, etc. Hopefully George I and George II can save his butt from that fate.

This is a virus notification - and I'm pretty sure that it needs to go to a member of this group.

One of the most current forms of virus enters an infected computer, and sends out more infected email to everyone in that person's address book (we've seen this before). In this case, however, the virus disquises its point of origin by changing the "From" email address to someone else in the person's address book (and possibly stored mail files). I've been sent this virus from email addresses I haven't had in over a decade (note, -my- virus protection updates every day because the CIR people make me do it - in fact, I'm running a virus scan as I write this).

Someone in this group is infected and is sending out infected mail. I know this because Duncan has been receiving infected mail from both me and Rusty. Whoever is infected has all three of us in their address book (and/or stored mail files).

Please check your equipment.

If you get a message that you think might be infected, don't open any attachments. The virus also generates an innocuous sounding subject line (for example: "thought you might be interested in this" That sort of thing). If you aren't sure - write or call the sender and ask. Do NOT use your system to preview the message (that triggers the virus also). This virus - besides being irritating, will eventually crash your computer.

Marc

Hi Mark and all
I to have recieved blank e mail from Rusty and just yesterday from Bill Tippit blank as well .In both cases when I sent them back to find out what they might have wanted .they were both returned undeliverable .I to have good virus protection through Norton .all my mail is run through their site before they deliver it.
Larry Waller

Marc is spot on about the way current virus behave and how they can infect your computer. I've also gotten email from folks on the forum that contained viruses. I try to warn them that they *may* be infected. And privately, more than publicly, I have been telling people to get rid of Outlook and/or Outlook Express. I use PocoMail. I cost me $25.00 or something like that. But I don't have an address book that is vulnerable and Poco never opens an attachment that might carry a virus.

And there's supposedly a way to add a spurious address (such as 000@000.com ...something like that) to the Outlook address book that will stymie these viruses...but since I don't use Outlook's address book (nothing in it) I don't know the details.

Beyond that, I have Norton Antivirus and keep it updated. And I run it scheduled every Wednesday.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

All
I did not mean to out any one on the virous thing but hopefully they will read this and check it out .As the e mails that I sent back to them were returned as undeliverable .When I sent them back to them I just hit the return button.the virus might have changed the address one click so that you cant notify them of the problem.I had no backup reference address to compair as I do not normally write them.Again not meaning any harm.
Larry Waller