Galoshes
Meyer Rubber Company
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The introduction of the vulcanization process in the 1840s made possible the widespread adoption of protective rubber footwear. This pair of child's galoshes sports the elaborate molded design distinctive of the 1880s. Available in several different cuts, galoshes in this low shoe style were known as "croquet rubbers."
The Costume Institute
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.