No. 38

Retrieved from the Stone Harbor Museum archives, this is an early 1920s photo showing 2 young sisters proudly holding their dolls and sitting on the running board of perhaps their father’s automobile.  According to our records the names of the girls from left to right are Ruth Martin (McClure) and Evelyn Martin (Walsh).  Those of us who remember or know something about that era will most likely recognize those very popular and trendy shoes the girls are wearing.  Those basic and very comfortable shoes were actually called Mary Janes and this classic type of shoe had a broad, rounded and closed toe-box, low heels and thin out soles.  Mary Janes usually had one or sometimes more straps across the instep, fastened with a buckle or button.  This particular footwear came in black, sometimes shiny patent leather, and can be apparently traced all the way back to King Henry VIII.  Those shoes which are still popular today were sometimes referred to as bar shoes or doll shoes.