The Alfred Gillett Trust has very kindly offered to host a study visit for DATS members on the afternoon of Wednesday 27th April.

Based in Street, Somerset, The Alfred Gillett Trust was established in 2002 to care for the heritage collections of C&J Clark Ltd and the Clark family, which established the globally recognised shoe company. Today the collections in Street include nearly 100,000 historical objects and numerous archive collections spanning six generations of a family firm, the development of Street as a company village and nearly 200 years of shoemaking.

The afternoon’s programme will focus on The Alfred Gillett Trust’s large collection of shoes and will look at issues surrounding terminology, storage and digitisation. It’s the perfect opportunity to gain expertise in caring for shoes and the team are very happy to help with advice and answer any questions about shoes in members’ own collections.

2.15 Arrive – Welcome
2.30 History of the Shoe Museum
Early collecting – 1950s A company museum – 1970s The Shoe Museum – Future plans
2.50 Identification and vocabularies
Standardised terms – Parts of a shoe – Style terminology
3.10 Storage – problems and solutions
Ideal storage, pragmatic solutions – An active collection – Hazards – Threats to the collection
3.50 Tea
A chance to meet other members of the team and ask any questions
4.20 Photographing shoes
Digitisation project – Challenges – Uses
4.50 Questions and concluding comments
5.00 Depart

The Grange is situated next to Clarks Village and C & J Clark Ltd in the centre of Street in Somerset. There is car parking at Clarks Village and a regular bus service from Bristol Temple Meads train station and Taunton bus station – see travel information attached.

There are 20 places available so please email Elaine Uttley to reserve a space.

It promises to be a fantastic afternoon and a great chance to catch up and learn something new so really looking forward to seeing some of you there!

This event is for DATS members only.