Straw Sandals Project

These sandals from the Philippines, listed as Ph6 in the Straw Sandals Project collection, were purchased from Ebay store Violetville Vintage. According to the seller, they were made in the 1940s and have not been worn. During this time period, handmade shoes and sandals were purchased by U.S. servicemen in the Philippines as gifts for wives and girlfriends back home. Another popular shoe for gifting had heels carved with village scenes such as Ph5. So, many of these items ended up in the United States. They are approximately size US 5-6.

I have posted a news item on the Straw Sandals Project site about an article published in the 3 November 2017 issue of Science magazine about the migration of the first Americans. You can see from the Figure below that this article pulls together evidence for a coastal route. It is a very interesting article with implications for how ancient methods of sandal weaving and construction moved through the Americas as well.