This was an instrument that was used daily by adults and children especially during the Victorian period to ease the chore of buttoning and unbuttoning garments such as collars, cuffs, gloves, shirts, dresses, shoes, and boots. This was one of the Cymric materials sponsored by Liberty & Co. Ltd in Birmingham. Cymric was the name given to a range of original silver and jewellery that A. L. Liberty sponsored in 1898, and which was first exhibited at his shop in the spring of the following year. Although the mark registered at the Goldsmiths’ Company was entered in his name, most of the silver and jewellery was made by W. H. Haseler of Birmingham, who became a joint partner in the project, after designs supplied by Oliver Baker and the Silver Studio. Archibald Knox, a Manxman who had worked for Christopher Dresser, was one of the most gifted designers employed by the Silver Studio; he supplied most of the Liberty metalwork designs between 1899 and 1912 which made him to be associated with this button hook.
Historically, button hooks were first marketed to button gaiters or Spats. Gaiters/Spats were a popular article of clothing worn by men and were worn over the shoe, covering the top of the foot, the ankle, and sometimes extending to the mid-calf. This tool was predominately used by men until the 1870s on buttoning and unbuttoning of their Spats.
When women’s fashions began to change in the mid-1870s, use of the button hook by women began to increase. Long gloves, extending a bit beyond the elbow, became an elegant accessory to wear to formal dinners or the opera. Some glove styles were 24 inches in length and had as many as 24 buttons that would begin at the inside wrist and extend up the forearm. The buttons ensured a tight fit and the desired look. Using a glove button hook helped to ease the small buttons through the delicate buttonholes and hastened the time-consuming task of donning this type of glove.
Changes that took place in the shoe industry especially in the late 19th century also aided the increased use and need for a button hook. The shift from handmade shoes to factory made shoes began shortly after the Civil War. Machines were invented, like sewing machines and heeling machines, which allowed use of new or improved materials and sped shoe production. Because sewing machines took the place of hand stitching, rather than soft leather, boot uppers were able to be made from stiff durable leather. Boot tops also were made from heavy canvas fabric. As a result, button hooks became a necessary tool to pull the buttons through the rigid buttonholes.
Button hooks came in a variety of sizes and shapes. Length of button hooks ranged from one inch to over twenty inches and the diameter ranged from as little as one-quarter inch to about three-eighths inch. Generally, button hooks intended for use on shoes ranged in length from 7 inches to 12 inches and had a hook diameter of about three-eighths inch. Small button hooks which were generally less than 4 inches in length and typically had a hook diameter of one-quarter inch were intended for use on gloves, shirt collars, shirt cuffs, and other clothing with small buttons and buttonholes. Small button hooks sometimes had a loop at the handle base that allowed the tool to be hung from a chatelaine, necklace, bracelet, or watch chain.
Materials used in manufacture of button hooks were dependent on its intended use. Button hooks intended for use on boots typically had a steel shank for strength. Handles were then attached to the shank and provided a way to firmly grasp the tool. Handles were often decorative and could be quite ornamental. Handles were constructed of a variety of materials such as ivory, bone, silver, silver-plated metal, nickel-plated steel, pewter, wood, celluloid, tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl. More recent buttonhooks were made of rubber and plastic. Very small button hooks, intended for use on items with small buttonholes, like gloves, could have been made entirely of one metal such as brass, steel wire, silver, or gold.
Button hooks were not only purchased, sometimes in stores, were offered to customers as a free premium with the purchase of another item and were also given away as souvenirs to commemorate special events. Sometimes they were donated to museums such as the buttonhooks from the collection of the Boylston Historical Society and Museum that were donated by Julie Carson Woods (January 26, 1905-December 6, 1989).
With the advent of new fastening methods such as zippers and Velcro, the use of the button hooks waned. However, it has never completely disappeared. In fact, in recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in vintage clothing and traditional fastening methods, leading to a renewed appreciation for the button hook.
While this button hook in question was intended to be used on garments, in the U.S, button hooks could also be used for other purposes. Physicians of the U.S. Public Health Service at Ellis Island, NY used buttonhooks to check immigrants for trachoma, a highly contagious and, at the time, difficult to cure eye disease. To see if immigrants displayed symptoms of the disease, eyelids were turned inside out with buttonhooks. This procedure was particularly painful and terrifying for the immigrants.
This object was audited and researched as part of the Heritage Fund Data Hunters and Story Gatherers project.
