Rough & Ready: A History of the Cowboy Boot
May 2025 – October 2026
The story of the cowboy boot is steeped in history and legend and is neither simple nor straightforward. Since their invention in the late nineteenth century, cowboy boots have embodied contradiction. They have symbolized labor and leisure, freedom and domination, tradition and reinvention. Cowboy boots were born out of industrialization yet refined through expert craftsmanship, they have been used to both celebrate individualism and forge cultural cohesion. They were central to the closing of the West, yet endure as emblems of freedom and wide-open spaces. Over time, cowboy boots have signaled power and privilege as well as resistance and reclamation. Whether worn in the saddle, on screen, or in the streets, cowboy boots remain a cultural touchstone, embodying both tradition and transformation in a constantly changing world.
Rough & Ready is curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, including objects and artworks from the BSM collection and 13 lenders. Lenders include: Adam Goeglein, Autry Museum of the American West, Barry Ace, Erik Semmelhack, Flora Knight, The Glenbow-Alberta Institute, Jamie Cuevas Nudie, Lee Miller, Lisa Sorrell, Lucchese Bootmaker, Orville Peck, Sarah Madeleine T. Guerin, and Tony Benattar.
EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
Early Heels
Heels, worn in Iran from as early as the 10th century, were designed to secure the foot in the stirrup. Europeans adopted heels at the turn of the 17th century, a key innovation that would later influence cowboy boot design.
Persian, 18th or early 19th century
Canadian Made
These custom-made cowboy boots were worn by Margaret Brazeau (née Fry) in Calgary Stampede parades in the early 1920s. They are decorated with the popular tulip design favoured by cowboy film star Tom Mix.
Riley & McCormick Co. Ltd, Canadian, 1922 – 1924. Collection of the Glenbow
Gene Autry
Actor and musician Gene Autry loved boots. A newspaper article from 1938 reported that “He has just one little mania that he indulges. He can’t resist buying cowboy boots. He has a new pair made every time he sees some he likes. He has a dozen pairs.”
Olsen-Stelzer, American, mid-1930s. Collection of the Autry Museum of the American West
Peacocking
Rocketbusters Boots was founded by Marty Snortum in 1989 to revive vintage styles. When designer Nevena Christi married Snortum, Rocketbuster boots became even more elaborate. This bespoke pair was made for Don Knobler, the eccentric Dallas Mavericks superfan, who famously wore his custom cowboy boots courtside to games.
Rocketbusters Boots, American, 2010s
Orville Peck
This pair of bespoke boots was made for Canadian country-western superstar Orville Peck by bootmaker Emily Bokesnbaum who trained under one of the first women bootmakers, Deana McGuffin. These boots complement Peck’s unapologetic persona and bold interpretation of the Western aesthetic.
Underhill Studio, In the Dead of Night You Say its Time to Ride, American, 2024. Collection of Orville Peck
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Media Partners
BSM programming events have been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
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