June Swann

Education

Swann graduated with a degree in geography in 1949, and began to work at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery the following year.

Career

In the late 1950s she inaugurated the study of shoes hidden in buildings as charms. Swann has been called "the world"s leading authority on historic shoes." She is engaged by museums around the world to identify shoes in their collections. The town was a historical centre for the production of shoes, and she took charge of curating the museum"s collection of shoes and related artefacts, the world"s largest collection of historical footwear.

She retired in 1988 and became a freelance consultant.

After retirement she travelled to Sydney to catalogue the Joseph Box Collection at the Powerhouse Museum. She also assisted with the cataloguing of the Cordwainers College Historical Shoe Collection, from 1992 to 2000.

Achievements

• She was a founder member of the Costume Society, and its chairman from 1980 to 1987.

Membership

She became a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1976, for her work at Northampton Museum.