Firefighter's boot for MDA collection
date: label: date made
content: late 20th / early 21st century
name: label: maker
content: Honeywell Inc.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>Fire fighter's boot, black rubber with yellow accents (band at the center, band along the bottom of the foot). Rough textile (wool) interior with two semi-circular pull straps at the top. White square at heel reads "10 MEN'S WIDE." Textured along bottom edge of the foot with heavy textured tread on bottom. Boot is covered with approximately eight circular stickers for the MDA campaign showing a young boy being carried by a fire fighter and the slogan "I HELPED FIRE FIGHTERS FIGHT MDA." There is also a card bent around the front of the shin and stuck on with stickers that shows the same image and reads "HELP FIRE FIGHTERS FIGHT MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY."</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>Throughout the 1900s, national fundraising efforts became annual traditions in communities throughout the United States. At street corners across the nation, the International Association of Fire Fighters’ Fill the Boot campaign has raised funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association since 1954.</p>
label: Description
content: This firefighter’s boot is decorated with fundraising stickers for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. It was used by firefighters collecting donations for MDA in Fairfax County, Virginia.
label: Description
content: The Muscular Dystrophy Association began in Chicago, Illinois in 1950, established by Paul Cohen and a community of people affected by the condition. Today, MDA helps to fund research into neuromuscular disease and treatments, supports medical database development, works to connect medical experts in the field, and advocates for and empowers members of the neuromuscular disease community.
label: Description
content: The connection with firefighters developed a few years after MDA began. In 1954, members of Boston Firefighters Local 718 initiated a fundraising campaign for MDA, collecting donations in fire boots. This led to a partnership between MDA and the International Association of Fire Fighters that continues to the present day, with annual “Fill the Boot” campaigns across the country over Labor Day Weekend. As of 2024, the IAFF estimates its members have raised over 700 million dollars for MDA in the 70 years of their partnership.
place: label: place made
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Fire Fighting and Law Enforcement
label: See more items in
content: Giving in America
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Joel Kobersteen, Master Technician and IAFF Local 2068 coordinator for Fairfax County’s MDA campaign
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.0334.01
label: catalog number
content: 2015.0334.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: boot, firefighter's
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (part: stickers / card material)
label: Physical Description
content: wool (inside material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 17 in x 5 in x 12 1/4 in; 43.18 cm x 12.7 cm x 31.115 cm