Plaque used to identify the ballet shoes worn by Heather Whitestone McCallum during the 1995 Miss America competition: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Gold colored metal plaque with black printing, "Competition Ballet Shoes [/] Courtesy of Heather Whitestone, Miss America 1995." This was used to identify the ballet shoes worn by Heather Whitestone McCallum during the1995 Miss America competition. The ballet costume, swimsuit, and hearing aid microphone used by Heather Whitestone McCallum in the Miss America 1995 competition, help illustrate the pageant's history and influence on conversations about gender, disability, adaptive technology, and fashion in American life. McCallum, who is deaf, was the first Miss America titleholder with a disability. She was criticized by some in the Deaf community for her reliance on her hearing aid, lip reading, and speaking in vocal English rather than American Sign Language. Whitestone made advocacy for the deaf community her platform during her reign and has continued to work as a motivational speaker and author in the years afterward.

Materials, dates and provenance

• user: McCallum, Heather Whitestone
• Object Name: plaque
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 1 in x 5 1/2 in; 2.54 cm x 13.97 cm
• ID Number: 2021.0164.04.3
• accession number: 2021.0164
• catalog number: 2021.0164.04.3
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.