The mittens came with a note in Margaret Rolfe's hand: are one of several pairs that came to Cyril Beaumont from Margaret Rolfe. "White mittens made by Marie Taglioni also a black pair made by her." Of the six pairs of black mittens in the collection it is difficult to tell which were made by Taglioni. They are part of a unique collection of memorabilia and personal effects which evoke Marie Taglioni in the last decades of her life. Although she was a keen and proficient needlewoman, all the mittens, black and white, are of fine quality consistent with being professional work. A collection of Taglioni memorabilia was amassed by Margaret Rolfe, the granddaughter of Taglioni's closest friend in London, Mrs Boggs Rolfe; she attended Taglioni's dancing classes and received many gifts of Taglioni memorabilia, from Taglioni herself, from her grandmother and from Taglioni's niece, Marguerite Troubetzkoi, after Taglioni's death. She kept these, with a series of related notes, in various boxes and annotated envelopes (filed separately). These she passed to Cyril Beaumont, probably for the London Archives of the Dance (a number of the objects were referred to in "The London Archives of the Dance and some of its Treasures" by Cyril Beaumont, Ballet Annual, first issue, Adam & Charles Black, London, 1947, p110); the Archives never achieved an independent home and part of the collection, including the Taglioni memorabilia, was stored with Cyril Beaumont, where it became inextricably mixed with his own collection and came to the Museum as part of the Cyril Beaumont Bequest.