Elias Lönnrot was a Finnish doctor. However, he is best known for collecting Finnish folk tales during the mid-1800s and producing the Kalevala. The Kalevala is considered the national epic of Finland (kind of like the Sagas of Iceland).
So, why would I include Lönnrot here?
[A Repost.]
There are actually a couple of reasons.
The main impetus is this drawing of Lönnrot.
Elias Lönnrot
In order to compile the Kalavala, Lönnrot traveled the Finnish countryside collecting the tales. The picture is described as a “caricature” of him doing so. Now, I don’t know if that means that he really did so barefoot or not. I suspect not, but there would be a reason to show him barefooted and wearing the kind of open folk clothing of the area: that would be because the locals really did go barefoot. I talked about that in my last blog entry: Bare Feet in Scandinavia.
There is another reason to include Lönnrot. You may recall that J.R.R. Tolkien was a folklorist and linguist. Tolkien actually taught himself Finnish to that he could read the Kalevala, and it is considered one of the sources that Tolkien drew upon to write The Lord of the Rings. Even more so, the elven language Quenya is based on Finnish.
I have no idea if the caricature of Lönnrot influenced Tolkien to have the hobbits perennially barefoot, but it is an interesting idea.
There were undoubtedly other influences. The book Ents, elves, and Eriador: the environmental vision of J.R.R. Tolkien, by Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans, suggests it is because the hobbits were to be considered truly connected to the earth (which is why the scouring of the Shire was so awful). The book talks about their environmentally friendly underground houses, and notes:
In any case, their dwelling in the ground is fundamental to the nature of Hobbits, and although in Buckland and in Bree some live in houses aboveground, Hobbits of the Shire consider this aboveground life to be unnatural. Hobbits are close to the earth, and they are closely associated with the material substance of the soil. They wear no shoes, and their walking around barefoot keeps them in direct physical contact with the earth. This literally down-to-earth image is extended further when we learn in the fourth paragraph of The Hobbit of their uncanny ability to blend in with nature: “There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along”—a point repeated at the start of the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings.
The hobbits barefootedness really is fundamental to their nature, and keeps them “down-to-earth”. That barefootedness is also undoubtedly part of their being able not to “blunder” around. As we all know, going barefoot provides an elegance to one’s movements.
I am also then reminded of our of our own, quite-large hobbits, Cody Lundin, of Dual Survival and survivalist fame. He, too, has a environmentally friendly underground home:
How’s that for a blog entry? Started out with a Finnish folklorist and ended up with an Arizonan survivalist?
Ahcuah 
Ah, the artist made a mistake.
His feet aren’t gigantic.
By the way, there is something else you might be interested in. As someone who had never heard of Johnny Appleseed (being English) I was surprised to find out that he was a very determined barefooter. I was not surprised to find out that a lot of childrens’ books about him like to leave that bit out and have him in boots.
I have yet to read much about him, but what I have read leads me to think he would be a bit annoyed.
I’ve written about the Johnny Appleseed Museum. He had a bunch of orchards just north of where I live. Many older Americans will recall this Disney portrayal.
That’s very interesting. I like the classic music and Alice in Wonderland imagery, but I find it very odd that they would start him off in shoes in the cartoon and then change him to barefoot eight minutes in (about half way) with no explanation. I have found some scraps of story books that say he walked until his boots just came apart, but it’s all a bit sketchy.
Looking through the museum stuff and other notes on him, though, he really seems like a very interesting an relatable ‘everyman’ character and I think he will make another great example of how people are rewriting history to put shoes on even real people who went barefoot. It’s likely that if that cartoon was made now they would have cut the Bible out as well, even though he’s almost as famous for that as he was for the apples and bare-footedness. I do love his apparent attitude as well.
I think I’m going to have to get hold of one or both of the books you mention in the entry I think I may have been mistaken on some of the picture books, searching again I can’t seem to find the ones I saw. Since I hope to have an entire section on this particular trend I need to make sure I don’t miss-represent exclude or fail to search for evidence.
Woops, In case it wasn’t clear, what I say above is mostly in relation to the museum materials and your entry on him.
If you can get it, the Robert Price book on Johnny Appleseed is really the most comprehensive. It looks like Johnny was a combination of religious fanatic and astute businessman.