While we tend to think of history as these big picture moments, time passed “back then” as it does now, minute by minute, day by day. The figures we learn about in school also had private lives, quiet moments, hobbies and free time. Ever since the invention of the camera, people have been able to document these moments, big and small, for posterity.
We’ve gathered some cool and possibly unseen photos from the past that help show fascinating scenes from history. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section down below.
#1 Publicity Photo Of Audrey Hepburn, Doing Ballet, 1956
Image credits: wikimedia commons
#2 Marilyn Monroe Learns How To Use An Oxygen Mask Aboard An Air Force Jet To Korea Where She Entertained The Troops, U.S. Air Force Photo, 1954
Image credits: US Air Force
#3 Inventor Nikola Tesla In His Laboratory In Colorado Springs, 1899
Image credits: Dickenson V. Alley
There's something strong about gazing into the past through the lens of an old photograph. Even photographs decades old can give us a surge of discovery, as if we've found a secret time capsule hidden in an attic. Every crease, every speck of darkness, holds out possibility for moments that defined individuals and places, moments we weren't there to witness, yet that somehow are real when we view them.
Old photographs also let us glimpse worlds lost. The clothing, the architecture, the everyday objects all inform us about what life was like, what work was done, and what dreams were pursued in other eras. What is quaint or odd to us now, a luxurious hat, a streetcar thundering down a muddy avenue, becomes a rich clue to the struggles and hopes of past times. Thus, every snapshot is a small classroom, instructing us in cultural change and lost customs.
#4 Police Dog, Tess, 1935
Image credits: State Library of NSW
#5 Ned Parfett, Paperboy, Outside The White Star Line Offices In London, 1912
Image credits: wikimedia
#6 Very Large Elephant Seal Named Goliath At The Vincennes Zoo, Paris, With Zoo Staff Member, 1936
Image credits: wikimedia
There is a wistful beauty in the shortcomings of early photo technology. The soft focus, light leaks, and hand-coloring color a dreamy, almost painterly sheen that high-resolution digital images nowadays hardly reach. Those blemishes remind us photography was not always straightforward, but the intersection of chemistry and patience and deliberate composition. Those photos are frequently more enigmatic and vibrant than the tack-sharp images we snap with our phones these days.
#7 Albert Einstein Plays The Violin, 1927
Image credits: Wanda von Debschitz-Kunowski
#8 Peking Mission School Children At Play, The Dragon's Head, China, 1902
Image credits: Library of Congress
#9 The Family Bicycle Included A Sewing Machine, Invented In 1939
Image credits: Janiththa
Beyond beauty and history, old pictures also speak to our shared humanity. When we look at a 1920 family picture or a 1950 street scene, we catch glimpses of faces full of hopes and fears and daily pleasures. We connect with people who are unknown to us from the past, witnessing the same thrill over a birthday party, the same love between loved ones, the same daily triumphs and worries. It's a powerful reminder that, despite the decades that have passed, human emotion and experience are amazingly uniform.
#10 On The Merry-Go-Round At Deepwater Races - Deepwater, NSW C. 1910
Image credits: State Library of New South Wales
#11 President Richard Nixon Plays The Piano At The Truman Library, 1969
Image credits: The Nixon library
#12 Sir Winston Churchill With His Son Randolf And The Latter's Son Winston In Coronation Robes, 1953
Image credits: Library of Congress
Finally, vintage photos inspire us to think about change, personal and societal. They may cause us to yearn for times we barely knew, but encourage us to consider how far we've come. By looking at yesterday's sidewalks and closets versus today's, we gain perspective on the pace of improvement and trend of fashion. By letting these photos speak, we breathe life into memories, providing a bridge that brings our present world and parts of the past together.
#13 Messerschmitt Kabinenroller Cars, With An Advertisement For The Film A Prize Of Gold Starring Richard Widmark, 1955
Image credits: IISG
#14 Mrs. Coolidge & White House Pet Raccoon Rebecca, 1927
Image credits: Library of Congress National Photo Company Collection
#15 Dog Albina - Participant In Experiments On Launching Space Rockets Into Near-Earth Space, Moscow, 1957
Image credits: Photo by S. Guraria
#16 Lighthouse Keeper Cleaning Lens At The Pensacola Lighthouse, Ca. 1960
Image credits: State Library and Archives of Florida
#17 Dog Show, 1920
Image credits: Library of Congress National Photo Company Collection
#18 Beauty Salon, 1958
Image credits: U. A. Saarinen
#19 Marilyn Monroe Visits American GIs In Korea, 1954
Image credits: Alfred Zirkel, an American w:G.I.
#20 Napoleon Sarony, Hoop Skirt, 1893
Image credits: Napoleon Sarony
#21 President Roosevelt In His Wheelchair On The Porch At Top Cottage In Hyde Park, NY, With Ruthie Bie And Fala, 1941
Image credits: FDR Presidential Library & Museum
#22 Publicity Photo Of Lucille Ball, As Superman, 1957
Image credits: CBS Television
#23 Women's Bicycle Race In Caubourg, 1894
Image credits: wikimedia
#24 The Standard Vanguard Phase 1 Was The First Completely New British Car Design To Emerge After World War II, 1947
Image credits: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
#25 Telephone Operators, 1929
Image credits: H. Graumann and I. Piedade Po
#26 Telephone Switchboard Operators, Ca. 1922
Image credits: Webster & Stevens
#27 George The Humanoid Robot From The 1930s Was Constructed By Motor Engineer Alan Herbert Reffell And Captain W. H. Richards, 1930
Image credits: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-09312 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
#28 Icarus, Empire State Building, 1930
Image credits: Lewis Hine
#29 Workman On The Framework Of The Empire State Building, Ca. 1941 - Ca. 1942
Image credits: Lewis Hine
#30 Rare Snow In New Orleans, 1958
Image credits: Jambalaya (Tulane University yearbook)
#31 A Giant Sequoia Log, Undated - Generals Highway, Three Rivers, Tulare County, Ca
Image credits: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
#32 Mule Carrying Wheels, Trails And Axeltree Of 75 Mm Mountain Artillery, Elswick Works, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Image credits: North East Museums
#33 Newly Installed "Boat Motor" Styled Coca-Cola Soda Dispenser Just After The Dispenser's Installation At Fleeman's Pharmacy, Atlanta, Georgia, Circa 1948
Image credits: Jack Fleeman / c/o collection of Richard Warren Lipack
#34 Elevator Girl, Martha Washington Hotel, 1917
Image credits: Library of Congress
#35 15 Month-Old Paulina Longworth With Her Mother, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Visiting Circus Grounds, 1926
Image credits: Library of Congress
#36 Miss Eastine Cowner, A Former Waitress, Is Helping In Her Job As A Scaler To Construct The Liberty Ship SS George Washington Carver, 1943
Image credits: Library of Congress
#37 Western College Sewing Class, 1918
Image credits: Miami U. Libraries - Digital Collections
#38 Duke Of Gloucester With Prince Richard Of Gloucester In Australia, 1945
Image credits: Max Dupain
#39 The Parrita Milkman Travels On Horseback With His Milk Cans Strapped To The Saddle, Between Circa 1940 And Circa 1943
Image credits: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Library
#40 African Amercian Newspaper Boy, 1921
Image credits: Library of Congress
#41 Photo Portrait Of A Clown From The Barnum & Bailey Circus With A Fly Resting On His Nose, 1949
Image credits: Touring Club Italiano
#42 The U.S. Navy Airship USS Akron (Zrs-4) Flying Over The Southern End Of Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, Circa 1931-1933
Image credits: U.S. Navy
#43 Air Hostess And Passengers At An Aircraft At Visby Airport, 1925
Image credits: Swedish National Heritage Board
#44 "The Teaser", Coney Island In Luna Park, 1911
Image credits: The Library of Congress
#45 President Richard Nixon Playing Piano At Blair House, Washington, D.c., 1971
Image credits: Nixon White House Photographs
#46 Civil Servant With Punch Cards And An International (IBM 401) Calculator, Preparing For The Upcoming House Of Representatives Elections, Amsterdam, 1948
Image credits: IISG
#47 Vice-President Nixon Spars With Premier Khrushchev Before Reporters And Onlookers, Including Politburo Member Leonid Brezhnev At The American National Exhibition At Sokolniki Park, In Moscow, 1959
Image credits: Archives.gov
