We've told you many wonderful stories with collections of historical photos from different times, or with photos of the cutest cats on the Internet. It's time to combine these two amazing things into one combo collection. So now, please meet The Cats of Yore!
This is probably the largest online collection of vintage photos and images of cats - at least, I haven’t come across more complete and so nostalgic collections. Nostalgic even more so because all the cats you’ll see in these photos have already gone into eternity, but the joy they once gave to their humans remains for many years and decades.
More info: Instagram
#1
“Miss Iris Davis… spends a great deal of time recovering cats with the aid of a “lassoo” from the debris of bombed house. So far she has rescued six hundred of these feline strays, 8 November 1940.“ From the Imperial War Museums' online photograph collection
Image credits: catsofyore
#2
Little boys. 💕 Postcard from my collection, unsent, 1902.
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#3
Beautiful scene in Scotland. By Mary Ethel Muir Donaldson, ca. 1920s.
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Molly Hodgdon lives in Chittenden County, Vermont, with her two cats, Fergus and Francie, and since 2021, she has started an online archive of photos and images of cats that once, many years ago, walked our earth. As of today, the Instagram account she rules has over 1.5K photos and almost 100K followers.
The woman has been collecting her archive for years, and today, she continues to delight netizens with purrfect historical materials depicting our fluffy friends from the past times. So now, Bored Panda suggests you to look at five dozen of the best photos from this incredible collection.
#4
Very fancy potato postcard from my collection, date unknown.
Image credits: catsofyore
#5
Proud. 🏆 Photo from my collection, ca. 1970s
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#6
I’m in ur sink, questioning ur decor choices. Photo from my collection, ca. 1960s.
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It’s not known who was the first person to draw a cat, but it was definitely someone from prehistoric times because cats have been living next to us for several millennia. At first, it was a purely utilitarian necessity—cats rid our homes of mice and rats—and then people simply realized that furry friends are also the best cure for loneliness—well, okay, the best—on par with doggos.
#7
Morning and evening, 1898. From The Angora Cat: How to Breed, Train, and Keep It. By Robert Kent James, 1898. From the Library of Congress.
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#8
Snug. ☺️ From April’s Kittens, written and illustrated by Clare Turlay Newberry. 1940.
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#9
This meeting of the High Council of Tater Tots has been brought to order. Undated, from the Upplandsmuseet in Uppsala, Sweden
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So even in ancient times, on the frescoes and wall bas-reliefs of Ancient Egypt, you can already find some cats. Moreover, the Egyptians worshiped small animals as gods and gave them a sacred status. It’s not for nothing that one of the goddesses of the ancient Egyptian pantheon, named Bast, had the head of a cat!
Well, today our worship of cats is not as frantic as it was a couple of thousand years ago, but we still try to capture our beloved friends in photos or drawings. And then - years pass, the past is covered with the dust of time - and the photos find a second life in the collection of Molly Hodgdon…
#10
Boy with cat. Photo taken in Natal, South Africa by Constance Stuart Larrabee, 1949. From the Smithsonian online virtual archives
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#11
His Majesty. Postcard from my collection, mailed 1907.
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#12
Cat in Cherry Tree. Wood engraving print by Eileen Mayo, 1947. From the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
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The collector herself says that her love for cats goes back to her earliest childhood. "Cats are not just a social media gimmick for me; I have a deep love for them going back to my earliest memories,” Molly Hodgdon writes on her page at Givebutter. “My collection of vintage cat photos was inspired by my affection for these amazing animals and my fascination with humankind's shared history with them.”
By the way, both of the woman's cats, according to her own words, are HIV+, so the lady spends a lot of time maintaining their health. And the cats, in turn, try to repay the kindness in full with their own warmth and love.
#13
Before the internet kittens had to call everyone individually to explain how small and cute they were. Unknown photographer, ca. 1920 - 1935. From the online collection of the Powerhouse Museum - a collective of museums in Sydney, Australia.
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#14
Showing bottle ships to kittens is a top tier hobby. Photo of Jakob Olaussen by Kjell Søgård, 1967. From the Norwegian Forestry Museum in Elverum, Norwa
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#15
Three cats. Three of them. All cats. Photo by Hilding Mickelsson, undated. From the Hälsingland Museum in Hudiksvall, Sweden
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The Molly Hodgdon’s collection contains thousands of photographs and images, from the middle of the last century to completely hoary antiquities - for example, Victorian postcards with cute kitties. Just a visual confirmation of the fact that no matter how humanity changes over time, there are things that remain unchanged. So love for cats is definitely one of these things.
#16
Here is an angel of summer coming to give you hope in this freezing month! 🌼 Photo from my collection, ca. 1970s.
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#17
Superb mixed bean salad. 🫘 Photo from a book in my collection: The Book of Kittens, edited by Brant House, 1951.
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#18
This is a photo from a sweet and funny book called The Silent Miaow by Paul Gallico with photos by Suzanne Szasz. It’s a cute manual that teaches stray cats how to train humans and get them to let you move in and take over. 1964.
Image credits: catsofyore
We’re almost sure that you’ll enjoy looking at these photographs, literally breathing joy and peace. After all, when you hold a cat in your arms, or they sleep peacefully on your lap, you, a priori, cannot experience any feelings other than joy and peace.
So, please sit back, grab your cat (if you're lucky enough to have one at home), and take a trip down memory lane, illustrated by some of the most amazing cats that have ever existed!
#19
A Beauty, 1901. 🍐 From the Auckland Libraries, accessed thanks to the DigitalNZ project.
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#20
A Beauty, 1901. 🍐 From the Auckland Libraries, accessed thanks to the DigitalNZ project.
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#21
“Toodles the cat celebrated his 18th birthday on St. Patrick’s Day in 1940. A stout 19 pounds, he is deaf and beginning to lose his teeth. Toodles is set in his ways and doesn’t like his daily routine interrupted, especially… his afternoon nap.” 1940. From the Tacoma Public Library online digital collections.
Image credits: catsofyore
#22
This is really marvelous tabby coat appreciation. 💕 Watercolor by Norbertine Bresslern-Roth, 1920.
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#23
Sleepy heap. Painting by Henriette Ronner-Knip, 1903. Sold by Bonhams auction house in 2011.
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#24
A very pleasant loaf. 🍞 Oil painting by Abraham Cooper, 1817. From the online collections of the Ashmolean Museum
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#25
Proposal for Sistine Chapel redesign. Photo from my collection, no date/info.
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#26
Mother, no. Photo from my collection, no date or other info.
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#27
“Mary, posed by a small Christmas tree.” Ca. 1935. Photo by Ephraim Burt Trimpey. From the Wisconsin Historical Society.
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#28
Christmas explosion with two cats. Photo from my collection, 1972.
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#29
Lil meowboy. Photo from my collection ca. 1950s.
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#30
Just a little guy. Photo from my collection, no date/info.
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#31
Portrait of a beloved loaf. Photo by John Holyland, ca. 1865 - 1880. From the Maryland Center for History and Culture.
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#32
Illustration from Two Too Many by Nora Unwin, 1962.
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#33
Dancer Lisan Kay worshipping her cat. 1942. From the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library Digital Collections.
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#34
Two cool ladies (roommates??) and a small pal. Photo from my collection, ca. 1930s.
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#35
A greeting for negligent penpals and procrastinating authors. Postcard from my collection, 1911.
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#36
From The Adventures of Nip and Tuck: Just Cats. Written by Elizabeth Francis and illustrated by Barbara Roe Hicklin, 1959
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#37
Vintage art for a Chesapeake & Ohio Rail Road calendar by Charles Bracker! So sweet. The sleeping kitty is "Chessie", one of the most successful cat advertising mascots of the 20th century. This was sold by Ripley Auctions of Indianapolis in 2009.
Image credits: catsofyore
#38
White Cat by Sal Meijer (1877-1965).
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#39
Warming the beans. 🥰 Photo from my collection, ca. 1950s.
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#40
This photo says “Edna Wilke” on the back and I hope that was the name of the kitten. Photo from my collection, ca. 1950s.
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#41
Noir goddess. Photo from my collection, no date/info
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#42
Two cats, by Walter Inglis Anderson ca. 1940. From the Walter Anderson Museum of Art Permanent Collection.
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#43
So, attacking "cat ladies" as a way of disenfranchising women is not exactly a new tactic in the United States. Women were frequently portrayed mockingly as cats and man-hating cat ladies in anti-suffrage propaganda over a century ago. Some of these portrayals might seem flattering to us today, but at the time representing women as cats was intended to infantilize and demean them as being silly creatures incapable of serious political discourse. Here are just a few of innumerable examples. (I know people are going to ask if the first one is by Louis Wain - it's not. It was by William Henry Ellam.) Edited to add: The "I'm a Suffer Yet" is a joke referring to suffragettes being beaten and detained by police. This is according to various sociologist's and historian's essays I have read on the subject.
Image credits: catsofyore
#44
Goblin mode activated. By a follower of Sebastian Stoskopff, ca. 17th century. Sold by Christie's auction house in 2005.
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#45
Time to get FANCY. From the Peace Institute's 1904 yearbook, via the Abecedarian website, oneletterwords.com.
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#46
Bum! ❤️ Photo from my collection, 1936.
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#47
Illustration from Orlando (The Marmalade Cat): A Seaside Holiday. Written and illustrated by Kathleen Hale, 1952. The family was so hot and bored they didn’t even want their shrimps! 🦐
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#48
From The Picture Poetry Book by Gertrude Parthenon McBrown, illustrated by Loïs Mailou Jones. 1935. The whole book is scanned and available online via the New York Public Library's Digital Collections!
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#49
Lost Chance. Painting by Charles Burton Barber, 1881.
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#50
Cat. Painting by Gwen John, ca. 1904 - 1908. From the online collection of the Tate Collective
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