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History is not just about significant time periods, inventions, famous figures, or events of mass destruction. In the midst of all that, there is human life: silent moments of everyday life that can tell us more about a place in time than any textbook or historian ever could.
Many of us have seen photographs of world leaders at historical summits, gut-wrenching shots from military zones, and cool images of what ancient buildings looked like a couple of years prior. But this time, Bored Panda invites you to see photographs such as the hands of a homesteader from 1936, the space dog Chernushka, and the home of a rural switchboard operator in 1950s Sweden. They may not be of global importance, but they still say: we were here.
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#1
Maison Kammerzell, Strasbourg, Alsace, 1895
RELATED:
#2
Russell Lee, Man At The Bar On Saturday Night, Craigville, Minnesota, September 1937. Posted The Photo Back In The Day, But It Has This Lonely Desperate Feeling Of Existential Crisis
#3
Ismo Hölttö, Man With His Cat, Norway 1967. Sad Day For Me. My Cat Is Missing Second Week. Happy Hunting In Afterlife My Dear Friend
"Sub is private. I'm just the one guy doing all the content," is a disclaimer in the bio of the r/DragonUtopia subreddit, a place from which these wonderful historical photographs come. Back in 2022, Bored Panda had the pleasure of talking to the person behind the subreddit, the Polish Redditor behind the alias u/myrmekochoria.
As of 2026, the subreddit has a modest following of 11k weekly visitors, but that doesn't make the content any less fascinating or engaging. Back then, u/myrmekochoria told us that the title "Dragon Utopia" is a reference to the game Heroes of Might and Magic III.
"There is a building called Dragon Utopia, and after fighting with a powerful dragon you are rewarded with powerful artifacts," the Redditor told us. "In concept, this subreddit was destined to be dedicated to old artifacts and objects from online museums. But there is already a great subreddit for that, so I switched directions and merged two types of content into one. The name remained."
#4
A Lone Woman Picketing Against Immigration Raids, Los Angeles 1937
#5
Rural Switchboard Operator With Her Cat In Örsundet, Sweden 1953
The two types of content the Redditor mentioned refer to his previous endeavors online. They posted two types of content: old art-themed posts, for which the page title was "Elder Scrolls" (Starszezwoje in Polish), and objects from museums, letters from Mesopotamia, armor, weapons, and similar artifacts. The latter was titled "Dragon Utopia" (Smoczautopia in Polish).
u/DragonUtopia is not just a casual hobby for u/myrmekochoria: you can find many new posts in the subreddit every day. Back in 2022, the Redditor aimed to post about 10 new photographs a day. "The posts depend on what I’m reading currently or am in the mood of," the Redditor explained their process.
#7
Baby Camel On A Camel In Western Australia, 1916
#8
Interior Of U-Boat 110, 1918
#9
A Wounded Canadian And A Wounded German In The Mud Of Passchendaele Sharing A Smoke. November, 1917
"I usually post around 10 posts a day, and there is sometimes (not always) an overarching theme hidden behind them," u/myrmekochoria went on. The themes they find most fascinating include: cruelty of humans, beauty of art, indifference of war and of the biological world, suffering of humans, and maybe the possibility of empathy and the feeling of their despair as yours through photographs, child labor, and the progress of science changing life for the better.
#10
In 1940, The Marc Aurel Stein Expedition Took This Extraordinary Picture Of The Arch Of Roman Bridge Still Standing Near Mosul
#11
Blackfoot Piegan Native Americans In Northern Montana, 1908
#12
Sam Hood, Soldiers Goodbye & Bobbie The Cat, Sydney Ww2 Period
Breadcrumb. 20 hours ago
I'm so happy womens fashion is mostly sneakers now for everyday wear.
u/myrmekochoria is a big believer in using reputable online sources. "There are so many great resources now on the Internet," they told us back in 2022. "There are plenty of national archives (like the Library of Congress, Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe (National Digital Archives in Poland), and a bunch of others — nearly every country now has digitized [their] archives."
The Redditor doesn't shy away from using other blogs and social media accounts as resources. "For the most part, I try to give the content some kind of personal touch, if that is possible," they admit.
#13
Man In His House In Pipe City, Oakland, 1932. Roughly 200 Men Were Allowed To Lived In Sections Of Unused Sewer Pipes By The American Concrete And Steel Pipe Company
#14
Russell Lee, "Boys On Easter Morning, 1941, Southside Chicago”
#15
Irish Woman With Spinning Wheel, 19th C
Many history enthusiasts and even historians have flocked to u/DragonUtopia. u/myrmekochoria admitted that the enthusiastic community is one of the biggest perks of curating the subreddit. "They always have something interesting to say and they provide interesting links to articles or academic papers," the Redditor told us in the previous interview.
"If I post about lesser-known events from modern times, people sometimes write that they were there or witnessed it. Sometimes, citizens of a city or smaller village write to me about how things change or which building still stands (or not).”
#16
Dog Child, A North West Mounted Police Scout, And His Wife, The Only Handsome Woman, Members Of The Blackfoot Nation, Gleichen, Alberta, 1890. Interesting That He Is Holding Japanese Sword
#17
John F. Kennedy Campaigning In West Virginia, 1960
Tabitha 8 hours ago
Now THIS is campaigning. Getting out amongst the people—-not just at fancy dinners with the elites, but right in the middle of where people live, even if it’s not pretty. How else could a candidate really understand what needs to be done, if they aren’t talking to the people instead of their own tone deaf echo chamber.
#18
An Austro-Hungarian Soldier Descent Into The City Of Ice Underneath The Marmolada Glacier, 1916. Stunning And Otherworldly Photo
In the end, the Redditor sometimes even learns more from the community than during their research process. "Often they will give me interesting links to blogs or archives that I did not even know existed, and I end up using them in future posts," u/myrmekochoria told Bored Panda. "The readers often say that they learn things that were before completely unknown to them about history from the subreddit, and that is very flattering."
#19
The Original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel In New York. Demolished In 1929 To Serve As The Site For The Empire State Building
#20
Ballard Mill, 1958
#21
Bandages Retrieved From The Kit Of A British Dog, 1915
Which photographs from u/DragonUtopia have stunned you the most, Pandas? Let us know your favorites in the comments! And if you have a few more minutes to spare, check out some related history memes that might teach you something new about the past, and some fascinating photographs from the Victorian era.
#22
Funeral Ceremony For Victor Hugo At The Arc De Triomphe, 1885
#23
Lunch Hour At The Raphael Weill Public School, San Francisco, California 1942
#24
Inflation King, Germany 1923. Outfit Made Out Of Worthless Coins
#25
Portrait Of Native American Couple With A Child, 1900s
random_froggg (she/they 86/47) 19 hours ago
Never forget, talk about Native & Indigenous people more
#26
Portrait Of Japanese Archer, 1910s
#27
Inuit Girl, Nancy Columbia, And Dog Taken At The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Missouri, 1904
#28
Last Kiss Before Going Off To Korean War, USA 1950
#29
Boy Painting A Face On The Back Of His Father’s Bald Head, 1877
#30
Two Men By Monumental Elephant Statues, China 1870's
#31
Russell Lee, Hands Of Old Homesteader, Iowa 1936
#32
Frozen Niagara Falls, 1885
#33
Kyoto, 1960
#34
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. With Eli Yale, A Hyacinth Macaw, In The White House Conservatory, 1902
Laszlo Larthlanc 11 hours ago
Today the average price for a Blue Hyacinth Macaw is $15,000 – $38,000 USD, and can bring up to $70,000 depending on breeder, age, and location. They are extremely smart.
#35
Unemployed Men Outside A Soup Kitchen In Chicago, 1931
#37
Oak Bridge Telephone Operators Getting Ready For A Shift Change At The Switchboard
#38
George A. Van Biesbroeck, Astronomer At Yerkes Observatory Observing Mars When It Approached Close To The Earth In 1926, And Using The 40 Inch Refracting Telescope, The Largest Of Its Kind In The World
#39
The British Concorde Fleet At London Heathrow Airport, January 21, 1986
#41
Hydraulic Press In Krupp Works At Essen, Germany 1928
#42
Unloading Rations For Soldiers During Ww1
TotallyNOTAFox 7 hours ago (edited)
Long before normed freight containers were a thing and made logistics easier
#43
Manchester United vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers, 26th March 1949
#44
Los Angeles, 1950's
Laszlo Larthlanc 11 hours ago
♫♪ Who wears short shorts? We wear short shorts!" ♪♫ From the song by the Royal Teens, 1957. The store in the background was on the southeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly Hills is a separate city from Los Angeles even though it's in L.A. County.
#45
The Uzbek Republic’s Leading And Most Decorated Winegrower, Rizamat Musamukhamedov, Bred A New Grape Variety (Bayan Shirey), 1939
#46
Glasgow, 1870
#47
Workers At A Brewery Unload Thousands Of Crates Of Beer, Getting Ready For The End Of Prohibition. April, 1933
#48
No Dog Biscuits Today, London 1939
random_froggg (she/they 86/47) 19 hours ago
Outrageous.Give that doggo its biscuit at once. Just look at that face
Laura Slade 7 hours ago
People were encouraged to k1ll their pets to save feeding them during the war 💔
Lukas (alt) 10 hours ago
Baby, they were too busy for a pup-cup, I'm sorry! (Forgive me for sharing a Tiktok link, I originally saw it on Youtube, but I when I searched it I found the Tiktok faster).
#49
"Near The Forbidden City, A Simpleton Whose Job Is To Assist Brides In A Sedan Chair, Beijing, December 1948."
#51
Turkish Soldier Returns From 1st Balkan War, 1912/1913
#52
Lebaudy Brothers Dirigible Over Paris, 1903
#53
Ernest Henry Wilson, Men Laden With Tea, Sichuan Sheng, China 1908. Posted The Photo In The Past, But Found Great Article About 1917 – 1919: Expedition To Eastern Asia
random_froggg (she/they 86/47) 19 hours ago
Can we all band together to eradicate poverty already?
#54
Soviet Space Dog Chernushka Before Her Flight In 1961
#55
Soldiers In Bunk Bed, 1915
#56
Man Catches Alcohol To The Cup Pured Down From Window By Prohibition Agent, USA 1925. Great Photo
#57
Porcelain Shop, Japan 1900
#58
The Esso Hibernia Under Construction, Wallsend Shipyard, 1970
#59
A High School Football Club In Bursa, Ottoman Empire 1910
#60
Cabbage Instead Of Roses At St. Isaac's Square, Autumn 1942
#61
Marvin Koner, A Nun Watches Orphaned Children Sleep At Casa De Beneficencia Orphanage In Havana, 1940s
#62
Soldiers Of An Australian 4th Division Field Artillery Brigade Walk On A Duckboard Track Laid Across A Muddy, Shattered Battlefield In Chateau Wood, Near Hooge, Belgium, October 29, 1917
#63
Mammoth And Giant Octopus Department Of Ethnology Interior Of Anthropology Building, 1893. From Portfolio Of Photographs Of The World's Fair By The Werner Company
#65
Hiroo Onoda, Japanese Soldier Who Refused To Surrender Until 1974. After The War Ended Onoda Spent 29 Years Hiding Out In The Philippines Until His Former Commander Traveled From Japan To Formally Relieve Him From Duty By Order Of Emperor Shōwa
Tabitha 8 hours ago (edited)
You know, that really says something about the durability of military uniforms, if his lasted 30+ years like that, with no chance at replacing any of it. Also, I remember when this happened. If memory serves, I think he initially fought the men who found him, believing they were the enemy, and even when they started talking to him nd telling him how long the war had been over, he didn’t believe them. I don’t remember any follow-ups about him. Did he manage to successfully reintegrate into modern society after 30+ years in the jungle? Did he ever fully accept that those he thought were still enemies were now allies? Did he live a good long time, hopefully with his family, or did he d*e shortly after being liberated? I know I could probably Google my questions, but if anyone has any tidbits of info to pass on to me, I want to thank you in advance! (Update: Well this teaches me to look at ALL comments before writing my own!)
#67
Los Angeles Courthouse. Built In 1891
#68
Factory Workers At The End Of Their Shift, Indiana 1946
#69
A Korean Lady Prepares To Be Carried Through The Streets In Her Sedan Chair, 1890-1923
#70
James Leon Williams, When We Were Boys, 1895
#71
Empire State Building During Construction With Zeppelins In The Background, 1930
nottheactualphoto 16 hours ago
The Empire State Building is an Art Deco icon. If you're ever in town, have a look at the lobby.
#72
An Austro-Hungarian Patrol In The Carnic Alps, 16 July 1916
Laszlo Larthlanc 11 hours ago
Not something I'd ever do even with climbing gear, and that man doesn't even have a rope. What are they patrolling for?
#73
Stuttgart, 1931
trollingergirl 11 hours ago
Ja, das ist der Tagblattturm in Stuttgart. Den Turm/das Gebäude gibt es immer noch. Das Neue Tagblatt war eine Tageszeitung. Das Gebäude war sehr modern, mit Sichtbeton hergestellt.// Yes, that’s the Tagblatt Tower in Stuttgart. The tower/building still stands today. The *Neues Tagblatt* was a daily newspaper. The building was very modern, constructed from exposed concrete.
#74
Woman With Slabs Of Bacon Tied To Her Feet Standing In A Giant Skillet Holding An Enormous Wooden Spatula, Chehalis, Washington 1929
random_froggg (she/they 86/47) 19 hours ago
Context? If there is none that’s cool too, excellent use of free will
#75
A View Of Castle Garth With Dog Leap Stairs, 1890s
Janissary35680 20 hours ago
The BP title is misleading. I found this explanation: "Dog Leap Stairs are a historic, narrow stone stairway in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, that connect Castle Garth to the Side near the Quayside. Originally named "Dog Loup", the name comes from an old local term for a space so narrow that a dog could leap across it."
#76
Third Class Dining Saloon In Lusitania, 1906
#77
Gordon Parks, Department Store, Mobile, Alabama 1956
random_froggg (she/they 86/47) 19 hours ago
And to think there’s people who want to bring this back. Disgusting
#78
Policeman Dumping Alcohol Into The Gutter, New York 1922
NightOwlPanda 20 hours ago
An Irish legend tells us that when you die, St. Peter puts you face down in a vat full of all the alcohol you wasted during your life. If the vat has enough drink to drown you, then you’re sent to hell.
#79
Star Reporter Rick Brennan Argues With Gas Station Owner Neil Shepherd Who's Refusing To Gas Russian-Made Lada Cars, Canada 1980
#80
Lobby Stairs To Waiting Room And Concourses, Chicago & North Western Railway, Chicago, 1912
#81
Scene From Siemens Factory, 1900-1930
#82
Virna Haffer, Old Tacoma Hotel Fire, 1935
Multa Nocte (she/her/86 -> 47) 19 hours ago
1935 - "TACOMA, Oct. 17.—The historic Tacoma Hotel, one of the famous hostelries of the Pacific Northwest, was destroyed by fire today with a loss of $500,000. The building was designed by Stanford White and was erected under his supervision in 1884 during the railroad boom days. Seven persons were injured in the blaze, but all the 128 guests were believed to have escaped. The fire, which began at 6 A. M. in the basement carpenter shop, still was burning this evening. It was impossible to enter the seething shell of the five-story building. Most of the guests and employes escaped down firemen's ladders or by sliding down ropes of bed sheets, after flames had swept up the stairways and elevator shaft. Many lost their belongings and nearly all were compelled to flee in their night clothing."
#83
Bronx, 1970's
Tabitha 8 hours ago (edited)
Yeah, in the seventies the Bronx looked like a bombed out wasteland. The former residents moved t9 the suburbs during the “Great White Flight” after WWII. Then the slumlords moved in and bought up the old unoccupied buildings, and never kept them up. I knew someone who grew up in the Bronx pre-war, and he said the neighborhoods were working class, and really nice back then, also safe to live in.
#84
A Cowboy Stands In Front Of His Cabin, Hot Springs, Arkansas 1901
#85
Loading The Copper Bars Into The Ship, USA 1905. Stunning Quality And Resolution
That’s all I yam 5 hours ago
I found a very high resolution photo online. The line in front of the man holding a glove in his left hand is a thick, slightly frayed rope tied to a U-shaped bar that has two hooked ends that catch a straight bar on the front of the cart. This setup allows ropes to be easily attached to the cart to pull the cart forward by winch, people, etc. You can also see a second rope behind the man, pulled taut and looks like it's doing the same thing on the other side of the cart. The man is standing in between the ropes and probably took his glove off to better handle the placement of the hooks. After he got the hooks in place, it looks like he and the crew posed for the photo. The posted photo has such poor resolution, you can't see any of the detail that's in the high res photo. If other members have other interpretations of the high res photo, I'd enjoy hearing about them. (Loading copper, Houghton, Michigan, c1905.jpg, Wikimedia Commons)
#86
Russell Lee, People In The Bus Station. Welch, Mcdowell County, West Virginia, 1946
Michael Largey 7 hours ago
Given the date and the location, I'm surprised it wasn't segregated.
#87
Richard Jenkins, Group Of Men With Romford & Evershed Ltd Pershorf 1885 Steam Engine, First Half Of 20th C
David Loeffler 16 hours ago
Title is mis-transcribed: Bomford & Evershed of Pershore. Pershore is a town in Worcestershire, England.
#89
Lewis Hine, Junkies Breaking Up Old Looms To Be Sold For Scrap-Iron And Said To Be Sent To Japan For Munitions, 1936
Multa Nocte (she/her/86 -> 47) 19 hours ago (edited)
From the original entry: "I had to do a bit of research on this but the term 'junkie' existed for addicts in general, apparently since the 1920s, but could also mean people who traded in scrap/junk metal, as used in the official title of this photograph"
#90
American Soldiers Writing Their Names On Top Of Taj Mahal, Ww2
#91
Anchor Men With Mauretania Chain And Anchor, 1910s. Man On The Right Is Absolute Unit Looking Like Dishonored Character
#92
Pilots From Lafayette Escadrille With Two Mascots Lions Whiskey And Soda, 1916/1917
nottheactualphoto 16 hours ago (edited)
I'm having a whisky and soda (the beverage) as we speak. What a co-inky-dink! Edit: Seriously, we're censoring "dink?"
#93
Baltimore In 1815
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What do you think ?
Glen Ellyn 4 hours ago
Some Pandas can't help but complain - uh, comment - about how they've seen them before. Plenty of folks have not. Besides, I don't mind seeing the good ones again. Sometimes I notice a detail that I missed the first time.
Load More Replies... Glen Ellyn 4 hours ago
Some Pandas can't help but complain - uh, comment - about how they've seen them before. Plenty of folks have not. Besides, I don't mind seeing the good ones again. Sometimes I notice a detail that I missed the first time.
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