50 Interesting Historical Photos That Might Change Your Perspective On Things (New Pics)
Interview
Nowadays, we can't even imagine our lives without photos. Many of us tend to capture each detail of our lives, from special occasions to the most ordinary moments. Cameras are used by all age groups, starting from little children who are curious about all the gadgets around them, through youth, adults, and finally, elderly people who want to keep up with technology and have the will to learn new things.
However, it wasn't always this easy in the past, and initially, cameras were available only to a very narrow group of people. Nevertheless, we can't deny that this was a wonderful invention, providing us with limited sources of information that offer a glimpse into how life looked in the past. The Facebook page 'Old Photos' curates a great collection of fascinating photographs, and as it states: "This page is to remember history by sharing historic photos and videos from around the world."
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Three Women In Marshall, Texas, 1899
A Boy And His Peddle Car, 1930s
A Stylish Family Outing, 1946
Bored Panda reached out to Krzysztof Kucharczyk, a professional photographer, and an old photos enthusiast. Apart from his professional work, Krzysztof is also an admin of an Instagram account dedicated to historical images. We wanted to gather more information about his passion and details about curating his profile. First, we asked what initially drew him to the world of old photography. Kucharczyk shared with us: “Old photos are magical. Old photographs are windows to the old world. I've always wondered about their history. I started collecting old photos to save their history from oblivion. Discovering the story of each photo is a journey into the unknown, a journey to another world, a journey to a parallel world.”
Two Sisters, Florence And Susie Friermuth Arrested For Moonshining During The Prohibition, 1921
Little Girl And Her Kitty, Harlem, NY, 1949
Two Gentleman From The Early 1900s
We were wondering what criteria Krzysztof uses to determine the value and significance of a vintage photograph. He said: “I am not guided by technical values. I appreciate photos that keep me lingering longer. I love photos that tell a story. You find a photo, you look at it, and you know you have to save it.”
Dutch Boy With A Pillow Strapped On His Backside To Soften The Falling On Ice While Skating, 1933
Two Little Girls In 1887
A Young Boy Comforting His Friend In Scotland, 1968
Comforting him as they walk back to the coal mine for the afternoon shift.
Kucharczyk shared with us his favorite discovery and the story behind the vintage photograph: “Each photo has an amazing story. Not all stories are known. There is a photo that brought me back to my hometown. The photo was given to the grandson by his grandma. The grandson sold the photo, and it was found 450 km from home. This elderly woman was very surprised when I showed her this picture. She was very young in the photo, and I wouldn't recognize her. She confirmed it was her portrait. She gave this picture as a gift to her grandson. It had been sold, and I found it in a marketplace, 450 km from this woman's place of residence.”
Frederick Patterson Was The First African-American To Manufacture Cars
A Female Firefighting Team On A Converted Motorcycle In London, 1932
On The Left, Antonin Baldrman Is Pictured At 17 Years Old. On The Right, He Is 101 Years Old
Lastly, we were wondering what lessons or inspirations the photographer draws from the past that influenced his work as a photographer in the present. Krzysztof told us: “Understatements. I like when everything is not clear. I like to create blurred, natural images without Photoshop. I appreciate analog photography and its softness and depth. All of this is missing from digital photography.”
A Mother Homeschools Her Children, Louisiana, 1937
Two Women Sitting Under A Tree 117 Years Ago!
Rainy Nights In London, 1899
Rural One-Room School House In Florida, 1870s
The rural one room schoolhouses in every backwoods, rural, or otherwise remote location were responsible for bringing literacy to people who would never have learned their Three Rs without them. For free!
A Portrait Taken Of A Woman While She Was Mid-Sneeze
I imagine getting photographed must have been quite expensive and not that frequent in those times. Imagine getting your photo like this. But I am glad it happened this way so that we could see it like this.
A Woman Churning Milk To Butter While Reading A Book, 1897
Two Musicians Sitting On A Porch In Louisiana, 1938
Teachers On Spring Break, 1910
Photographer Above The Skies Of Berlin, 1912
It would be royally terrifying to stand on that being that high in the air
A Cow Carries Seven Children “To School”. Washington, 1907
Portrait Of Unidentified Beautiful Family, Around 1875
A Little Gang In Paris, 1950
An Immigrant Family Arriving At Ellis Island In 1904
The poor eldest daughter! She was doing a lot of cooking and laundry.
A Couple Skating, Berlin, 1905
The Moon was a lot closer back then which is why everybody had to stand at an angle.
Women On Motorcycles In Great Britain, 1930s
Clint Eastwood Aged 26
Lifeboat Carrying Titanic Survivors, 1912
I read somewhere that since most survivors were women and children their eyewitness account (how the ship sank etc)was not considered believable. It wasn't until the wreckage was discovered that their accounts were accepted as real.
Young Cotton Mill Workers In 1909
A Family Going On The Summer Holiday In A Fiat 500, Italy, 1967
A Businessman And Secretary Working In A Pool During A Heatwave In Berlin, Germany, 1926
Portrait Of Two Girls Washing Clothes In The Street Of London, 1900s
A Group Of People At The Beach. Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1910
A Tattoo Artist, 1920s
It's not a tattoo artist, it's The Tattoo Artist, Lyle Tuttle. A legend in the industry and an extraordinary man.
New York Street Style, 1940s
Portrait Of 2 Lads With Their Baby Sibling Taken In Manhattan, New York, 1918
Annie Edson Taylor Poses With Her Cat And The Barrel She Rode Over The Falls, 1901
Camera Girls, Late 1930s
A Typical American Family In 1950s, Detroit, Michigan
Robert Wadlow, The Tallest Man In History, With His Family In 1935
An Immigrant Family Looking At Manhattan From The Dock At Ellis Island. August 13, 1925
Graduation Ceremonies In The Late 1890s Were Quite The Event!
The Opening Of The Eiffel Tower During The 1889 World’s Fair
A Group Of Kids Gathered Together, Massachusetts, 1904
Christmas Dinner, 1936. Dinner Consisted Of Potatoes, Cabbage And Pie
A Saloon That Allowed Children Their Own Child-Size Beers, Wisconsin, 1890
The Mississippi River Frozen Solid, 1905
Victorian Couple On A Tandem Bicycle, 1890s
Group Of Friends In Beer Garden, Munich, Germany
A Lamp Lighter At Work In London, 1935
A Family On A Motorcycle With A Sidecar On The Beach In Morocco, 1936
Kendall Green Bike Club In Front Of Faculty Row, 1885
An American Family Leaves Florida For The North During The Great Depression
Dairy Queen In 1954!
One Of The Oldest Person To Have Been Photographed In 1840-1850
A Couple Enjoys Their Custom-Made Camper In 1918
Mother And Children, 1900
Postman Empties Mailbox Attached To A German Tram, Berlin, 1920
Us Soldier Giving A Japanese Girl A Bicycle Ride. Japan, 1946
Rush Hour, New York City, 1909
Children Enjoying The Water In The Streets In New York City, 1954
Early Car At The Gas Station
It took from when cars were first driven to about 1975 for gas to get to 69¢, say about 70 or so years. It took from 1975 to now for gas to get to over $5, so 48 years. And it's hit over $5 before now, too. Now tell me about how there's not runaway inflation and greed.
Handsome Man From The Late 1800s
I could do without the swirled up ends of the mustache, other than that, quite attractive.
Models On A Smoke Break, Italy, 1950
Mother And Her Three Daughters, 1895
An ‘Ice Man’, Delivering A 25lb Block Of Ice In 1928, Houston, Texas. (Click To See The Full Picture)
Bread Being Sold Off The Back Of A Hand Cart, 1925
Children Playing At The Washington Park Playground, 1907
A Country Girl And Her Friends Munch Pie After A Morning Of Hunting, Ca. 1910s. Note The Dapper Horse, Wearing A Jaunty Cap
This whole description could be the title of an adult film. Just sayin..
Children Playing With Dolls, New York, 1912
Harley-Davidson School For Motorcycle Mechanics, 1917
“And this is the sprocket that makes it unnecessarily loud. You’re going to want to turn this all the way up, every time, boys.”
Telephone Repair Wagon And Repairman, 1887, California
Love This Shot Of Some Fancy "Weekending" At Silver Lake, Washington In 1920
I imagine this was very relaxing and it felt great to be out in the fresh air, away from the possibly noisy, dirty city.
A Construction Worker Takes A Break From Building The Chrysler Building, New York, 1930
Children With Their Dog Pulling Wagon, 1910
Shoe Shiners Taking A Lunch Break, New York City, 1947
A Group Of Young Boys In The Early 1940s, Washington
I always want to know what happened to the people in these pictures.
This Giant Sequoia Tree Was Estimated To Be Over 2600 Years Old When It Was Cut Down In The 1890s
Couple Walks Along The Beach In Atlantic City, 1890
They must have been just baking, especially her, in the summer heat. It’s the reason women had “the vapors” and fainted so much. Tightly laced into their corsets nd wearing like 20 lbs of clothing covering them up to the neck, down to the floor, and to their wrists. No chance to get cool at all, until you could sit in a bathtub full of cool water. Soooo happy we can wear more temperature appropriate clothing now.
Mule-Powered Trolley In Galveston, Texas, Late 19th-Century
A Young Boy And Girl On The Way To School For The Start Of A New Term In The 1920s
1920s Farm School In Missouri, Note The Scowl On The Teacher's Face, Also Some Of These Children Are Shoeless
Noon Break At Glass Factory, East St. Louis, Missouri. 1910
Heartbreaking. These lads should be in school. 100 years and thankfully things have changed
Workers Laying Bricks To Pave 28th Street In Manhattan, 1930
Not bricks, but granite cobblestones. Many years later, when NYC repaved the streets, millions of these went to masonry depots and now line countless driveways and were used to build street curbs in suburban areas.
A Typical Family At The Time. Taken In The Midwest Sometime Around 1900
This might be a sod house. Notice how thick the walls are at the front door.
they were encouraged to, your chances of living to adulthood were much lower
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Early Nebraska settlers wer ecalled sodbusters for a good reason. My moms family was from Omaha.
A Soldier Next To His War Horse, 1864
Thanks, u/sofacushionfort. The man is General Ulysses S. Grant posing with his war horse, Cincinnati.
Making Ice Cream In 1940
Handsome Man From The Late 1800s
A New York Farmer, 1960s
This looks like the draft horse team my step father had. He had tractors in 1970 but still had one pair of draft horses that were trained to plow and things. As a boy him and his father cleared their fields with draft horses and dynamite (for the stumps) and did their farming work with draft horses.
18 Year-Old Mother From Oklahoma In California, March 1937
Looks like a photo by Dorothea Lange. A lot of her work is housed at the Library of Congress
The Crowds On State Street, Chicago, 1895
Lumberjacks In 1920
Elderly Victorian Couple, 1880
People Swiming, 1910
Children Walking Along A Dirt Path Through A Wooded Area, 1940
Tea On The Lawn, 1912
Woman At Her Switchboard In 1914
Mother & Child In The Kitchen, 1910
A Street Scene From 1937
Sharecropper Family, Georgia, July 1937
Two-Seater In Paris, 1922
Rural Mail Delivery In 1914
Migrant Farm Worker With His Wife And Ten Children, 1936
Claiborne County, Tennessee, 1940 - 1950
Maintenance Worker Painting The Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia, 1945
Funeral Home In The 1900s
There are a lot of old established funeral homes that look just like this one, especially in small towns, all over the US. Mostly owned and run by the same family for generations. The family lives upstairs, the funeral parlor is downstairs, and the basement is used for embalming,
Soldier Eating Mid-Day Meal, 1918
A Woman Reads A Book Next To The Washington Square Park Fountain In The Late 1940s
Hair up off her neck, light cotton dress, and barefoot too. She’s literally one cool chick.
Portrait Of Gentlemen Taken In Front Of Western Hotel, California, July 4, 1889
Woman Selling Fish From A Barrel, 1910
Photo Of Two Children And A Pony With Railroad Shop In Background. Western North Carolina, 1930's
Gas Station Owner With Daughter And Dog In Front Of The Station In Clear Creek
Loggers With Crosscut Saw And Oxen Standing Near A Large Fir Log, Washington State, 1889
A Family At A Tent Camp In Washington, 1861
French Family Cooking Food Outside Their Caravan, France, June 1948
Family Having A Picnic On The Side Of The Dirt Road, 1915
Family Standing In Front Of Their Home, Tennessee, 1913
Lawmen Outside Of The City Marshall's Office In Guthrie, Oklahoma 1890s
Car Camping In The 1920s
A Man And Boy Change A Tire On The Side Of A Dirt Road, 1917
Ohhhhh, fffffffuuuudddggge! Only I didn’t say “fudge”. (If you know, you know.)
I loved this! fascinating the difference in the photo's of the people with wealth and those who were poor. I hope to see more
I love looking at photos which show the 19th century; I often think about people in a hundred years time looking at pictures of us. Not going to lie though, the victorian death photos absolutely fascinates me. They're my favourite old time pictures.
I loved this! fascinating the difference in the photo's of the people with wealth and those who were poor. I hope to see more
I love looking at photos which show the 19th century; I often think about people in a hundred years time looking at pictures of us. Not going to lie though, the victorian death photos absolutely fascinates me. They're my favourite old time pictures.
