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50 Important Historical Photos That Might Change Your Perspective On Things (New Pics)
In the mid-2000s, historian Anna Pegler-Gordon said that visual media often seems more accessible to her students than the written record. They claimed images make the past seem more accessible, giving concrete shape to a world that sometimes seems intangible. Not to mention the immediacy of the image, which often conveys information more quickly than a primary document written in an unfamiliar, or even a foreign, language. But according to Pegler-Gordon, this immediacy also works well in discussion sections, where the shared experience of viewing a picture can provide a focus for lively group discussion.
Now, 15 years after the professor said these words, we can say that her insights were spot on. Take this subreddit, for example. It unites over 3 million people, and they're all exploring the past through historical photographs. The rarely seen images coupled with the detailed fashion in which the community shares them with one another (every upload includes an accurate description of what is being presented (event, location, war, year, etc.) not only provides a look into our earlier days, but also inspires interesting discussions in the comment section.
We at Bored Panda have already covered the subreddit here and here, but it has received plenty of new submissions since our last publication, so we thought it's about time we made another one. Continue scrolling to check out some of its recent posts and the conversation we had with historians Joshua Wilkey and Darren R. Reid.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Cop Stops The Traffic In New York So A Mother Cat Holding A Kitten Can Cross Safely C.1925
RELATED:
#2
Remember That Photo Of The Construction Workers Having Lunch On The Unfinished Empire State Building? Well Here's The Photographer Charles Ebbets Taking That Photo. 9/20/1932
#3
Rail Commuters Wearing White Protective Masks, One With The Additional Message “Wear A Mask Or Go To Jail,” During The 1918 Influenza Pandemic In California
#4
Stoney First Nation Member, Guide Samson Beaver With His Wife Leah And Their Daughter Frances Louise, 1907. Photo Taken By Mary Schäffer
#5
Mogadishu, 1993. An Italian Soldier Gives Food To A Local Orphan
#6
Atelier Photo: "A Lesbian Couple In Semi Drag Wedding Attire"; Kingdom Of Hungary - Budapest, 1920
#7
A Man Looking For A Job Wearing His Cv, England - 1930s
#8
A Beach In Iran A Few Months Before The Islamic Revolution, 1979
#9
1972: 3 Women On The Streets Of Kabul, Afghanistan
#10
A Man Browses For Books In The Old Public Library Of Cincinnati. The Building Was Demolished In 1955. Today An Office Building And A Parking Lot Stand Where It Used To Be
DUN DUN (she/her) 4 years ago
Oh God SO MANY BOOKS!!! I hope they saved the books before demolishing the building
#11
It’s No Longer Possible To See This, As Buildings Outside Block The Sun. Grand Central, NYC, 1929 Photo By Louis Faurer
#12
Freddie Mercury With His Mother, 1947
#13
A French Boy Introduces Himself To Indian Soldiers Who Had Just Arrived In France To Fight Alongside French And British Forces, Marseilles, 30th September 1914. [colorization]
#14
West German School Children Pause To Talk With Two East German Border Guards Beside An Opening In The Berlin Wall During The Collapse Of Communism In East Germany In November 1989 (Photo: Stephen Jaffe)
#15
Reporters Who Exposed The Watergate Scandal Watch President Nixon Resign, 1974
#16
A Man Guards His Family From The Cannibals During The Madras Famine Of 1877 At The Time Of British Raj, India
DUN DUN (she/her) 4 years ago (edited)
I don't care if anyone gets offended by this, bt fck those colonizing grassholes! This looks so painful to WATCH, the pain they must've gone through is beyond my capability to imagine.
#17
A Man Takes A Selfie Using A Stick Of Wood To Activate The Camera, 1957
#18
French Soldiers Passing By A Dog Wearing Googles And Smoking A Pipe, 1915
#19
High School Teacher John T. Scopes Is Brought To Trial In Dayton, Tennessee For Teaching The Theory Of Evolution, Which Was Prohibited Under State Law. July 10, 1925
Beverly Hasegawa 4 years ago
There are people today who want to return to those benighted days.
#20
A Black U.S. Soldier Reads A Message Left By The Việt Cộng During The Vietnam War, The Message Reads: "U.S. Negro Armymen, You Are Committing The Same Ignominious Crimes In South Vietnam That The Kkk Clique Is Perpetrating Against Your Family At Home.", 1970.
#21
David Attenborough Entertains Prince Charles And Princess Anne With A Cockatoo. 1958
#22
Martin Luther King Jr. Removing A Burnt Cross From His Front Yard In 1960
UncleRussian 4 years ago
Ugh, I hate how racist some people are. It's sad there are still racists, but we've gotten much better
#23
A Young Female Welder Photographed By Bernard Hoffman In Connecticut, Circa 1943.
#24
Woman Cutting Her Birthday Cake In Iran 1973, 5 Years Before The Islamic Revolution
#25
A Makeshift Hospital In The Vietnam War, 1970
#26
An Old Woman Leaving Her Home With Just A Portrait Of Her Husband And Rugs. Russian Soldiers Gave Her Just 5 Minutes To Pack Her Bags And Leave Before They Destroyed Her Home And Everything In It. Her Sons And Husband Were Already Dead. She Had Lost Everything. May 1995, Grozny
#27
Filming An Episode Of “The French Chef” With Julia Child, 1963
#28
Max Schreck Relaxing Behind The Scenes Of Nosferatu, 1922
#29
A Picture Of A Submerged Diver In 1899. Many Believe It To Be The First Photograph Taken Underwater
#30
John F. Kennedy Campaigning Door-To-Door In West Virginia (1960)
Insert Generic Username 4 years ago
I don't know about anyone else but when someone comments that they're commenting to hide a rude comment, it draws my attention to the rude comment, not away from it.
#31
Korean Mother Embraces Her Son, A Prisoner Of War Who Escaped His North Korean Pow Camp Shortly After The Signing Of The Korean Armistice Agreement, Which Ended The Widespread Fighting Of The Korean War, 1953.
#32
Chinese Guerrilla Fighter Cheng Benhua 成本華 Smiling Moment Before Execution By The Japanese, She Was 24. (Late 1938) [502 X 806]
#33
Sailors Saluting A War Veteran, Leningrad 1989
#34
Students Dance In Tiananmen Square Before The Arrival Of The Chinese Military, June 4th 1989
#35
Chief Low Dog - An Oglala Lakota Chief Who Fought With Sitting Bull At The Battle Of Little Bighorn, C. 1881
#36
The Queen Consort Of Mongolia, Genepil, In Mongolia. The Last Queen Consort And Married To The Bogd Khaganate, Bogd Khan, Until His Death On April 17th, 1924, When The Monarchy Was Abolished. She Was Killed During The Stalinist Purges In May 1938. Photograph Dated January 1st, 1923
#37
Rare Photo Showing Niagara Falls Without Water, 1969
#38
Mt St Helens The 17th Of May 1980 And 4 Months Later
#39
David Bowie After Being Arrested For Marijuana Possession In Rochester, 1976
#40
Photograph Of The First Official Defector Of The "German Democratic Republic", Conrad Schumann, Who Escaped To The Western Side On August 15, 1961 After Jumping The Unfinished Area Of the Fence That He Guarded.
#41
Eiffel Tower Under Construction, July 1888 [colorized]
#42
Kubrick Taking A Photo With Daughter Vivian, On The Set Of The Shining. Nicholson Thought He Himself Was The Photo’s Subject. 1980
Steffen Rehm 4 years ago
Ha! Imagine someone waves at you, you wave awkwardly back and it was the person behind you. That would be the same level of awkward i think. :D Poor Nicholson.
#43
Actor And Martial Arts Star Jackie Chan At The Benefit Concert In Hong Kong, In Support Of Tiananmen Square Protesters - 1989
#44
The Director Of The Belgrade Zoo Tries To Convince Sami The Chimpanzee To Return Home After He Escaped, 1988
#45
Indigenous Children Forced To Pray To God In A Residential School Ran By The Canadian Government And Catholic Church Between 1930 And 1970, Unknown Location
#46
Babies Left To Sleep Outside, Enforcing Immune Sistem, Moscow 1958
#47
Coal Miner Waiting To Get Into The Communal Shower At The End Of His Shift, Taken In Gelsenkirchen, Germany, 1958. By Photographer Max Scheler
#48
Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Wife Minutes Before Assassination That Would Lead To Ww1, 1914 [colorized]
#49
People Fighting To Get On A Plane In Nha Trang, April 1, 1975, During The Us Withdrawal From South Vietnam
#50
Nirvana During The Photo Shoot For Their Album Nevermind, Which Was Released 30 Years Ago. 1991
UncleRussian 4 years ago
Ugh, the baby for the cover has grown up into an insufferable a$$hole, just look up "Nirvana baby drama" and you'll see what that d*ckhead has been up to
#51
Frederick Douglass With His Musician Grandson Joseph Douglass, 1894.
Caro Caro 4 years ago
During the time following the Civil War, many African-American musicians began to break into the art music genre. Joseph Douglass, a concert violinist, was one of the first African-American performers to be nationally and internationally renowned. His influence came at an early age from his father and grandfather, famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who were both amateur violin players. He studied violin at Boston Conservatory. Douglass received his first big break as a concert violinist at the age of 22 when he performed at the World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair. On August 25, 1893, performers joined together to celebrate Colored American Day (which Frederick Douglass helped plan).
#52
21-Years-Old Yves Saint Laurent At Christian Dior's Funeral, 1957
#53
“One Of America’s Youngest Newsboys. Four Years Old And Regular Seller. Tampa, Florida.” - 1913
#54
A Hippie Girl Selling Roadside Flowers In Oklahoma, 1973
#55
The Consequences Of Landing On The Wrong Aircraft Carrier, 1952
#56
A United States Soldier Holds Up A Jungle Centipede During The Vietnam War, 1967
#57
Florence Thompson, The Migrant Mother In Dorothea Lange's Famous 1936 Photo, Holds Up Her Likeness During An Interview After Her Identity Was Discovered, October 10, 1978
#58
Using A Vacuum Cleaner, 1906
#59
One Of Only Two Certified Photographs Of Billy The Kid (Top Hat). Playing Cards With His Accomplices. 1877
#60
Ww2: Chinese And Malayan Girls Forcibly Taken From Penang By The Japanese To Work As 'Comfort Girls' For The Troops. 1939-1945
#61
Gaurds Of Delhi Darbar India Posing With James Recalton An American Photographer In 1903
#62
Theodosian Walls Of Constantinople, Ottoman Empire. 1870.
#63
Mountain Of Buffalo Skulls In 1892 At The Height Of Their Endangerment
#64
Miners In The Serra Pelada Gold Mines In Brazil, 1980s
#65
John Lennon Signing An Autograph For Mark David Chapman, The Man Who Would Kill Him Five Hours Later, NYC, 1980
#66
Textile Worker, Taken By Nikolay Matorin, Ussr, C. 1960
#67
Ku Klux Klan Members On A Ferris Wheel In An Amusement Park In Cañon City, Colorado, April 26th 1926
#68
Princess Diana Losing An Argument To Her 7 Year Old Son.around 1991,
Kayla J 4 years ago
aka Harry, who I'm sorry, but as a child who did that same gesture, is not winning that argument gettyimage...527652.jpg 
another photo from the same event
#69
Daughters Of Tsar Nicolas II During A Summer Cruise In Finland, 1908
#70
Mobsters Hide Their Faces At Al Capone's Trial 1931
#71
Elisabeth "Lilo" Gloeden Stands Before Judges, On Trial For Being Involved In The Attempt On Adolf Hitler's Life, 1944
#72
Boiler Explosion Of C&o T-1 #3020 On May 1948
#73
Us Medic Gives First Aid To A Wounded German Ss Soldier, France 1944
#74
What Is Now The Fully Developed Las Vegas Strip, 1955
#75
A View Of The Destruction In Old Town Dresden From The Town Hall Tower, 15 Feb 1945.
#76
Pyramid Of German Helmets In Celebration Of Victory, Grand Central, New York, 1919
#77
Tucker Sno-Cat Hovering Over A Crevasse During The Transantarctic Expedition, 1954
#78
The Only Known Color Photograph Of The Russian Czar's Fabled "Amber Room" - Looted By The Nazi's This Unique, Priceless Work Of Art Was Lost For Ever (Maybe?). St Petersburg, 1943
Gaya Knust 4 years ago
I'm sure this has been said countless times, but I'll say it again: Fück you, Hitler!
#79
The Champs-Élysées As Seen From The Arc De Triomphe, Ve Day. Paris, France, May 8, 1945. [colorization]
![The Champs-Élysées As Seen From The Arc De Triomphe, Ve Day. Paris, France, May 8, 1945. [colorization]](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/613b516970751_visl85hfm2971__700.jpg "The Champs-Élysées As Seen From The Arc De Triomphe, Ve Day. Paris, France, May 8, 1945. [colorization]")
#80
Puritan Picket Against Too Revealing Swimwear On A Florida Beach, 1985. USA “You Will Follow To Hell.”
#81
George N. Barnard's 1864 Photograph Of A Slave Trader's Business On Whitehall Street, Atlanta, Georgia, Shows A United States Colored Troop Infantryman [corporal] Just By The Door.
![George N. Barnard's 1864 Photograph Of A Slave Trader's Business On Whitehall Street, Atlanta, Georgia, Shows A United States Colored Troop Infantryman [corporal] Just By The Door.](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/613b44ee2b0c5_bu6xgvqp8ya71__700.jpg "George N. Barnard's 1864 Photograph Of A Slave Trader's Business On Whitehall Street, Atlanta, Georgia, Shows A United States Colored Troop Infantryman [corporal] Just By The Door.")
#82
Student Survivors Head To A Library Near Columbine High School Where Students And Faculty Members Were Evacuated After Two Gunmen Went On A Shooting Rampage In The School. Tuesday, April 20, 1999.
#83
Tutankhamun's Head. Harry Burrton Photo Published Dec. 1925. @ Griffin Institute/Oxford University.
#84
American Film Actress Veronica Lake Illustrates What Can Happen To Women War Workers Who Wear Their Hair Long While Working At Their Benches, In A Factory Somewhere In America, On November 9, 1943
#85
Shigeru Miyamoto, Creator Of Mario And Other Characters And Video Games For Nintendo, Holds A Nintendo Game Boy Containing The Super Mario World Video Game. June 1992
#86
Finnish Soldiers In Nbc Gear, 1961
#87
Bulgarian Soldier Giving His Best Battle Cry For The Camera, Ca. 1916.
#88
Ground View Of Human Fly George Willig Climbing The South Tower Of The World Trade Center In New York City, May 26, 1977
#89
Hitler Rehearsing A Speech In Front Of A Mirror, Taken By His Personal Photographer Heinrich Hoffman, 1925
#90
Grande Hotel, Beira, Mozambique (1960s-2000s)
#91
Italian-American Cafe, Macdougal Street, NY, 1942
#92
Young Boys Harassing The Horace Baker Family, The First African American Family To Move Into The All White Delmar Village Neighborhood Of Folcroft, Pennsylvania - Aug. 30, 1963.
#93
16-Year-Old Brenda Spencer Leaves Court In Santa Ana, California, After Pleading Guilty To Two Counts Of Murder In A Sniper Attack. She Killed Two People And Wounded Nine Others. 1979
#94
President Gerald Ford And Pele Play With A Soccer Ball In The Rose Garden, June 28, 1975
#95
Soviet Soldiers Celebrate Returning Home Alive, 1945
#96
Barbara Walters During Her Freshman Year At Sarah Lawrence College In 1949
#97
A Man Exercises Using A Rowing Machine In The Gym Aboard The Rms Titanic, 1912.
#98
Jean Bedel Bokassa During His Coronation Ceremony To Make Himself Emperor Bokassa The First, Central African Republic 1977. The Ceremony Wasted A Third Of The Car's Entire Annual Fiscal Budget.
#99
A Dutch Athlete Receives A Portrait Of Adolf Hitler As A Sports Prize, Presented By General Otto Schumann, Commander Of The Ordnungspolizei. The Hague, The Netherlands, 1941
#100
Harry S. Truman As A Captain During Wwi, 1918
#101
Soviet Rock Fans Attend A Concert In Moscow On September 28, 1991. Half A Million People Jammed An Airfield To See The Soviet Union’s Biggest Western Rock Concert, Touted As A Gift To Russian Youth For Their Resistance Last Month’s Coup.
#102
Spring Break In California, 1947
Not Proud British 4 years ago
They are not stick thin! See how fashion can change women's body shapes whilst men's body shape tends to stay the same.
#103
Bill Clinton & White House Intern, Monica Lewinsky, 1998
Gelato Cat 4 years ago
That woman was public ally ridiculed by everyone, yet no one took into account bill Clinton was much older, her boss and the most powerful man in America, she deserves an apology from everyone who shamed her
#104
J.k. Rowling Writing Harry Potter At A Café In Scotland (1998)
#105
Female Nigerian Slave Trader Efunroye Tinubu (C. 1880)
Caro Caro 4 years ago
She sold slaves to Brazilian and European merchants in violation of a 1852 treaty with Great Britain outlawing the slave trade in Lagos, which resulted in her coming into conflict with the British. She was exiled to Abeokuta under British pressure after plotting an unsuccessful conspiracy to remove British influence from Lagos. While in Abeokuta, she helped supply the city with munition during its victorious war against the Kingdom of Dahomey, thus granting her the chieftancy title of Iyalode in her honour.
#106
The Temporary Grave Of Theodore Roosevelt In Normandy, Soon After His Death, July 1944. [colorization]
![The Temporary Grave Of Theodore Roosevelt In Normandy, Soon After His Death, July 1944. [colorization]](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/613b411ec98e2_e7nboze2rje71__700.jpg "The Temporary Grave Of Theodore Roosevelt In Normandy, Soon After His Death, July 1944. [colorization]")
#107
A South Korean Soldier Forcibly Cuts A Young Man's Hair In Front Of Others During A Nationwide Crackdown On Men With Long Hair And Women Wearing Short Skirts In South Korea - 1970s
#108
A Japanese Soldier Wades Into The Sea Off Cape Endaiadere, New Guinea, With A Grenade Against His Head Moments Before It Goes Off, Defying An Australian Soldier Calling On Him To Surrender, December 18, 1942
Steffen Rehm 4 years ago
I am lucky to life in a country and time, to not experience that s**t, besides movies, internet and books.
#109
1892, Logging Family With A 1300 Year Old Tree
#110
Stalin In Bailov Prison, Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1910. [colorized By Me]
![Stalin In Bailov Prison, Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1910. [colorized By Me]](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/613b40dc82402_2st2yp54ve671__700.jpg "Stalin In Bailov Prison, Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1910. [colorized By Me]")
#111
Arctic Explorer Peter Freuchen Stands Next To His Third Wife, Dagmar Freuchen-Gale. He Is Wearing A Polar Bear Coat Made From A Bear He Killed Himself, 1947
#112
In Response To The Anti-Japanese Sentiment That Followed The Attack On Pearl Harbor, The Japanese-American Citizens League Opened The Anti-Axis Committee Office On December 14, 1941. It Was Part Of Their Campaign To Demonstrate The Loyalty Of American-Born Japanese Citizens To The Us
#113
Nelson Mandela At A South African Communist Party Rally. Soweto, 1990.
#114
British Schoolboys Holding Discarded Syringes, 1970s. "We Used To Play With These In School All The Time Because They Were Like Mini Water Pistols (Without The Needle)."
#115
Former President Andrew Jackson Aged 78, One Of The Few Existing Photographs Of Him, Taken In 1845, The Year He Died
#116
Adolf Hitler And Ludwig Wittgenstein In 1903
#117
Jurassic Park: The Ride Officially Opened At Universal Studios Hollywood. Here, Steven Spielberg And Jeff Goldblum Lift The Torches For The Ride's Grand Opening On June 21, 1996
#118
President Lyndon B. Johnson Drives His Amphicar On The Lake Of His Texas Ranch In 1965
#119
Vladimir Lenin Plays Chess (Yelling Checkmate) With Alexander Bogdanov During A Visit To Maxim Gorky, Capri, Italy, 1908 -
#120
A Soviet Mi-8 Helicopter Flying Past One Of The Two Buddhas Of Bamiyan, Afghanistan 1980
#121
Two French Men Restrain A Woman While Another Cuts Her Hair After She Has Been Accused Of Collaborating With The Germans During The Occupation, 1945. [colorization]
![Two French Men Restrain A Woman While Another Cuts Her Hair After She Has Been Accused Of Collaborating With The Germans During The Occupation, 1945. [colorization]](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/613b4ffb0758c_5gjmlhka86c71__700.jpg "Two French Men Restrain A Woman While Another Cuts Her Hair After She Has Been Accused Of Collaborating With The Germans During The Occupation, 1945. [colorization]")
Ray Martin 4 years ago
Of course "collaborating" probably meant staying alive in any way she could, and feeding her kids scraps the Germans gave her for "favours". These heroes probably did their own raping and pillaging, but they did it for France.
#122
Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Is Married To Greek Magnate Aristotle Onassis, 1968
CrunChewy McSandybutt 4 years ago
Oh, I didn't realize they were married in the late 60s. For some reason, I thought it was in the 80s.
#123
President Nixon Dines With Chinese Leaders In Beijing, 1972
#124
A Pic Of Turkish Military Exercise In Istanbul Against To Danger Of Chemical Attack.(1939)
#125
Paul Tibbets, The Man Who Dropped The Atomic Bomb On Hiroshima, Pictured In 1996
Guy MacGregor 4 years ago
I know this won't be appreciated, but the atomic bomb attacks were war crimes. It is against the rules of war (and morale) to attack civilians, hospitals and non-combatants. This bomb (and the next) killed children, destroyed schools and hospitals without any distinction. The USA never were the good guys but at this moment was too much, even for them.
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Linziaj 4 years ago
Absolutely fascinating photos. Love these articles. Can't "like" alot of pictures as they are too sad
Jo Choto 4 years ago
Weapons, war, religion, greed: these are how we have destroyed our world.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
I think greed is probably beh9ind a lot of the war and religion, thereby making weapons profitable :-(
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Olga Sushko 4 years ago
I like posts that cover the whole world, not only the Western part of it
Linziaj 4 years ago
Absolutely fascinating photos. Love these articles. Can't "like" alot of pictures as they are too sad
Jo Choto 4 years ago
Weapons, war, religion, greed: these are how we have destroyed our world.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
I think greed is probably beh9ind a lot of the war and religion, thereby making weapons profitable :-(
Load More Replies... Olga Sushko 4 years ago
I like posts that cover the whole world, not only the Western part of it
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