In 1826, Joseph Nicephore Niepce, a French inventor, came up with what forever changed the way we see, experience, and remember the world and its history. It was the birth of a camera that took the first photograph on a piece of paper coated with tar of the view from his window at Le Gras. Of course, it looked nothing even remotely similar to what we think of as a camera.
Many other photography inventions followed, each more wondrous than the previous one, but it was not until 1900 when people could put their hands on lightweight and portable cameras.
These early days of photography were not just the beginning of something bigger, but these attempts forever eternalized history with its people and their lives. “History Season” is one such illuminating Facebook page dedicated to sharing the great historical events captured in images.
From snaps of daily lives in the past to the most memorable moments of human history, below awaits a thrilling walk.
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London's First Black Police Officer, PC Norwell Roberts, On Point Duty Near Charing Cross Station, 1968
Stoney First Nation Member, Samson Beaver With His Wife Leah And Their Daughter Frances Louise, 1907
1945: The Day Daddy Came Home
Gunner Hector Murdoch had been gone over four years, most of it as a prisoner of war in Singapore. His wife Rosina and son John hadn't known if he was dead or alive. He got home on his birthday
“Photographs bring history to life in an immediate and visceral way,” Lisa Yaszek, a Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech told us in a previous interview. Yaszek who researches and teaches science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures argues that exploring history through written sources is very different than looking at historical photos.
“When we read books, we get lots of detailed information about historical events: who was involved, where the event happened, what factors led to and resulted from it, and so on,” the professor argues.
“Sometimes such information can be vividly detailed and prompt us to imagine what historical events might have looked like in ways that make us feel more connected to them, but sometimes we are so overwhelmed with dry or technical details that we actually feel more removed from the event than ever before.”
An American Serviceman Shares His Rations With Two Japanese Children In Okinawa, 1945
Portrait Of A Young Grumpy Girl, 1850s
Dorothy Counts, 15, Is Taunted And Harassed By White Students As She Makes Her Way From Harding High School As The Only Black Student At The Newly Desegregated School. Charlotte, North Carolina. 1957
On the other hand, photos rarely have this problem. “Even when shot by the most amateur of photographers, images of people living in and through various moments in history provide a sense of immediate emotional connection—we think, ‘wow, so that’s what it would feel like to experience that moment of history!’” Yaszek explained.
The Models Of “American Gothic” Stand Next To The Painting (1942)
Ukrainian Restaurant In The U.S. Celebrates The Death Of Joseph Stalin, 1953
New Zealand Māori Battalion Performing A Haka Ceremonial Dance In Egypt, 1941
Moreover, images of people from the past connect us to history in another, related way as well. “Once we feel an emotional bond with the people in historical photos and perhaps even begin to imaginatively empathize with them—we forge new intellectual connections to history itself, asking ourselves: ‘Why are the people in this photograph in this situation in the first place? What happened leading up to this photo—and what happened afterward?’”
In this way, we begin to actively research and share what they know about events and people represented in specific photos.
A Roman Mosaic Depicting A Fish. 1st Century Ce
A 2000 Year Old Glass Mosaic, Found In The City Of Zeugma, Turkey
Community Grocery Store Owner, Harlem, New York, 1940
A Kid's Reaction To Meeting Andre The Giant (1970's)
Former Slave, Author And Activist Frederick Douglass With His Musician Grandson Joseph Douglass In 1894
Inuit Man Warms His Wife’s Feet. Greenland, 1890's
Mailman Poses With His Heavy Load Of Christmas Mail And Parcels. Chicago, USA. 1929. Colorized
The Swedish Warship Vasa
It sank in 1628 less than a mile into its maiden voyage and was recovered from the sea floor after 333 years almost completely intact. Now housed at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm
A Motor Home In 1922
Remember That Photo Of The Construction Workers Having Lunch On A Unfinished New York Skyscraper? Well Here's The Photographer Charles Ebbets. 9/20/1932
1925 Drexel Institute Girls’ Rifle Team. Philadelphia, USA
Dames with guns, harassment on campus must've been low with them around
3400 Year Old Painter's Palette From Ancient Egypt, Amenhotep III Era
William Harley And Arthur Davidson, 1914
The Great North Dakota Blizzard, 1966
2 Year-Old Elvis Presley With His Parents, 1937
Roman Mosaics Unearthed Under A Vineyard In Italy, In The Province Of Verona. Dated From 3rd To 4th Century
Woman Wiring An Early IBM Computer Taken By Berenice Abbott In 1948
Able to do all that and still not be allowed a bank account is so not fair.
A Mother With Her Children, 1,800 Years Ago. Alexandria, Roman Egypt
A Statue Of Anubis In Tutankhamuns Tomb, Taken During Carter Expedition (Photo Taken In 1922)
Sir Winston Churchill, In 1895, Age 20
Dinner Party At The Hotel Astor. New York City. 1904
A British Blacksmith Removing The Leg Irons Off A Slave, 1907, Off Coast Of Mozambique
Another slave being freed by hard-working brit!! When are the African tribes who facilitated the salve trade decreased after British Empire banned it, going to be taken to task? After all, it was the Africans capturing Africans to sell to salvers on the shoreline, that kept the trade going for so long!
Captured Japanese Mini-Submarine In The Aleutian Islands, 1943 And 2021
My father was stationed at the Aleutian islands for a while and had such interesting stories to tell!
Detroit, Michigan In 1882 And 2017
Children Cross The River Using Pulleys On Their Way To School, 1959, Italy
These kids as parents: Back in my day, we had to zip line to school, over a river, so no you can't stay home over a hurricane
Newcastle Castle, UK - 1895 To 2022
Australian Soldiers After Their Release From Japanese Captivity In Singapore, 1945. Colorized By: Hristos Kaplanis
Piano Designed For People Confined To Bedrest. UK, 1935
Man Charging An Electric Amc Gremlin. Seattle, USA, 1973
Charlie Chaplin At Age 27 Before He He Adopted The Iconic Mustache, 1916
Manhattan In 1851 And Today
1910 Great Flood Of Paris
A Man Stands In The Panama Canal During Its Construction. 1912
Serving A Snack On Scandinavian Airlines Flight, 1969
The Creation Of The Recycling Logo By G. Anderson. He Was 23 At The Time. 1970
Trakai Island Castle, Lithuania. Built In The 14th Century And Restored In The 1950s-1960s
The Train Crash At Montparnasse Station. France, 1895
Berlin, Germany, 1985-2018
1946 vs. 2021 - Poznań, Poland
Eiffel Tower Under Construction, May 15, 1888
New York City During The Great Blizzard Of 1888
"oh cräp, I have to dig up the horse and coach from under the snow again"
Two Gentleman From The Early 1900s. Lincoln Nebraska
Mother Teaching Children Numbers And Alphabet In Home Of Sharecropper. Transylvania, Louisiana. Jan. 1939. Photo Taken By: Russel Lee
What a great mother, instilling the importance of getting an education to her children.
Roman Mosaic Uncovered In The Streets Of Stari Grad, On The Island Of Hvar In Croatia
Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) On A Walk In New York, 1963
A Woman On The Frozen Mississippi River At St. Louis, Missouri. 1905
New York City Mayor, Jimmy Walker With Members Of The Blackfeet Nation Tribe On The Steps Of City Hall, Oct. 23, 1927
US Marine In Vietnam 1960s
People At Daytona Beach In Florida, United States In 1904. Colorized
That muscle been hot in all those clothes. Sorry must've been hot
May 1922: 78-Year-Old Robert T. Lincoln (Son Of Abraham Lincoln) Is Helped Up The Steps At The Dedication Of The Lincoln Memorial In Washington D.C
Inside Of A Railroad Car Made By The Pullman Company, 1890s
Ashtrays And Coin-Operated Televisions In The Los Angeles Greyhound Bus Terminal, 1969
Four Young Women Playing Volleyball On Stilts At The Beach In Venice, California, 1934
Two Women Working As Ice Deliverers Carry A Large Block Of Ice. September 1918
Four Generations, Circa 1905
Soldier Of The Us 4th Infantry Division Bidding Farewell To His Wife And Baby At Penn Station, New York, 1944
Airplane Food 1960s
Judging by the staircase it's a Boeing 747, so not the 1960s. "The 747 was certified by the FAA for commercial passenger service on December 30, 1969. The 747 entered service with Pan Am on January 22, 1970."
A Couple Of Victorian Travellers, 1890s
Soba Noodles Deliveryman In Tokyo, Japan. 1935. Photo By The Mainichi Shimbun
Teacher Tantie Huckabee At The Palmetto-Covered One-Room School Near Taylor Creek And Lake Okeechobee, Florida In The 1890s
Women Pull Farm Equipment In A Field During World War I, In Oise, France, In 1917
Veterans Of Four Different Wars From The Same Town Of Geary, Oklahoma. 1940s
Four different wars....I thought we all agreed war's good for absolutely nothing, say it again
Mother & Son, County Claire, Ireland, C. 1890. Colorized
A Young Jimmy Carter Working As A Nuclear Engineer In The Us Navy In 1948
A Man Standing On The First Cables During The Construction Of The Golden Gate Bridge, 1935
Behind The Scenes Photos From The Making Of The First Godzilla Movie, 1954
Woman Being Ticketed For ‘Indecent Exposure’ At Rockaway Beach Of New York, 1946
US Marine Gives A Cigarette To A Japanese Soldier Buried In Sand. Iwo Jima, 1945
It's good to know that humanity will survive in the end, even if it doesn't always win
Children Playing On Playground Equipment In Dallas, Texas. Ca. 1900
These kids as grandparents to their grandkids: Back in my day, we played on equipment that was so tall, it counted as scaffolding. All rotting wood and ladders. And when you fall, it's not on wimpy foam like today's kids, but to your death, humph.
A Boy And His Owl, 1933
Young Girl During The Great Depression. Missouri, USA. 1930s
Open-Air School In The Freezing Cold. The Netherlands. 1918
King George V And Tsar Nicholas II 1890s
William Hutchings (1764-1866), Aged 100 In 1864, Veteran Of The American Revolution. Colorized By: Lorenzo Folli
A Fake Rooftop Suburb That Hid A Whole WWII Airplane Factory Underneath, 1944
The Original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel In NYC, Demolished In 1929 To Serve As The Site For The Empire State Building
Woman Riding A New Tricycle. Photo By Chas. W Oldrieve, 1882
A Family At A Drive-In Restaurant Has Cool Air Piped Into Their Car. 1957
2,200-Year-Old Hellenistic Theatre In Laodicea, Southwestern Turkey, After Recent Excavation
New York City Street Scene, C. 1900
Female Worker Bottling Ketchup At The Heinz Factory. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 1897
2 Guards From Delhi Durbar With James Recalton An American Photographer Who Visited India In 1903
One of the Kashmir giants had a stature of 7'9″ (2.36m) tall. And the other giant had a height of 7'4″ (2.23m). As per the sources, they were twin brothers. The heads and shoulders of these two Kashmir giants stood high up to create an outstanding impression at the Durbar.
An Immigrant Family Arriving At Ellis Island In 1904
A Woman Walks Through Berlin During The Battle Of Berlin, May 1945
Coal Miner's Wife And Three Of Their Children. West Virginia, USA. Septemper 1938. Photo By: Marion Post Wolcott
Could not imagine Life in those days for the families of the Appalachians.
Robert Wadlow, The Tallest Man In Recorded History, Late 30s
Einstein At The Age Of Three In 1882
The Great Wall Of China In 1907
French Battleship Strasbourg And Her Crew. Toulon, France. Spring 1941
Bristol, UK (1900 And 2020)
New Parents Of Quadruplets, Late 1880s
A Chippewa Indian Named John Smith Who Lived In The Woods Near Cass Lake, Minnesota Claimed To Be 137 Years Old Before He Died In 1922. Photo Taken In 1915
Barcelona, Spain In 1906. Sagrada Familia Basilica In An Early Stages Of Construction
I love these old pictures of European cities. Where you can see how small they actually were, compared to now. That church is now in the heart of Barcelona, in a very urbanized area
Rusting Mig-23 Soviet Combat Aircraft In Its Shelter, Near Komsomolsk-On-Amur
From what I’ve read in the news, this is the generation of equipment currently being used to attack Ukraine.
Dice Made Of Terracotta From Indus Valley Civilization. Harappa, Pakistan. 2600-1900 Bc
Cowboys Having A Drink In Old Tascosa, Texas, 1907
Evicted Sharecropper Family In Temporary Camp, Butler County, Missouri, USA. 1939
I really admire the people of this time period, they had such Grit, Tenacity, and strong Values that helped them face, deal with, and overcome the obstacles they encountered in Life. Wish more people today were more like they were then.
Farmer And Sons Walking In The Face Of A Dust Storm. Cimarron County, Oklahoma. April, 1936. Photo Taken By Arthur Rothstein
That was one of the worst natural disasters this country has ever experienced and took a toll on so many people, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. So heartbreaking!
Athens, Greece 1862 And Now
Manhattan, 1931 To 2018
Harlem River Speedway & Harlem River Drive. Ca. 1900 And 2020
U-118, A World War One German Submarine Washed Ashore On The Beach At Hastings, England. 1919
J. Robert Oppenheimer And Albert Einstein, 1947. (Colorized)
Log Driving In Glens Falls, New York, 1907
Photo Of A Cowboy Seated Next To His Horse On A Hill, In Old West Bonham, Texas. June, 1910
East Germany Showing Off Their Computers In A State Parade - July 4th, 1987
Wow, we have really come a long way in such a short time with our technology.
Parthenon (Athens, Greece). 1875 vs. 2022
The 369th Infantry Regiment, Aka The Harlem Hellfighters, Return From Ww1 And Parade Up Fifth Avenue In New York City On Feb. 17, 1919
What an amazing regiment they were and yet, their contribution to us winning WW2 has been literally left out in our History books, and our History as well.
Warehouse Of Steel Floats For Anti-Submarine Nets, 1953
Jeep Cemetery, Okinawa, 1945
New York City In The Early 1900's. Colorized
Photo colorizer getting to the buildings way in the background, “Forget. I’m done.”
Lewis Hine, Young Coal Miner, 1909-13
Gun Safety Being Taught In An Indiana School, 1956
Lumberjacks Pose With A Douglas Fir Tree In Washington State, USA. 1899
Wernher Von Braun, Designer Of The Saturn V , Poses In Front Of Its Engines (1969). Braun Was The Head Of The German Rocket Industry In World War II. At The End Of The War, He Was Brought To The Us
And Chrysler Corporation was the manufacturing vendor for one of the stages. Think about it. Amazing.
Huntington Beach, California, During The Oil Boom Of 1928
Nicolas Cage And Johnny Depp (1988)
Crew Members Of B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay” On Parade, 1945
Great stuff, except that so many of these pictures were posted SO many times before. Even the comments are all the same under some.
That´s exactly what I wanted to say. I love historical photos and I am specifically looking for these articles here on BP so I remember very well the photos they show and I can tell that 99% of this post is a recycled stuff from their older articles.
Load More Replies...The first several are repeats from a BP post just days ago. Not even a full week. C'mon.
I have deja vu. Plenty of photos repeated with exactly the same comments as before. Bored Panda is becoming very boring.
Why are you rereading them? Get a book,go take a walk or volunteer someplace.Do something about your boredom instead of expecting some media platform to change.
Load More Replies...These interesting but most of them were from the US. Can we have some diversity please BP?
And some are re-labeled but seriously, can we get actual fresh content that isn't "Hey, Pandas, What...." ? or from Reddit?
Great stuff, except that so many of these pictures were posted SO many times before. Even the comments are all the same under some.
That´s exactly what I wanted to say. I love historical photos and I am specifically looking for these articles here on BP so I remember very well the photos they show and I can tell that 99% of this post is a recycled stuff from their older articles.
Load More Replies...The first several are repeats from a BP post just days ago. Not even a full week. C'mon.
I have deja vu. Plenty of photos repeated with exactly the same comments as before. Bored Panda is becoming very boring.
Why are you rereading them? Get a book,go take a walk or volunteer someplace.Do something about your boredom instead of expecting some media platform to change.
Load More Replies...These interesting but most of them were from the US. Can we have some diversity please BP?
And some are re-labeled but seriously, can we get actual fresh content that isn't "Hey, Pandas, What...." ? or from Reddit?