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Photos have a quiet magic to them… they can pull us out of the present and drop us into another moment in an instant.
This feeling is even stronger when we look at historic pictures taken across different eras and places.
Some of the moments feel so familiar — for example, we all can relate to a mirror selfie that was taken by a couple in the 1920s in Japan. But at the same time, some moments remind us of such strange times — for example, we will never fully understand what a soldier felt while embracing his baby after returning from World War 2.
Let’s travel back in time a bit, and check out this treasure trove from the Hatcher History Instagram page that reveals glimpses from the past.
Discover more in 113 Photographs Every History Enthusiast Should See
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#1
A Photo Of Dame Daphne Sheldrick In 1960, At The Orphan Elephant Sanctuary She Set Up In The 1950s, In The Karen District Of Nairobi, Kenya
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#3
A Soldier Of The French Foreign Legion's, During The Algerian War, Rescuing A Baby Donkey Found On The Battlefield. He Or She Was Then Adopted And Named Bambi, July Or August 1958
If you can relate even a little, history classes in school used to put me to sleep and all those dates and endless text were really hard to follow. So to keep myself awake, I’d try to lose myself in the blurry images in my textbook and try to make sense of the past in my own way.
That’s why I always believe that photos are a powerful medium to understand history. They bring moments, places and people to life with such clarity that words alone can’t convey.
#4
A Photo Of Nikolai Machulyak, A Russian Arctic Explorer Feeding A Polar Bear And Her Cubs, Off The Coast Of Chukchi Sea, 1976
Photos also capture emotions of people which makes us relate a bit more to their experiences.
Much of the emotional and visual context would be lost if we had no photographic evidence capturing the horrors of different wars, or the iconic moments like the suffrage movements or civil rights protests.
They highlighted moments of joy, sadness and victory, letting us connect with events on both personal and social levels.
#7
A Beaming New Dad Is Pictured Giving His Newborn Child Thumbs-Up From Outside A Window. Soviet Union 1977
Following a long convention, maternity wards typically enforced strict separation between mothers, newborns, and visiting family. Credit: archaeo adventure
#9
A Brave Little 3-Year-Old, Eileen Dunne, Sits In Bed With Her Doll At Great Ormond Street Hospital, After Being Injured During An Air Raid On London, During The Blitz Of London By The Luftwaffe, In September, 1940
Some photos also help preserve cultural practices, and can act as primary historical sources when understood with context and caution.
Even everyday life and social norms from the past are preserved thanks to portraits and images from our history.
Street scenes that show the fashion of the time, or the early Victorians who were the first generation to see themselves through the camera lens — some pictures show social classes and living conditions from the past that we refer to even today.
#11
A Photo Of Stunned And Disoriented Birds, During The Total Solar Eclipse, Taken In Chiapas, Mexico, July 1991
#12
The World’s Oldest Surviving Toy, Dating Back To The Chalcolithic Period Around 5500-3000 Bc, Is Exhibited At The Mardin Museum, Turkey
Several pictures here show everyday life that can help us understand the social norms from the past — be it the fashion of the time, the way people worked or how they spent their free time.
Some pictures reveal the social classes and living conditions from the past which historians still refer to today.
For example, experts study studio portraits of wealthy families from the Victorian era and compare them with street scenes of the poor, to understand the stark differences in clothing, housing, and lifestyle at that time.
#14
A Youngster Practises Her Ballet, On A Rainy Day In Balsall Heath, Birmingham, England, 1968
While clicking away on their cameras, photographers do much more than just document memories. They capture stories that future generations might one day study.
“We capture images that will someday become part of history in some small way. Whether we mean to or not, as photographers, we become historians as well,” photographer Lawrence Lazare writes in the Medium.
“That is why we document the world around us, so we can pass along our images to others when those photos are needed most,” he adds.
#18
A Pair Of Roman Shoes Discovered During The Excavation Of A Maritime Site At Thérouanne, Pas-De-Calais, Northern France, 2023
Many pictures here also show the history of specific people, some we know and some we won’t ever read about in history books.
They are remarkable because they tell us so many different stories, and they let us feel what life was really like for people in the past.
Everyday experiences and lifestyle such as clothes, expressions of kids, and interactions between people — all these images bring past lives to life.
#20
Female Pilots From The British Air Transport Auxiliary (Ata), Recruited To Work As Ferry Pilots And Deliver Military Airplanes From Factories To Aerodromes In World War II, England, 1939-45
#21
A Very Unique Photo Of The Regional Dress For Ladies In Navarre, Spain, And Particularly From The Town Of Ochagavía, Deep In The Basque Region, On The French Border
#23
A Young Girl Looks After Her Baby Sister, In The Poverty Of Cholera Ravaged Streets Of Spitalfields, In The East End Of London, 1886
#25
In 1925, Diphtheria Affected An Isolated Village In Alaska
The Norwegian Gunnar Kasen and his main dog Balto were the first to bring the serum to the village, through a snowstorm. For his courage, Balto had a monument of himself erected in New York’s Central Park.
#27
Anne Frank’s Father Otto, Revists The Attic Entrance Where He And His Family Hid For Two Long Years, Before They’re Betrayal, Amsterdam, In The Netherlands, May 1960
#28
This Footprint Captures The Moment, Over 4,000 Years Ago, When Someone Stepped Barefoot On A Mud Brick Left To Dry In The Sun, 2000bc, In The City Of Ur, Mesopotamia
#29
After The Berlin Wall Was Put Up By The Communists, A Family In West Berlin Show Their Children To Their Grandparents Stuck In East Berlin, 1961
#30
Italians Queue To View The Nemi Ships Of Emperor Caligula’s, Which Were Elaborate Floating Palaces Containing Quantities Of Marble, Mosaic Floors, Heating, And Plumbing
They were rediscovered in the 1930s but destroyed by a fire during WW2.
#32
An Apprentice Son Learns His Craft From His Father, In A Cobbler’s Shop, Italy, Mid 19th Century.m
#36
This Photo Of The 17 Year Old Helen Konek Walking Into Her Igloo In Arviat, Nunavut In February 1949
#41
Irish Children Sit Outside And Eat Potatoes And Milk With Their Grandmother , Location Unknown, Ireland, 1915
#42
A Roman Ship, Made From English Oak, Uncovered In 1910, On The South Bank Of The Thames During The Construction Of County Hall
#44
A Lifeboat Launched From The St. Mark And St. Agnes Races To Save Lives, After The Arden Craig, A Three-Masted Wheat Ship From Melbourne, Australia, Crashed Into Rocks After The Captain Became Disoriented In The Fog
#47
The Meeting Point Of The Pacific And Atlantic Oceans: Their Water Do Not Mix, A Phenomenon Based On The Difference In The Composition Of Each Ocean’s Water
#48
Marilyn Monroe Visiting An Injured American Soldier, Evacuated To Japan From Operations On The Korean War, 1954
#55
A Picture Of The Fishing Boat “New England”, Covered In Ice, British Columbia, Canada, 1911
#57
A Beautiful Portrait Of A Sicilian Fisherman, Brooding About His Days At Sea, Sicily, Italy, 1870
#58
This Is A Mugshot Of 12 Year Old Jane Farrell, Sentenced To 10 Days Of Hard Labour, For The Theft Of A Pair Of Boots, Served At Newcastle Gaol, North Of England, 1874
#66
A Youngster Braves It Out During The Blitz On London, With His Teddy Bear, 1940-41. The Capital Was To Endure Over Seventy Nits Of German Bombs
#67
A Group Of Orphans In Their Winter Coats, With A Nun From Margaret House, Hammersmith, London, 1929
#70
A Photo Portrait Of Mark Twain With His Friend, John T. Lewis, Who Was Born A Free Man In Maryland And Who Had Migrated To Upstate New York, 1903
#71
Survivors From The 87th Floor Of The World Trade Center (North Tower) Wandering In The Dust After The Collapse Of The South Tower, New York City, September 11, 2001
#72
Federico Caprilli Demonstrates The Skills Of His Horse As Part Of The Esteemed Italian Cavalry School, 1906
#73
A Picture Of Orphan Children Homed By The Charity Run By Dr. Barnardo, London, England, 1880s
#75
Trying Out A Fake Tree Observation Post, On The Northern End Of The Trenches That Ran From The English Channel To Switzerland, That We Call The Western Front,
#80
The Mildred, Shipwrecked On The Rocks Around Gurnards Head, Cornwall, 1912, On A Journey From Newport To London Carrying Slag
#81
A Young Boy Stops To Be Photographed, While Picking Hops, Yakima Valley, Washington, USA, 1939
#82
The Rear-Front Memorial, A Bronze And Granite Monument Erected In Steel City Of Magnitogorsk, Russia, Sculpted By Lev Golovnitsky, In 1979
#86
5-Year Old Harold Walker, Who Was Employed To Pick 20 Pounds Of Cotton A Day. Oklahoma, USA, 1916
#88
An Oldish Couple, Perhaps Sharecroppers, Happy With Their Lot, From The Beginning Of The Last Century, Exact Location Unknown, But From The American South
#89
A Colorized Picture Of Three Girls Working As Oyster Shuckers, In South Carolina, USA, 1912
#91
A Photo Of General High Brady Taken When He Was In His 80s, In The Late 1840s. The Good General Was Born In 1768, When The Us Were British Colonies And George III Was Still King
One of the oldest born persons ever to be photographed.
#92
A Photo Of The Famous Harlem Debutante Ball, Held At The Renaissance Ballroom, The Renny"), Located At 7th Avenue And 138th Street In Harlem, New York City
#93
Japanese Child Soldiers Of The Tekketsu Kinnōtai Are Interviewed By Us Military, On The Island Of Okinawa, Japan, 1945
#94
Sergeant Alvin C .york, A Famous American Soldier Of WW1 Being Greeted By His Mother On His Return Home To Pall Mall, Tennessee, 1919
#95
A Photo Of A Rest Stop For Geronimo And Other Apache Leaders After Their Surrender Ended The Apache Wars, 1886
They are on a Southern Pacific Railway train, near Nueces River, in San Antonio, Texas, en route to exile in Florida.
#96
A Us Army Chaplain Helps An Old Vietnamese Lady To Safety, In The Heat Of The Tet Offensive, Vietnam, 1968
#97
A Couple Of Sisters Enjoying The End Of The Day, In The Mid 20th Century, Locale Unknown, USA
#98
Suffer The Children Unto Us: Christmas Dinner In Home Of Earl Pauley Near Smithfield, Iowa. Dinner Consisted Of Potatoes, Cabbage And Pie, December 1936
#99
Jeeps Abandoned In A Field, Somewhere In Liberated Europe, At The End Of World War II, Summer Of 1945
#102
Jack Bonavita, A Circus Lion Tamer, Pictured With His Animals At A Show In New York, 1910: He Was Attacked And Ended By A Polar Bear He Had Tamed, One Has To Say Not Very Well, In 1917
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