Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
50 Beautiful Vintage Photos That Give Us A Better Understanding Of The Past (New Pics)
There's this phenomenon, known as anemoia, which describes a longing for the past that you were too young to experience. However, there is a way to scratch this itch. Well, kind of.
Vintage black-and-white images have this undeniable charm that can take us on a journey through time, to a period when the internet, touchscreens, and artificial intelligence didn't exist and television was just starting to enter people's lives.
They offer us a glimpse into historical events that we would all love to have been a part of, and the Facebook page Old Photos has collected some of the most incredible examples for everyone who is feeling... a little anemoic.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
A Stylish Family Outing In 1946
RELATED:
#2
Net Fix And Chill, 1912
#3
An Apsaroke Man On Horseback, 1908
#4
Formal Portraits Rarely Featured Smiles, But They Can Be Found In Photographs Of Daily Life During This Period. South Carolina, 1912
#5
The Puddle Jumper, 1934
troufaki13 2 years ago
So elegant!! 😍 I'm pretty sure I would have fallen in the puddle face down 😂
#6
4 Boys Jamming, 1928,
#7
Two Girls Pose With Their Snow Fort, 1910
#8
Motorcycle Female Officers, Los Angeles, 1927
#9
Two Sisters, Florence And Susie Friermuth Arrested For Moonshining During The Prohibition, 1921
#10
A Bautiful Married Couple From 1940
#11
A Happy Family Taking Home Their Book Haul From The Cincinnati Library Bookmobile In 1940
#12
Three Women In Marshall, Texas, 1899
#13
A Beautiful Couple In Venice, 1890s
#14
A Woman Charges Her Electric Car In Her Garage, 1912
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 years ago
A car, electricity, and a garage? She must have been very well-to-do.
#15
A Woman In Motorcycling Clothing, France, 1905
#16
Montreal Playgrounds Were On Another Level Back Then, 1950s
#17
Roller Skating, 1930s
#18
Two Gentlemen And Their Absolutely Delightful Double-Walking-Stick-Wielding Dog, 1890s
#19
A Father Helping His Son Feed A Giraffe At London Zoo
#20
Woman Riding A Very Early Scooter, 1916
#21
Female Swimmer Posing On The Beach. France, 1925
#22
Little Big Man From The Netherlands, 1904
#23
Hong Kong In The 1950s
#24
Original Photo Of The Discovery Of The Tomb Of Tutankhamun, 1922
Hippopotamuses 2 years ago
It looks a bit crowded in there. I bet they were relieved when, after 5,000 years, someone finally opened the door.
#25
Children Playing On A Cart In Harlem, New York, 1920s
#26
The Elegance On The Streets Of New York City In 1928
#27
A Couple Of Victorian Travellers, 1890s
#28
Postwoman From The 1910s
#29
A Man Trying The Coca Cola Drink For The First Time, France, 1950
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 years ago
I love the expression on the man's face. Maybe he's just a Pepsi person.
#30
Little Girl Getting Water At The Farm, Maine, 1942
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 years ago
It's so much easier these days, and we don't even realize it. Piped-in water, electric, machines that do dishes, clean carpets, wash clothes. Imagine what a person from the 18th or 19th century would think of it all.
#31
Night Fishing In Hawaii, 1948
#32
Going To The Beach With Style In 1915
#33
Three Ladies At The Beach, 1895
#34
Welsh Woman Washing Her Mine-Working Husband, 1931
#35
New York City After A Snowstorm In 1888
#36
A Little Boy Getting Examined By A Doctor, 1940
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
Living in a foundationless log cabin in 1940. Jim Crow was messed up.
#37
Miss Perfect Posture Contest Winners At A Chiropractors Convention, 1956
Fly_Agaric_Frog (They/Them) 2 years ago
I read this then realized I'm literally sitting like a shrimp.
#38
Two Young Girls Playing With A Doll House, 1850s-1860s
#39
Photographer Suspended From A Crane Takes Pictures Of The Streets In London, 1929
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 years ago
Where's the photographer photographing the photographer?
#40
Carving The Eye Of Thomas Jefferson, Mount Rushmore, 1936
Javelina Poppers 2 years ago
My dad and a couple of friends traveled around the US when they were in their early 20s. I have a picture of a partially completed Mount Rushmore and the Golden Gate in San Francisco with no bridge.
#41
A Woman Stands While Riding Her Motorcycle, 1920s
#42
Old Fashioned Roller Skates Photo, 1910
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
I've seen actual footage of these in action. Geared up so that as you step up and down they work like the pedals on a bike.
#43
Friends Having A Picnic 137 Years Ago!
#44
Three Sisters Mounting Horses, 1914
#45
Hershey Factory Workers Individually Wrapping By Hand, 1937
#46
Take Your Walkman To The Beach In 1923
#47
Two Young Ladies Driving And Riding In A Lawson’s Motor Wheel Of 1902
#48
People Of Rural Norway, 1900s
#49
A Couple In A Model T Ford At Balanced Rock, Colorado, 1920s. (Click To See The Full Image)
Javelina Poppers 2 years ago
I have tons of pictures of our family under this rock in Garden of the Gods when we lived there in the 70s.
#50
Family Time At The Niagara River, 1890s
Hippopotamuses 2 years ago
I'm guessing that this is a photographic background. It would be hard to remain so serene and elegant when there's a raging torrent right behind you.
#51
28 Students Of A One-Room School, Missouri, 1939
#52
A Few Cowboys Enjoying A Drink In Old Tascosa, Texas, 1907
#53
Young Stylish Teen Girl Posing Next To Her Family's Car, 1931
#54
A Country Store Somewhere In Oklahoma, 1940
TotallyNOTAFox 2 years ago (edited)
I'm not sure, but I think they sold cola there... and probably some armoured heifer as well
#55
A Farmer And His Sons Make Their Way Through A Dust Storm In Cimarron Co., Oklahoma In April, 1936
#56
A Couple Enjoys Their Custom-Made Camper In 1918
#57
My Great Grandfather Was A Farm-To-Farm Medicine Man Around 1900
#58
The End Of Prohibition In America, 1933
#59
Construction Workmen Cling To Chains As They Dangle In Mid-Air Off The Side Of A Skyscraper, 1920s
#60
Sharecropper And His Children, North Carolina, 1939
#61
A Family From Florida Headed "Up North" During The Great Depression
#62
Little Boy Playing With A Pig, 1937
#63
Collecting Golf Balls, 1920s
#64
Couple On A Quadracycle, 1886
#65
A Number Of Young Boys In A Potato Field Picking Up Potatoes, 1890's
#66
A Man And His Goat Mobile, Early 1900s
Hippopotamuses 2 years ago
Knowing what I do about goats, I'd be frankly amazed if this contraption made it past the first bush at the side of the road.
#67
A Boy In A Glass Factory, 1890
Gustav Gallifrey 2 years ago
"Hey, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Z, Millennials, etc: tell me again how tough it is for you."
#68
A Rare Look Inside The Original Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Factory, 1924
#69
A Man On His Indian Scout Motorcycle, 1930
#70
Girls Enjoying The Sun In Santa Monica, California, 1936
#71
Bread Being Sold Off The Back Of A Hand Cart, 1925
#72
A Man Delivering Ice In The Old Days When There Were No Refrigerators, 1930s
Francis 2 years ago
it's crazy to think that not even 100 years ago we hadn't the option to store ice cream for a longer time at home LOL a brewery here in switzerland had cellar in the mountain that they would fill up with ice from the mountains in winter. the ice lasted for the entire summer and they were able to store their beer and ingredients in it :D
#73
1920′s Newspaper Boy In San Francisco, California
#74
Two Women In Shorts And A Whistling Bystander In Fort Worth, Texas, 1952
#75
Cowboys Eating At The Chuck Wagon, Late 1800s
#76
Blueberry Pickers, Near Little Fork, Minnesota, 1937
#77
Two Ladies Astride An 1895 Crank Drive Motorcycle And A 500 New Imperial Twin
#78
School Teachers And Students In 1910
Dani 2 years ago
That one teacher really thought through how he wanted to appear 🤣 "You've got one shot at this John, a photograph, I can give it to Millie the matchmaker, now how to appear intellectual?... A BOOK! Aloof distant gaze, slight recline, hold the book so they can see the title! You're going to nail this John!"
#79
Chicago, 116 Years Ago
#80
Edward Llewellen’s Catches The World’s Biggest Black Sea Bass (425 Lbs), 1903
#81
Lumberjacks Pose With A Douglas Fir Tree In Washington, 1899
#82
Young Coal Miners Deep Underground In Gary, West Virginia, 1908
#83
A Fit Girl Posing With Her Old Car In 1934
#84
Daughter Of White Tobacco Sharecropper At Country Store. Person County, North Carolina. July, 1939
#85
Shoe Shiners Taking A Lunch Break, New York City, 1947
#86
Four Women Armed With Rifles And A Young Boy Camping In 1890
#87
Group Of Children At Logging Camp, 1930
#88
Man Putting Gas In His Car While Smoking A Cigar, 1900s
#89
A Daredevil Balances On The Roof Edge Of A Manhattan Building, Perched On A Table Placed Over A Chimney, 1910s
#90
An Ice Man Making A Delivery, New York
#91
Two Icemen Make A Delivery In Boston
#93
A Young Driver At Brown Mine In West Virginia, 1908
sofacushionfort 2 years ago (edited)
Not West Virginia: “Shorpy -- Henry Sharpe Higginbotham -- was born Nov. 23, 1896, in Jefferson County, Alabama, to Phelix Milton Higginbotham and the former Mary Jane Graham. He served in the armed forces during World War I. On Nov. 19, 1927, he married Flora Belle Quinton. On Jan. 25 of the following year he died in a mine accident at the age of 31, crushed by a rock, and was buried in Jefferson County. He became a father, posthumously, when his widow bore his child in the summer of 1928. ”
#94
Farmers In Front Of The Post Office On Saturday Afternoon. Linwood, July, 1940
#95
Loggers Hold A Cross-Cut Saw In Front Of A Giant Tree, California, 1917
#96
University Students At A Tennis Outing In 1892
#97
Young People On Their Way To A Picnic, Mcnairy County, Tennessee, 1890s
Gustav Gallifrey 2 years ago
Gotta say it: the girl at the back rear of the cart, she's a stunner.
Add New Image
Explore more of these tags
What do you think ?
Auntriarch 2 years ago
I mean this in a completely non-snarky way, what's stopping you! Just do it. And may an aunt's blessing go with you
Load More Replies...
random_frog_6846 2 years ago
I like the clothes I wear today, those clothes are way too much for me. They definitely look dapper though. And just because people dressed a certain way doesn’t make me want to go back to those awful times.
Linda van A. 2 years ago
So many pictures and so many people and no one was fat in those days. Now we are eating our own grave.
Gardener of Weeden 2 years ago
Back then the rich were fat and the poor thin - now it is the opposite
Load More Replies...
Auntriarch 2 years ago
I mean this in a completely non-snarky way, what's stopping you! Just do it. And may an aunt's blessing go with you
Load More Replies... random_frog_6846 2 years ago
I like the clothes I wear today, those clothes are way too much for me. They definitely look dapper though. And just because people dressed a certain way doesn’t make me want to go back to those awful times.
Linda van A. 2 years ago
So many pictures and so many people and no one was fat in those days. Now we are eating our own grave.
Gardener of Weeden 2 years ago
Back then the rich were fat and the poor thin - now it is the opposite
Load More Replies...
Related on Bored Panda
