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It’s virtually impossible to feel how fast time flies until it passes right behind us, leaving the sense it was only yesterday we had our first day at school or said ‘I Do’. Present moments sneakily turn into memories, and it’s a never-ending cycle.

But thanks to the invention of photography and people who stood behind the lens, not everything gets lost in history. People, places, events that happened years, decades and hundreds of years ago are all made immortal by the camera.

One such mesmerizing gallery is curated by the Lost In History Twitter account dedicated to sharing photos that they say “throw light on our past.” Below, we selected some of the most incredible and interesting photos shared there, so pull your seat closer!

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Icy_Question_4977
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I read a lot of mystery books about the Orient Express, and it is described as very luxurious and beautiful. I can see now why

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Some time ago, Bored Panda spoke with Lisa Yaszek, a Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech where she researches and teaches science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures. We found out about the cultural and societal significance of old photos, as well as the meanings behind them. It turned out that old photographs can tell us more about life in the past than you will ever learn from history books.

#6

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Laura Henderson
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amazing, rising literally from the ashes. I do hope she didn't die horribly of radiation poisoning...

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First and foremost, it’s important to understand that old photos affect our perception of time in unique ways. According to Lisa, they do that “by making abstract historical events visually concrete, giving us an emotional connection to eras we might not otherwise know very much about, exactly, through books or family stories.”

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She gave an interesting example: “I was really taken by images of Japanese-Americans in WWII U.S. internment camps, young people protesting low wages for teachers in the Great Depression, female engineers working for the Space Race, and little kids protesting Daylight Savings Time—my own son especially appreciated that one…"

#7

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#8

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Mr. Cinder
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What are the cannibals going to eat? They're nothing but bones. What a horrific picture.

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Another way old photos alter our perception of time is by showing that people in the past had just as rich and complex lives as we have today. Lisa explained that “we tend to assume that in the past, women were limited to work as wives and mothers, and we certainly see a number of images here celebrating women’s work in the home.”

But the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. “We also see women doing all sorts of work in the public sphere as well—everything from attending school graduations and working on supercomputers to taking back the streets of postwar London and bouncing drunks out of bars,” the professor explained.

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#10

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LisaMarie
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The part in Schindlers List which upsets me the most is when they are told to carefully write their names on their suitcases as they will get them back when they get off the train. You then see the suitcases being brought to the sorting areas and the contents being put into various piles like this. The fact that they gave these prisoners a glimer of hope (that their possessions would be returned to them) while knowing what was in store for them is just heartbreaking 😥

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Moreover, old photographs remind us of something we tend to forget: “that people in the past have had many of the same challenges and triumphs as we have, and that we can look to them for inspiration regarding how to make sense of the present and build new futures,” Lisa concluded in this in-depth interview we had.

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Firstname Lastname
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

TIL goats like bananas. Looked into it, and in addition to hay and grains, I learned they also eat "foods like fruits, dried fruits, veggies, graham crackers, cheerios, Cheetos, and even corn chips."

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#15

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Nathaniel
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Stop, Hammer time! You can't touch this, You can't touch this, You can't touch this, Break it down!"

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#22

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James016
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would not want to see the spider that spun that web!

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Andrew Burke
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wouldn't want to be under that when all the local birds come to perch on it!

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Plague doctor
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I feel bad for the handyman who had to go up there and maintain all those wires.

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$cagsy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Little did the photographer know that these lines would be obsolete in a matter of days, as over in nearby Finland, the launch of the new Nokia 3310 approached.

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LSR
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Hello telephone company? My line is not working". Company dispatched employee: "Oh brother..."

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Unsound Mind
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What a mess, but sure beats the cancer causing, tracking device of today. We said no to the barcode but yes to the smartphone.... A duh

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Heta Luna
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That has to be the most inefficient way of connecting them I've ever seen Imagine the amount of time this thing had to be repaired

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Alexander Superlex
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

imagine what Cliff Burton could do on those strings slapping those baselines or geezer Butler

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Jill
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I should really go and find that place and take a modern picture...something tells me that it's just buildings now.

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CindyLouWho1209
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Telephone lines don't carry current and are not dangerous like electrical lines such as the phone lines pictured.

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Laura Henderson
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

... And it wasn't just Germans who were brainwashed by Nazism. Let's not forget that.

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#28

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Laura Henderson
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Terrible working conditions. It's literally what Zorro rescues "the disappeared ones" from in the movies.

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#30

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Note: this post originally had 42 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.