50 Important Historical Photos That Might Change Your Perspective On Things, As Shared By This Facebook Page
Ever since the invention of the camera in the early 1800s, photographers have documented everything, from wars and protest marches to scientific discoveries, and even space landings, allowing everyone to, in a way, "attend" these special events.
The Facebook page 'Old Photographs' has collected a wide selection of such interesting historical moments—big and small. So let's take a look at some of its top posts, after all, chances are, each of us will find something that will help us to see the past in a new light.
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On 27 January 1945 was the liberation of Auschwitz. To forget would be to say these faces, the faces of millions of others didn't matter. Never forget. Teach the children to remember.
Some of the survivors reunited in 2005. You can click on their names to get more of their stories and Gabi Neumann's who did extensive research including giving a background on the picture which included "Q: Tell me about the famous photograph in which you appear. A: The picture was taken a few days after liberation. I don’t remember exactly how many. It is a completely staged photograph. The Russians walked around the blocks calling on us to be photographed. My sister didn’t want to be photographed, so she isn’t in the picture. I was curious, and allowed my picture to be taken. You can see that they dressed us in prisoner uniforms that were a few sizes too big for us. Underneath the prisoner uniforms we wore the rags that we had. But because of this picture, I found my family. The Russians took my details and that’s how my mother found my sister and me later on." https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/through-the-lens/auschwitz-child-survivors.asp
Just one of the guys. (WWII)
Laughter has sounded the same throughout generations and languages.
(Unidentified woman and child, Jemez Pueblo New Mexico, by Jesse Nusbaum)
Some of our favorite old photographs are merely everyday people in everyday life.
A family portrait. Gainesville, Florida - 1900.
Source: State Library and Archives of Florida
This picture circa 1900s shows knife grinders also called ventres jaunes (‘yellow stomachs’ referring to the yellow dust released by the grinding wheel). By laying face down, these yellow stomachs would save their backs from being hunched over all day. Workers were encourage to bring their dogs to not only keep them company but to act as heaters to keep them warm by having the dogs lie on their legs.
(Photo is from the web-site of, French knife maker, Claude Dozorme - ” The Wolf ”).
A very moving caption:
"This is a mass burial at sea, on the USS Intrepid in 1944 following a kamikaze attack. I've never seen this photo, and I figure most of you probably haven't either. I posted so people can see, and remember the incredible sacrifices made on our behalf."
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." -Anne Frank
There is modern beauty in this photograph of Lota Cheek taken 99 years ago.
Animals bring a type of joy not found in other ways.
When do we gain the inhibitions not present in our youth?
Omg the amount of times we all nearly died during our childhoods, it'll never be the same again, leaving home on your own/with friends in the early morning, someone's dog would be part of the gang, not coming home until dinner time and literally no contact with anyone's parents all day lol. Fantastic photo
Timeless photography looks as beautiful now as it did when it was taken.
Formal portraits rarely featured smiles, but they can be found in photographs of daily life during this period. (1912, South Carolina.)
A routine repair.
A boy makes a friend at the London Zoo, 1958.
Dressed to impress. (1908)
Who loved jumping off? (Even though mom told you not to.)
Is it possible the architects had this in mind when they designed Grand Central Station? (1934)
She was born Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke, but you would know her as the Good Witch of the North in "The Wizard of Oz".
104 years ago this fountain in Detroit, Michigan was left running allowing it to build layer upon layer in to this 30 foot icy spectacle.
This 1931 photograph captures the spirit of the season as Santa delivers presents to the children of an adoption home in London.
A girl, a dog, a mule. From the 1921 silent film "Through the Back Door" staring Mary Pickford.
1937: when even ice skating was done in a suit.
March 1938: 70-year-old Mrs Elizabeth Arnold, believed to be England's only woman blacksmith, shoes a horse outside the 400-year-old forge in Walmer, Kent. (Photo by Fox Photos).
They wear shoes and clothes with holes and dirt upon their faces, yet they are absolutely perfect. (1936)
Fred Messer's life spanned three centuries. He was born in 1792, 16 years after the United States became a counrty and lived to see automobiles roll along roads, dying in 1907. (North Carolina.)
Two innocent souls from days long ago.
Doggie is straight chillin... Little girl is not so sure lol
A woman on a mission with her baguette and six bottles of wine.
(Paris 1945 - by Branson Decou)
How homework was done before google.
I remember the days, although for me it was 90's s and early 00's :D
An old photograph with a funny twist in today’s context.
It took more than 15 years to take the Statue of Liberty from concept to reality. Construction is pictured here in 1884, less than two years before she was completed.
And it took only one presidential mandate to throw liberty into the gutter and revamp racism, bigotry, vandalism, and xenophobia.
1890s Walmart. So many great details inside this general store. It was a time when you knew your grocer and they knew you. We have more, but we in some ways have less.
When I was still in elementary school we moved from a decent size city to a very very rural town. It was like we had wound the clock back 30 years. It was a major culture shock.It had one chain fast food place and all the other ones were mom and pop joints.It had at that time the only bar I'd ever seen. It had one pharmacy which was mom and pop. And the gas station was the same way. The coolest thing about the whole town was the general store. It was like you'd see in movies. They made keys the old fashion way. If you wanted paint it had to be whatever color was in the can because they didn't mix custom colors. They had all types of gardening tools, seeds, fertilizer made from local chicken farm poop, and bee keeping supplies. It was one of the last stores that sold old style shotguns and rifles for hunting. And lastly, it had one of those old time rolling ladders that rode on a track mounted to the ceiling to get to the stuff on the shelves that went from floor to ceiling. Good times.
Be thankful for what you have.
Be thankful for one another.
This caption is beyond inappropriate. The photo is of street orphans who have no one living that can take care of them. There was a movement at the time in art including painting and photography to make the public aware of their plight. They probably had not eaten in days. No telling what happened to their parents. It was meant to teach empathy.
Its not about where you are, its who you're with. (1945)
Rush hour in Chicago didn’t look any better 104 years ago.
Isn't it interesting that we meet some of the best friends we ever have within the first years of our lives.
(Photo by Edouard Boubat. Paris, 1952.)
I had an entirely different youth than suggested. Lot of bullying. No one I would consider a friend until middle school when I found the nerds.
The less you have, the more you appreciate what you do have.
(Western North Carolina 1914-1917, from the William A. Barnhill Collection.)
My grandchild still hug chicken in todays world. They are the best pets....
There’s nothing quite like getting hand delivered mail. (1900)
Today, be thankful.
(Arizona migrant family, 1940.)
These captions are giving me the shits. Yes we should be thankful, but we shouldn't be using real people in pain and poverty to make ourselves feel better about our own lives.
Note: this post originally had 129 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
This would have been so much better without those ridiculous (and sometimes insulting) captions.
Like seriously. We get it. We’ve all heard it a billion times now. Phone bad, internet bad, Nikola Tesla was a witch. Now shut the hell up for once and let us enjoy these fascinating historic photos.
very cool picture but most of them are just old pictures ... not "important historical photos" !! there is a huge difference. and so many captions are wrong !! using people's misery to feel better about our lives is kinda inappropriate imo
@Abhinc : All these photos do not represent the big story but the small story, of people like you and me who lived at the time. It is not uninteresting but we are very far from the "historical revelation". And indeed the legends are, for the most part, just without interest or even totally unwarranted.
I mean, I feel like the word "important" is subjective. I think they were very important... strictly as a tool for people of the future to use to look back.. every & any photo can be important depending on who is looking at it... it may not mean much to you.. but the next person could find immense meaning in it. & where do you see people "using peoples misery to feel better about our lives" ..... like wtf are you talking about? Are you talking about the 3-4 photos of people living in poverty? Or the photo of the kids being liberated from a concentration camp? Either way I don't think anyone is using them to feel better about themselves... wtf? They're old photos... to show what life was like back then.... that's literally the extent of it. The captions pertain to what's going on in the photo. Why do you ppl always look for the things to be upset about? Just enjoy the fucken pictures for what they are & move on! Or don't... whatever. But you're a drag dude.
some of these pictures are important indeed. or they could but they don't make sense without any data or context. this is a very poor and useless post. there is nothing here that can be used as a tool. it's just empty. !! for the "using people's misery" ... i'm not talking about the pictures themselves but just read the clickbait captions under most of them. one example ? the picture of two orphan kids hugging and most definitely starving and living in the streets saying "Be thankful for what you have. Be thankful for one another." that's f*****g disgusting and this one among others proves my point ! as deep as any stupid "inspirational" post on instagram. they provide absolutely nothing about what the pics portray !! they say nothing about these people's lives. and for the important and historical part ... how is an old picture of a kid petting a cat or a woman wearing a beautiful wedding dress of any historical interest ?? come on !! be serious. last but not least ... i love the irony !!! you come here to lecture me about the fact that it's important to accept people can have an opinion while totally denying and disrespecting mine ... maybe some people complain because thy have much higher expectations when reading about "important historical photographs" than you do.. can be fun to use your brain instead of just your eyes. but if this is enough for you that explains your answer. some people enjoy learning. looks like you don't. your problem. not mine !! so yeah you have absolutely every right to disagree but calling me a drag just because i have a different opinion totally invalidates whatever you were trying to lecture me about. do better next time if it's not too much to ask
If you don't see the "history" in these photos, you are missing a lot.
this is a nice compilation of old photos
This would have been so much better without those ridiculous (and sometimes insulting) captions.
Like seriously. We get it. We’ve all heard it a billion times now. Phone bad, internet bad, Nikola Tesla was a witch. Now shut the hell up for once and let us enjoy these fascinating historic photos.
very cool picture but most of them are just old pictures ... not "important historical photos" !! there is a huge difference. and so many captions are wrong !! using people's misery to feel better about our lives is kinda inappropriate imo
@Abhinc : All these photos do not represent the big story but the small story, of people like you and me who lived at the time. It is not uninteresting but we are very far from the "historical revelation". And indeed the legends are, for the most part, just without interest or even totally unwarranted.
I mean, I feel like the word "important" is subjective. I think they were very important... strictly as a tool for people of the future to use to look back.. every & any photo can be important depending on who is looking at it... it may not mean much to you.. but the next person could find immense meaning in it. & where do you see people "using peoples misery to feel better about our lives" ..... like wtf are you talking about? Are you talking about the 3-4 photos of people living in poverty? Or the photo of the kids being liberated from a concentration camp? Either way I don't think anyone is using them to feel better about themselves... wtf? They're old photos... to show what life was like back then.... that's literally the extent of it. The captions pertain to what's going on in the photo. Why do you ppl always look for the things to be upset about? Just enjoy the fucken pictures for what they are & move on! Or don't... whatever. But you're a drag dude.
some of these pictures are important indeed. or they could but they don't make sense without any data or context. this is a very poor and useless post. there is nothing here that can be used as a tool. it's just empty. !! for the "using people's misery" ... i'm not talking about the pictures themselves but just read the clickbait captions under most of them. one example ? the picture of two orphan kids hugging and most definitely starving and living in the streets saying "Be thankful for what you have. Be thankful for one another." that's f*****g disgusting and this one among others proves my point ! as deep as any stupid "inspirational" post on instagram. they provide absolutely nothing about what the pics portray !! they say nothing about these people's lives. and for the important and historical part ... how is an old picture of a kid petting a cat or a woman wearing a beautiful wedding dress of any historical interest ?? come on !! be serious. last but not least ... i love the irony !!! you come here to lecture me about the fact that it's important to accept people can have an opinion while totally denying and disrespecting mine ... maybe some people complain because thy have much higher expectations when reading about "important historical photographs" than you do.. can be fun to use your brain instead of just your eyes. but if this is enough for you that explains your answer. some people enjoy learning. looks like you don't. your problem. not mine !! so yeah you have absolutely every right to disagree but calling me a drag just because i have a different opinion totally invalidates whatever you were trying to lecture me about. do better next time if it's not too much to ask
If you don't see the "history" in these photos, you are missing a lot.
this is a nice compilation of old photos