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People Are Sharing Pics Of Life 50-100 Years Ago And They Might Put Things In A New Perspective
The easiest way for us to get a glimpse into the good old days is to open up our family's photo album. But what if we go through the images and instead of calming down our curiosity, they only fuel it? Easy. We open up the subreddit r/TheWayWeWere next.
It's a place where folks share pictures from 50, 100, and even more years ago to show what everyday life looked like in the past. Featuring old photos, scanned documents, articles, and personal anecdotes, this subreddit has become one of the biggest vintage archives online.
Continue scrolling and check out why 528K people subscribe to r/TheWayWeWere.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Mary Wallace: First Female Bus Driver For Chicago Transit Authority (1974)
RELATED:
#2
My Ridiculously Attractive Grandparents Sitting For A Portrait In The Early 1940s
The last 100 years have produced profound changes in human history.
Wars, technological developments, progress in civil rights, and breakthroughs in science and medicine, the old world has been swept away. Whether it's for better or worse.
Centuries-old empires crumbled as new ideologies – like communism and fascism – took over in many parts of the world. Wars in the early part of the 20th century put an end to the colonial world and gave birth to new nations. However, these wars also cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars.
#3
My Mom On Her Wedding Day November 1951
#4
Cats Blackie & Brownie Catching Squirts Of Milk During Milking At Arch Badertscher's Dairy Farm In Fresno, California, 1954
Throughout the past century, technological innovations have transformed our lives in ways we never dreamed of. Progressive ideas emerged and changed the world as women, African Americans, and the LGBTQ community demanded, and often won, equal rights; from the ratification of the 19th Amendment in the United States to the legalization of same-sex marriage in many countries. But recent civil rights conflicts tell us the fight for equality is not over.
#5
A Native American Girl Of The Kiowa Tribe, Oklahoma, 1894
#6
My Great-Great-Grandmother Sometime In The 1890s
The pandemic that began ravaging the world in 2020 reminds us that even though we can buy a ticket to go to space, we're still vulnerable to viruses that can shut down economies and disrupt society.
People are hoping science can save Earth from the devastating changes to the climate that continue to imperil the ecosystems of our planet. In the coming years, natural disasters may have an increasingly impactful role in the course of history. Who knows where we will end up in another 100.
#7
Protesting The High School Dress Code That Banned Slacks For Girls, Brooklyn C.1940
#8
Two Pals (1920)
#9
Gay Men Pose For A Photo While Being Detained At A Police Station For Being Homosexuals In Mexico, 1935
#10
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
#11
Dad Showing Off His Skill To The Surprise Of His Little Daughter In Melbourne, Australia, Ca. 1940s
#12
London's First Black Police Officer, PC Norwell Roberts, On Point Duty Near Charing Cross Station, 1968
Stephen Branley 4 years ago
He's definitely on point duty. That's a fantastic point he's got there.
#13
This 1955 Photo Is One Of Walter Chandoha’s Most Famous Shots. “My Daughter Paula And The Kitten Both ‘Smiled’ For The Camera At The Same Time. …but The Cat’s Not Smiling, He’s Meowing”
#14
Sisters In Skirts, 1950s
#15
My Great Grandmother In The Early 1900’s. Thought She Looked Too Awesome Not To Share
#16
My Parents’ Wedding Photo, Okinawa, 1964
#17
My Grandpa (Left) And His Best Friend Willie Hall During The Korean War. Those Smiles Say It All
#18
My Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, Great-Great-Grandfather, And Great-Great-Great Grandmother, Ca 1918
#19
My Great-Grandfather That Was Too Poor To Afford A Suit In Sicily, So He Had To Pose In Front Of A Cardboard Cut-Out, 1930s~
#20
This Is Hazel, My Grandmother-In-Law. 1916
#21
My Grandmother And Mom Circa 1974. My Grandmother Took My Mother To National Parks Over The Course Of A Few Months, Just The Two Of Them
#22
“Our Michael”, 1938
#23
A Sailor "Meets" His Baby For The First Time After Fourteen Months At Sea, 1940s
Andy Acceber 4 years ago
Okay, some parenting lessons may be needed. Day One: How to Hold the Baby.
Paddling Panda 4 years ago
And nine months after THIS photo was taken, another baby was added to the brood...
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Luis Hernandez Dauajare 4 years ago
Man has been too long at sea, holding the baby like a crate...
Paddling Panda 4 years ago
My mum was in her second trimester with me when my dad went to see. He met me for the first time when I was about nine months old, so yeah, he was at sea for over a year that time.
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Analyn Lahr 4 years ago
I guess he really needed that kiss from the missus. The look on the baby's face though.
Jose Alcaraz 3 years ago
It's not his baby so why does he care how to hold him. Unless babies took 14 months to be born back in the day
Fiona Autiero 3 years ago
My father in law met his 1st born (my husband’s brother) at 7 months old, in the early 70’s . He worked on passenger cruise line from England to Australia.
Janet Graham 3 years ago
I think Mama was a bit more on his mind at the moment. I am sure he came around and did not drop the baby.
Alison Duncan Murphy 3 years ago
Hahaha! This is adorable! Baby probably grew up to be a person who was easy going and could conquer anything he or she tried.
Redwood Rebelgirl 3 years ago
Uuhhhhh... that's scary! 😵 Glad Mom & Dad are happy to see each other though! 💗 Sorry she had to give Birth alone! 💔 Though...in 1940 he would not have been in the room with her anyway, I guess.
Kristen Phillips 3 years ago (edited)
No, based on these comments you are not the only one who cannot tell the difference between a newborn and a baby who is clearly at least 6 months old (meaning, she was pregnant before he left).
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Just saying 4 years ago
Ok, that baby could be about 6 months old from the look of it so this is just about possible without some serious questions being asked.
Vicky Zar 4 years ago
Pregnancy (counting from conception) lasts around 9 months. This baby is clearly not a newborn. It is at least 3 months old. It is very possible that it is 6 months already. Otherwise Momy should be really concerned how he is holding it. Little babys cannot hold their head on their own. It would be dangerous to do what he is doing.
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Sandy Dyer 4 years ago
His baby, 14 months at sea? Maybe they meant sees his baby again? Otherwise I think mom has some explaining to do
novmum 4 years ago
guess it depends how old the baby is...14 months minus 9 months = 5 months so if that baby is around 5 months then yeah it could be his
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Kristen Phillips 3 years ago
Yeah, the math does add up. Do you actually think that baby was just born? If the baby is at least 5 months old, can you do the basic math and see how that is very possible that he got her pregnant before leaving? Obviously you must not know about babies, but that baby is clearly at least 6 months old.
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Kristen Phillips 3 years ago
Do you think that baby might be 5 months or older? (Hint, that baby is at least 6 months old, clearly). Now with that in mind, can you see how your comment makes no sense?
Load More Replies... #24
Grandma And Papa In 1937. She Passed Away Today At 100 Years Old
#25
Last Picture Of My Great Uncle Kennith, Before He Drowned In The Buffalo River, 1940’s. He Gave His Life Saving My Grandpa
#26
My Mother Made Us Matching Dresses For A Fancy Party Back In 1954
#27
Saw This Photo Posted Here.. Noticed I Have The Photo The Grandmother Took That Day. (Bought At An Antique Shop Years Ago In Phx)
#28
A Parisian Woman With Her Cat In Her Cannabis Garden, 1910
Fish Boden 4 years ago
I have a cat. All I need now is the garden (and some law changes please).
#29
This Is My Grandma Dorothy. She Was A Dress Designer In The 50s Which Always Made This Photo More Funny To Me. She Passed Away Today At Age 89. A Life Well Lived
#30
Vintage Photo From A Family Album, Freeport, Il
Alexandru Bucur 4 years ago
Besides the obvious that he is a black man and she a white woman in the 1900s, when this required a lot of guts, I love the fact he's wearing puttees as part of civilian dress. This was pretty common before WW1. After the war... not so much.
#31
Me And My Best Friend Rocky Watching TV, 1959
#32
Ladies At A Lesbian Club In Chelsea, 1953
#33
A Mostly Happy Family Outing At Chicken Bone Beach, The Segregated Section Of Atlantic City's Beach Area, New Jersey, 1950s (Photographed By John W. Mosley)
#34
1976 vs. 2018; 42 Years And We're Still Going Strong
#35
Young Oyster Shuckers, Port Royal, South Carolina, 1909
Karl Baxter 4 years ago
Crikey - the “thousand yard stare” at that young age. Life must have been tough for these girls.
#36
Reddit Seems To Love My Taita (Grandma), So Here Is Another One Of Her From 1950’s Beirut
#37
The Wedding Rings Of My Ggm, Gggm, Ggggm, And Gggggm Oldest Dating Back To 1832!
#38
Police Officer Unaware Of The Imminent Danger, Chicago, 1959
#39
After Spending More Than Five Years In A North Vietnamese Camp, Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm Is Reunited With His Family At Travis Afb, March 13, 1973
Jo Morris 4 years ago
This photo, called "Burst of Joy" won a Pulitzer prize. It has an unhappy ending though. According to Wikipedia "Despite outward appearances, the reunion was an unhappy one for Stirm. Three days before he arrived in the United States, the same day he was released from captivity, Stirm received a Dear John letter from his wife Loretta informing him that their marriage was over. Stirm later learned that Loretta had been with other men throughout his captivity, receiving marriage proposals from three of them. In 1974, the Stirms divorced and Loretta remarried, but Lieutenant Colonel Stirm was still ordered by the courts to provide her with 43% of his military retirement pay once he retired from the Air Force. Stirm was later promoted to full Colonel and retired from the Air Force in 1977."
#40
My Grandpa’s Schoolhouse In Texas Ca. 1930’s. He Was Always Embarrassed Of This Picture Because He Was Too Poor To Afford Shoes
Karl Baxter 4 years ago
My dad remembered going to school in Ireland in the early 1940s alongside kids with no shoes. Extreme poverty is more recent than you think.
#41
Women Trainees Of The Lapd Practice Firing Their Newly Issued Revolvers, 1948
#42
Dublin, 1962
#43
Caught On The Firescape, 1946
#44
Offerings To The Unknown Dead, Kyoto, Japan, 1963
#45
The 70s Transition: My Parents In 1968 And Again In 1970
#46
My American Grandmother Visiting Athens In The 1960s
Sunshine Sunshine 4 years ago
Such style in a lot of these pictures! Too bad nobody really dares to wear anymore
#47
Listening To The Radio On The Beach, Circa 1940s
#48
The Rolled-Stockings Trend Of The 1920's Brought On A Fad Of Hand-Painted Knees
#49
Class Divide In Britain, 1930's
#50
Me Ready For Friday Night Lights, 1969
#51
Fatherhood, 1970s
#52
I Clip Articles That Interest Me. This One From 1981 Seemed So Crazy It Was Worth Saving
#53
In 1959, Volvo Invented The 3-Point Seat Belt, Then Gave A Free License To All Other Car Manufacturers To Use It
Hugh Cookson 4 years ago
Even then, General Motors tried to patent it in the USA and then sell the licence to produce it ..... Capitalism at it's best eh ?
#54
Woman Stands On A Farmer’s Shoulders To Emphasizes The Height Of Their Corn Crop, Minnesota, 1916
#55
The Way We Were ... And Are Again
iblowsheep 4 years ago
Humanity's failure to learn from its mistakes is very much on full display right now
#56
Midsummer Celebration At Skansen, Stockholm In The 1970s. Glad Midsommar!
Julia Atkinson 4 years ago
No participants were sacrificed during this festival...as far as we know
#57
My Grandma And Parents Taught Me To Save Newspapers From Major Us Events As A Reminder Of Our Collective Human Experiences. I Have 9/11, Bin Laden’s Death, Obama Winning The Election. For The Holidays, I Was Gifted The Whole Family Collection. I Have Goosebumps. Here Are A Few Of The Oldest
#58
My Mom Would Have Been 82 Years Old Today. Happy Birthday Mom
#59
Sassy Little Boy Tweaking Fathers Nose. C1910
#60
A 10-Year-Old Girl Plays In A Snow Drift As Her Cat Maintains Its Comfortable Perch Atop Her Head, 1952
#61
This Dutch Couple And Their Baby, Ellis Island, Approx. 1907
#62
Children Car Seats In The 1940s
#63
My Grandma’s House, Sometime In The 70s Matched Up To The House As It Is Today
#64
Crossing America In A 1964 Stationwagon
#65
A Geisha After Washing Her Hair And Before Styling It, C. 1905
#66
Little Girl Living A Hard Life In The The 1930s
#67
This Is My Grandmother Who Passed Away Today At Age 89. (Circa 1948)
#68
A Very Large Organ Pipe Cactus In Baja California, 1895
#69
Mom And Me On My '71 Cb750, On A Summer Afternoon, So Long Ago . . . (1972)
#70
1974 - Hippie Son Home For Dinner
#71
My Grandpa With His First Child, 1957. He Passed Away Yesterday, April 26, Aged 91
#72
Letter From My Grandfather To My Nan, Asking Her Out In 1941. Strange To Think That Without This Letter My Dad, Uncles, Aunt, Siblings, Cousin's, Nephew And I Might Not Have Existed
AzKhaleesi 4 years ago
I just love how people spoke back then. Elegance, grace, polite. Why can't this still be a thing? "You will remember I called on you the Tuesday before you went away....." Ugh I love it.
#73
My Darling Mum Standing Outside The New Family Home In The 1960s
#74
My Great Grandmother With One Of Her Paintings [philadelphia, 1940s]
![My Great Grandmother With One Of Her Paintings [philadelphia, 1940s]](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/611e20de00c08_s3gexrtcv1g11__700.jpg?utm_campaign=rebelboost_true "My Great Grandmother With One Of Her Paintings [philadelphia, 1940s]")
#75
This (Shockingly High-Res & Colorized) Photo Was Taken Over 100 Years Ago, And Shows A Crew Of Men Unloading A Banana Boat In New York. I Almost Feel Like I'm There
#76
My Grandparents Looking Like Movie Stars On Their Wedding Day. Montgomery, Alabama. 1946
#77
Sign Outside A Park In Memphis, Tn, 1952
#78
My Great Grandparents On Their Honeymoon (1936)
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago
What a nice loving picture! Yes folks, our grandparents were young and in love once upon a time.
#79
Soviet Children In Sleeping Bags On The Way To Their Dorm Room, 1930
#80
Unemployed Lumber Worker Goes With His Wife To The Bean Harvest. Note Social Security Number Tattooed On His Arm. Oregon, August 1939
#81
Traditional Group Dances Alternated With Rock ’n’ Roll During An Evening Dance For Young Jews, Amsterdam, 1950s
#82
A Mother With Her Children, 1,800 Years Ago. Alexandria, Roman Egypt
#83
In 1978, When You Got A Color TV You Posed By It
Lotus Flower 4 years ago
Thing was easily a hundred pounds but I still remember getting up at 4am to watch Princess Di and Charles get married.
#84
My American Grandmother Visiting Paris In The 1960s
#85
The Essence Of Family Cookouts In The 1970s
#86
Irish Familly Having A Meal Of Potatoes And Milk 1917
#87
My Dad Would Have Been 71 This Month, We Lost Him Last Year To Cancer. This Is Him At A Rugby Match In The 1970's
#88
Socal Surf Culture. 1964
#89
Big Hair Of The 1960s
#90
Looking For A Sugar Daddy In The 1950s
#91
My 98 Year-Old Grandmother Passed Away Last Week. Here She Is In Chicago Around 1940 Living It Up!
#92
My Sis And I, 1962-Ish... On The Back It Says "Doing The Twist"
#93
My Grandfather Passed On Friday. Here He Is With My Grandma On Their Wedding Day, 1948
#94
My Dad/The Difference Btwn The 60s & 70s
#95
French Village, 1950's
#96
An Old Foster Mom Sent Me A Picture Taken Shortly After I Was Born In 1979. My Mother Refused To Hold Me So The Doctor Who Delivered Me Stepped In
#97
A Bread Delivery Man With Bags Filled With Baguettes On A Snowy Street In Quebec In 1977
#98
My Dad About To Run Away And Find His Suzy Bishop. Oregon Circa 1970
#99
6 June 1944, Times Square NYC. People Reading News Of The D-Day Landings On The Times Building Electronic Billboard. My Colorisation Of B&w By Howard Hollem
#100
Ashtrays And Coin-Operated Televisions In The Los Angeles Greyhound Bus Terminal, 1969
#101
High School Students, 1981. (School Unknown)
#102
Gym Aboard The Titanic, 1912
#103
Teenagers Dancing And Socializing At A Party, 1947
#104
A Man Standing In The Lumberyard Of Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing. 1939
#105
Times Square, 1957
#106
My Great Grandfather And Great Grandmother And Their Respective Squads In The Summer Of ‘36
#107
Staff At A Burger Chef Circa 1975
#108
Getting Cooled Air Piped Into The Car While Enjoying A Meal At A Drive-In Restaurant. Houston, Texas, 1957
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago
Even into the early 1990s, A/C wasn’t standard in anything but higher end car models. I found this out when shopping for an economical car back then. If you bought anything fancier than a Ford Escort, for example, you got A/C included in the price. You had to pay extra for it if you bought the Escort. Later on it became standard equipment on all cars—-thank goodness, because it gets unbearably hot and humid in summer where I live!
#109
British Schoolboys Holding Discarded Syringes, 1970s
Karl Baxter 4 years ago
I don’t think this is as sinister as it appears. I remember a craze for using large syringes as water pistols back in the 70s. A drug syringe is a much smaller item in any case.
#110
New Car Shopping, 1950s
#111
My Grandma’s Hospital Bill After Giving Birth To My Dad In 1955
#112
A Rare Negative Reveals Times Square NYC In Color, Circa 1948
Michigan Guy 4 years ago
i see the coppers. i wonder where the alcoholic gumshoe is? ahhh, pry with some dame...
#113
Teenage Meet-Up On Main Street, Caldwell Idaho, June-July 1941. My Colorisation Of B&w By Russell Lee
#114
The Corner Store, 1960
Seán Baron 4 years ago
Do you think they sell soda there at all? They could have let people know.
#115
My Dad’s Total Cost For A Semester Of College Back In 1970. Would Be $250 Today!
#116
Life Magazine, 1915
Julia Atkinson 4 years ago
Say what you like about fashion magazines, at least they don't endorse slavery, genocide, and keeping female war captives alive to use as sex slaves
#117
A Busy (To Say The Least) Kmart Store- Circa 1970s
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What do you think ?
Hilary James 4 years ago
I have all my grandparents and great grandparents old picture albums ! Come on over !
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Doug Thomas 4 years ago
It was my grandfather's birthday. This WWII "happy event" shows the wear and tear of the times on the faces of the participants. My mother - upper left - almost has a smile. Who knew in 1943 where the war would take us, how it would end? war-birthd...549034.jpg 
Tiny Dancer 4 years ago
My other fave pic from that era. 1967, my Mum and Dad looking like freakin' movie stars at the Fortuna Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. In a band, they were fresh out of a night in jail because their shady agent forgot to renew their visas. Still no sign of their luggage, they had to borrow the hotel's bathrobes while they waited. Love the back story behind the "glamour" shot, lol! 1967-Dad-a...63e818.jpg 
Tiny Dancer 4 years ago
My parents on their first date in 1963. I came along about a year later :-) 1963-Dad-a...c52148.jpg 
Pia LaVache 4 years ago
This is a reminder that parents / grandparents were once young people doing what young people do. My dad used to always say “of course I know what you’re up to, because I did the same things when I was your age” and I would always think “you were never my age age, you’re the dad”
Tiny Dancer 4 years ago
Lastly, 'cause I could go on and on (you're welcome!), here I am with Mum and Dad at their "second" wedding in 1974 (big semi-scandal at the time, I'm the only one that didn't know it was their first). Wonderful example of my Dad's style and porn 'stache. And I look adorable. 1974-Mum-a...b84dae.jpg 
Amina Hays 4 years ago
It genuinely saddens me that when people look at photographs 100 years from now, they'll see garbage like their grandmother's trout pout and not at all like the elegance and grace of 'our' 100 years ago.
sharron lynn parsons 4 years ago
I enjoyed the post, so different, I truly love old, styles as compared to today, is blah !!!
Hilary James 4 years ago
I have all my grandparents and great grandparents old picture albums ! Come on over !
Load More Replies... Doug Thomas 4 years ago
It was my grandfather's birthday. This WWII "happy event" shows the wear and tear of the times on the faces of the participants. My mother - upper left - almost has a smile. Who knew in 1943 where the war would take us, how it would end? war-birthd...549034.jpg
Tiny Dancer 4 years ago
My other fave pic from that era. 1967, my Mum and Dad looking like freakin' movie stars at the Fortuna Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. In a band, they were fresh out of a night in jail because their shady agent forgot to renew their visas. Still no sign of their luggage, they had to borrow the hotel's bathrobes while they waited. Love the back story behind the "glamour" shot, lol! 1967-Dad-a...63e818.jpg
Tiny Dancer 4 years ago
My parents on their first date in 1963. I came along about a year later :-) 1963-Dad-a...c52148.jpg
Pia LaVache 4 years ago
This is a reminder that parents / grandparents were once young people doing what young people do. My dad used to always say “of course I know what you’re up to, because I did the same things when I was your age” and I would always think “you were never my age age, you’re the dad”
Tiny Dancer 4 years ago
Lastly, 'cause I could go on and on (you're welcome!), here I am with Mum and Dad at their "second" wedding in 1974 (big semi-scandal at the time, I'm the only one that didn't know it was their first). Wonderful example of my Dad's style and porn 'stache. And I look adorable. 1974-Mum-a...b84dae.jpg
Amina Hays 4 years ago
It genuinely saddens me that when people look at photographs 100 years from now, they'll see garbage like their grandmother's trout pout and not at all like the elegance and grace of 'our' 100 years ago.
sharron lynn parsons 4 years ago
I enjoyed the post, so different, I truly love old, styles as compared to today, is blah !!!
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