Our Instagram feeds are often flooded with photos from the same day or the previous weekend. And while it’s great to have the capability to share information so rapidly, we know what the modern world looks like. We can walk through our front doors or gaze out from our balconies to get a taste of today’s times. But if you’re craving a blast from the past, we’ve got the perfect article for you.
Below, you’ll find a list of some of our favorite posts from the Historic Pix Instagram account, as well as an interview we were lucky enough to receive from the creator of the account, Peter Cors. From photos of factory workers in the 1800s to an aerial view of Woodstock in 1969, Historic Pix shares a plethora of fascinating images that will give you some insight into our world’s past.
Be sure to upvote the photos you find most captivating, and let us know in the comments if you learned anything new from this list. Then if you’re interested in viewing even more pics that will shine a light on our world’s past, you can find a few more Bored Panda articles on the same topic right here, here and here!
#1 A Picture Of Dr. Religa Monitoring His Patient’s Vitals After Completing A 23-Hour-Long Heart Transplant. His Assistant Is Asleep In The Corner. 1987
At the bottom is a picture of the same patient, 30 years later. He managed to outlive his doctor.
Dr. Religa was a pioneer of heart transplantation in Poland, and even though the surgery was considered borderline impossible at the time, he took the chance, and the operation was successful.
Image source: historicpix
#2 Mary Wallace: First Female Bus Driver For Chicago Transit Authority, 1974
Image source: historicpix
#3 Nellie Brown, An African-American Cowgirl, C.1880’s
Image source: historicpix
#4 An Open Air School In 1957, Netherlands In The Beginning Of The 20th Century A Movement Towards Open Air Schools Took Place In Europe
Classes were taught in forests so that students would benefit physically and mentally from clean air and sunlight
Image source: historicpix
#5 Animals Being Used As Part Of Medical Therapy, 1956
Image source: historicpix
#6 As Soviet Troops Approached Berlin In 1945, Zoo Keepers Did Their Best To Take Care Of Berlin Zoo’s Animals. This Shoebill Was Temporarily Housed In His Keeper’s Home
Image source: historicpix
#7 Camouflaged Road In Finland During Ww2. The Trees Are Hung Up With Rope So Enemy Watch Towers Don’t See The Road. June 27, 1941
Image source: historicpix
#8 Metallica, Circa 1983
Image source: historicpix
#9 The Last Picture Of Now Extinct Tasmanian Tiger In 1933
Image source: historicpix
#10 The Creation Of The Recycling Logo By G. Anderson, 23 At The Time. (1970)
Image source: historicpix
#11 1956: For A Bet Whilst Drunk, Former Marine Thomas Fitzpatrick Stole A Small Plane From New Jersey And Then Landed It Perfectly On A Narrow Manhattan Street In Front Of The Bar He Had Been Drinking At
He had made a bet with a fellow drinker that he could leave the bar, go to New Jersey, and then get back in 15 minutes.
He did nearly the exact same thing two years later, after a bar patron refused to believe he had done the first one.
Image source: historicpix
#12 Into The Jaws Of Death, 6th June 1944. Normandy Landings
Image source: historicpix
#13 1922: 78-Year-Old Robert T. Lincoln (Son Of Abraham Lincoln) Is Helped Up The Steps At The Dedication Of The Lincoln Memorial In Washington D.c
Image source: historicpix
#14 Nikola Tesla’s Foot X-Ray Taken By Himself On A Machine He Designed (1896)
Image source: historicpix
#15 First Morning After Sweden Changed From Driving On The Left Side To Driving On The Right, 1967
Image source: historicpix
#16 Special Effects In The 1960s
Image source: historicpix
#17 San Francisco’s Iconic Cliff House, Shortly Before It Was Destroyed By Fire In 1907
Image source: historicpix
#18 Cow Shoes Used By Moonshiners In The Prohibition Days To Disguise Their Footprints, 1924
Image source: historicpix
#19 Hese Daguerreotype Portraits Show The Oldest Generation Of People To Ever Be Photographed, 1840-1850
Many of these people were born in the 1700s and some of them even lived through the American Revolutionary War
Image source: historicpix
#20 French Box Bed. In Brittany, The Closed Bed, Or Box Bed, Was A Traditional Piece Of Furniture, Present In Other European Countries
In houses with only one room, the box bed allowed a certain intimacy and helped to keep warm during the winter
Image source: historicpix
#21 Painters Atop The Woolworth Building In New York City, 1926
Image source: historicpix
#22 Maori Man From Hawkes Bay District, Photographed In 1870 By Samuel Carnell
Ta moko is the name for the permanent body and face marking by Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand.
Image source: historicpix
#23 Mount St. Helens Photographed From The Same Spot, One Day Before, And Four Months After Erupting
Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. The volcano, located in southwestern Washington, used to be a beautiful symmetrical cone about 9,600 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level. The eruption, which removed the upper 1,300 feet (396 meters) of the summit, left a horseshoe-shaped crater and a barren wasteland
Image source: historicpix
#24 The FBI Finger Print Files, 1944
Image source: historicpix
#25 Poor Children, East London, Circa 1890
Image source: historicpix
#26 Noted Botanist Alice Eastwood Inspects The Clearly Visible Fault Fissure Left Behind Near Olema, California, After The 1906 Earthquake Rattled The San Andreas Fault
Image source: historicpix
#27 The Winter Of 1880-1881 In Minnesota Was No Laughing Matter
Image source: historicpix
#28 The Broughton Flume Was The Fastest And Longest Water Flume In The World From 1923-1986
It was located at the Hood river junction on the Columbia river at the Washington/Oregon border
Image source: historicpix
#29 British Soldiers Of The Irish Guards Regiment Look On As One Of Their Number Faints In London, England (June, 1966)
Image source: historicpix
#30 Aerial View Of Over 400,000 People At The Woodstock, 1969
Image source: historicpix
#31 A War Veteran Sells Matches On The Street, In Canterbury, Kent. England – Circa. 1930
Image source: historicpix
#32 The World’s Last Commercial Ocean-Going Sailing Ship – The Pamir – Rounding Cape Horn, 1949
Image source: historicpix
#33 Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test, 1946
Image source: historicpix
#34 The Dalai Lama At Age Two, 1937
Image source: historicpix
#35 In The 1930’s, Baby-Cages Were Used To Ensure Children Living In Apartment Buildings Got Enough Fresh Air And Sunlight
Image source: historicpix
#36 A Samurai And His Retainers Wearing Mail Armor And Armed With Naginata, 1870
Image source: historicpix
#37 A Coat Sale In Copenhagen, Denmark, 1936
Image source: historicpix
#38 The Roof Of An Old Fiat Factory. Yes, That Is A Track. (Lingotto, Turin – Italy)
Image source: historicpix
#39 Paparazzi Photographer Ron Galella Would Wear A Football Helmet Around Actor Marlon Brando, After Brando Once Sucker-Punched Him, Broke His Jaw, And Knocked Out Five Teeth In 1973
Image source: historicpix
#40 Ann Hodges, The Only Human Being In Recorded History To Be Hit By A Meteorite. 1954
Image source: historicpix
#41 The Muffin Man In 1910, London. He Would Ring A Bell As He Walked Through The Streets With His Wares On A Tray On His Head
Image source: historicpix
#42 In 1936, 1800 Veterans Of The American Civil War Attended An 75th Anniversary Reunion At Gettysburg, Pa
The youngest was 88 years old, and the oldest claimed to be 112 years old. They all became good friends
Image source: historicpix
#43 Federal Reserve Bank, New York, 1959
Image source: historicpix
#44 Female Worker Bottling Ketchup At The Original Heinz Factory Circa 1897
Image source: historicpix
#45 US Soldier With Pictures Of His Girlfriend Attached To His Helmet, Vietnam 1968
Image source: historicpix
#46 A Young Chinese Woman From One Of The Imperial Japanese Army’s “Comfort Battalions” Is Interviewed By A British Royal Air Force Officer In Rangoon After Being Liberated In August 1945
Image source: historicpix
#47 The Ss Princess May Was A Steamship Built In 1888
The ship is best known for grounding in 1910, which left the ship sticking completely out of the water. This is one of the most famous shipwreck photographs
Image source: historicpix
#48 Salesman Having His Motorised Roller Skates Filled Up In 1961
He has a single horsepower air-cooled engine strapped to his back and holds a clutch, accelerator and engine cut-off switch in his hand. (Photo by F. Roy Kemp)
Image source: historicpix
#49 An Old Photo Taken By Max Van Oppenheim Of An Ancient Roman Bridge That Spans The Wadi Al Murr Near Mosul, Iraq, In The 1920s
Image source: historicpix
#50 Arctic Explorer Peter Freuchen Stands Next To His Third Wife, Dagmar Freuchen-Gale. 1947
Image source: historicpix
#51 The Nemi Ships, Built Almost 2000 Years Ago By Emperor Caligula, Discovered In 1929 And Destroyed By Fire In 1944 During World War II
Image source: historicpix
#52 In The Victorian Era, The Woman’s Hair Was Considered An Important Part Of Her Appearance And It Marked Her Status And Her Femininity
Women in that era were often expected to grow their hair to great lengths, and it was common knowledge that a woman’s crowning glory was her hair. Take a look at these photos of Victorian women who never cut their hair (1860-1900)
Image source: historicpix
#53 Two Boys Sit Inside Willamette, An Iron Meteorite Weighing 14500 Kg
It is the largest meteorite to be discovered in North America and the sixth largest in the world. The meteorite is on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City
Image source: historicpix
#54 The Legendary Soviet Georgian Water Polo Player Petre Mshvenieradze With His Grandson, 1990
Image source: historicpix
#55 Coal Miner’s Wife And Three Of Their Children. Company House In Pursglove, Scotts Run, West Virginia, September 1938
Image source: historicpix
#56 A Man Recording A Cassette Tape At A Music Festival In Poland, 1980s. (Taken By Krzysztof Wójcik)
Image source: historicpix
#57 Princeton Students After A Freshman vs. Sophomores Snowball Fight, 1893
Image source: historicpix
#58 Planes Fly Between The Towers And Pedestrians Cross As Part Of The Celebration Of The Opening Of The Golden Gate Bridge In May Of 1937
Image source: historicpix
#59 This Shockingly High-Res And Colorized Photo Was Taken Over 100 Years Ago, And Shows A Crew Of Men Unloading A Banana Boat In New York
Image source: historicpix
#60 Fixing The Antenna On The World Trade Center, New York City, 1979. Photo By Peter B. Kaplan
Image source: historicpix
#61 Residents Of Hanoi Wait In Chest-Deep Sidewalk Shelters For The All Clear Signal, During An Air Raid Alert. Hanoi, North Vietnam, 1967
Image source: historicpix
#62 Two Young Ladies Inline Skating With A Sail In Berlin, 1923
Image source: historicpix
#63 J.k. Rowling Writing Harry Potter At A Café In Scotland (1998)
Image source: historicpix
#64 Girls Making Petrol Bombs During The Battle Of The Bogside, Ireland, 1969
Image source: historicpix
#65 Street In Hong Kong – 1950s. Photo By Fan Ho
Image source: historicpix
#66 Coal Miner’s Child Using A Hole In The Door To Enter A Bedroom With A Smoking Pipe In One Hand And A Gun In The Other In Bertha Hill, West Virginia. Photo By Marion Post Wolcott. 1938
Image source: historicpix
#67 Inside Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower), London, 1920s
Image source: historicpix
#68 Jack Milford, Player With The Wembley Monarchs Ice Hockey Team, Invented A Carrying Device So That His Baby Can Join His Wife And Himself On The Ice, 1937. (Photo By L. C. Buckley)
Image source: historicpix
#69 Fisherman Edward Llewellen With The World’s Record Black Sea Bass (425 Lbs / 192kg)
which he caught at Catalina Island, California, 1903. (Caption by Library of Congress. Since then, even bigger specimen have been caught)
Image source: historicpix
#70 Winston Churchill Is Carried From A Nursing Home Following Being Struck By A Car In New York City, 1931
He was crossing Fifth Avenue and forgot that cars drove on the opposite side of the road from England, and failed to look to his left.
Image source: historicpix
#71 Miners In The Serra Pelada Gold Mines In Brazil, 1980s. (Salgado)
Image source: historicpix
#72 Illegal Alcohol Being Poured Out During Prohibition, Detroit, 1929
Image source: historicpix
#73 “Human Fly” John “Jammie” Reynolds Balancing On A New York Rooftop, 1910s
Image source: historicpix
#74 This Picture Of New York In 1933 Looks Like It’s From The 2070s. The Giant Hole In The Ground Directly Across 5th Avenue Is The Construction Site Of The Future Rockefeller Center
Image source: historicpix
#75 Madonna For Versace (1995)
Image source: historicpix
#76 “Horse With A Gas Mask, United Kingdom, March 27th, 1940”
Image source: historicpix
#77 British Brigadier General J V Campbell Addressing Troops Of The 137th Brigade (46th Division) From The Riqueval Bridge Over The St Quentin Canal, France, October 2, 1918
Image source: historicpix
#78 Window Cleaners In New York City, Circa 1958
Image source: historicpix
#79 Two Men From The 363rd Field Artillery Battalion Near Okinawa. June 10, 1945
Image source: historicpix
#80 The World’s Longest Manned Flight Was 64 Days, 22 Hours And 19 Minutes In This Cessna 172
During this period it was refueled over 128 times by the pictured truck. The pilots: Robert Timm and John Cook from La Vegas. (1958)
Image source: historicpix
#81 Lieutenant Commander Donald D. Sheppard, Of Coronado, California, Aims A Flaming Arrow At A Bamboo Hut Concealing A Fortified Viet Cong Bunker On The Banks Of The Bassac River, Vietnam, On December 8, 1967
Image source: historicpix
#82 Soviet Soldiers During The Siege On Stalingrad (1942-1943)
Image source: historicpix
#83 In 1986, The Charity Organization United Way Of Cleveland Released 1.5 Million Balloons
Image source: historicpix
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