In the mid-2000s, historian Anna Pegler-Gordon said that visual media often seems more accessible to her students than the written record. They claimed images make the past seem more accessible, giving concrete shape to a world that sometimes seems intangible. Not to mention the immediacy of the image, which often conveys information more quickly than a primary document written in an unfamiliar, or even a foreign, language. But according to Pegler-Gordon, this immediacy also works well in discussion sections, where the shared experience of viewing a picture can provide a focus for lively group discussion.
Now, 15 years after the professor said these words, we can say that her insights were spot on. Take this subreddit, for example. It unites over 3 million people, and they’re all exploring the past through historical photographs. The rarely seen images coupled with the detailed fashion in which the community shares them with one another (every upload includes an accurate description of what is being presented (event, location, war, year, etc.) not only provides a look into our earlier days, but also inspires interesting discussions in the comment section.
We at Bored Panda have already covered the subreddit here and here, but it has received plenty of new submissions since our last publication, so we thought it’s about time we made another one. Continue scrolling to check out some of its recent posts and the conversation we had with historians Joshua Wilkey and Darren R. Reid.
#1 Cop Stops The Traffic In New York So A Mother Cat Holding A Kitten Can Cross Safely C.1925
Image source: mikihak
#2 Remember That Photo Of The Construction Workers Having Lunch On The Unfinished Empire State Building? Well Here’s The Photographer Charles Ebbets Taking That Photo. 9/20/1932
Image source: CrotchWolf
#3 Rail Commuters Wearing White Protective Masks, One With The Additional Message “Wear A Mask Or Go To Jail,” During The 1918 Influenza Pandemic In California
Image source: Beneficial_Look_5854
#4 Stoney First Nation Member, Guide Samson Beaver With His Wife Leah And Their Daughter Frances Louise, 1907. Photo Taken By Mary Schäffer
Image source: Snoo_90160
#5 Mogadishu, 1993. An Italian Soldier Gives Food To A Local Orphan
Image source: Lambrusc1
#6 Atelier Photo: “A Lesbian Couple In Semi Drag Wedding Attire”; Kingdom Of Hungary – Budapest, 1920
Image source: Andrzej1963
#7 A Man Looking For A Job Wearing His Cv, England – 1930s
Image source: EfeSeckin
#8 A Beach In Iran A Few Months Before The Islamic Revolution, 1979
Image source: darxouls
#9 1972: 3 Women On The Streets Of Kabul, Afghanistan
Image source: BickKattowski
#10 A Man Browses For Books In The Old Public Library Of Cincinnati. The Building Was Demolished In 1955. Today An Office Building And A Parking Lot Stand Where It Used To Be
Image source: Bernard_Hunor_Deak
#11 It’s No Longer Possible To See This, As Buildings Outside Block The Sun. Grand Central, NYC, 1929 Photo By Louis Faurer
Image source: Bernard_Hunor_Deak
#12 Freddie Mercury With His Mother, 1947
Image source: chickenchaser100
#13 A French Boy Introduces Himself To Indian Soldiers Who Had Just Arrived In France To Fight Alongside French And British Forces, Marseilles, 30th September 1914. [colorization]
Image source: Pavel-Romanov
#14 West German School Children Pause To Talk With Two East German Border Guards Beside An Opening In The Berlin Wall During The Collapse Of Communism In East Germany In November 1989 (Photo: Stephen Jaffe)
Image source: earthmoonsun
#15 Reporters Who Exposed The Watergate Scandal Watch President Nixon Resign, 1974
Image source: Familiar_Internet
#16 A Man Guards His Family From The Cannibals During The Madras Famine Of 1877 At The Time Of British Raj, India
Image source: firstalphabet
#17 A Man Takes A Selfie Using A Stick Of Wood To Activate The Camera, 1957
Image source: baiqibeendeleted17x
#18 French Soldiers Passing By A Dog Wearing Googles And Smoking A Pipe, 1915
Image source: KawaiiPotato15
#19 High School Teacher John T. Scopes Is Brought To Trial In Dayton, Tennessee For Teaching The Theory Of Evolution, Which Was Prohibited Under State Law. July 10, 1925
Image source: EssoEssex
#20 A Black U.S. Soldier Reads A Message Left By The Việt Cộng During The Vietnam War, The Message Reads: “U.S. Negro Armymen, You Are Committing The Same Ignominious Crimes In South Vietnam That The Kkk Clique Is Perpetrating Against Your Family At Home.”, 1970.
Image source: Sub_Hum4n_
#21 David Attenborough Entertains Prince Charles And Princess Anne With A Cockatoo. 1958
Image source: somnum_osseus
#22 Martin Luther King Jr. Removing A Burnt Cross From His Front Yard In 1960
Image source: TheEliteKoala1
#23 A Young Female Welder Photographed By Bernard Hoffman In Connecticut, Circa 1943.
Image source: DiosMioMan63
#24 Woman Cutting Her Birthday Cake In Iran 1973, 5 Years Before The Islamic Revolution
Image source: Familiar_Internet
#25 A Makeshift Hospital In The Vietnam War, 1970
Image source: 1954isthebest
#26 An Old Woman Leaving Her Home With Just A Portrait Of Her Husband And Rugs. Russian Soldiers Gave Her Just 5 Minutes To Pack Her Bags And Leave Before They Destroyed Her Home And Everything In It. Her Sons And Husband Were Already Dead. She Had Lost Everything. May 1995, Grozny
Image source: hashbrown1999
#27 Filming An Episode Of “The French Chef” With Julia Child, 1963
Image source: Feiruzz
#28 Max Schreck Relaxing Behind The Scenes Of Nosferatu, 1922
Image source: Misfit-Nick
#29 A Picture Of A Submerged Diver In 1899. Many Believe It To Be The First Photograph Taken Underwater
Image source: TheEliteKoala1
#30 John F. Kennedy Campaigning Door-To-Door In West Virginia (1960)
Image source: Azendekk
#31 Korean Mother Embraces Her Son, A Prisoner Of War Who Escaped His North Korean Pow Camp Shortly After The Signing Of The Korean Armistice Agreement, Which Ended The Widespread Fighting Of The Korean War, 1953.
Image source: Kryptonthenoblegas
#32 Chinese Guerrilla Fighter Cheng Benhua 成本華 Smiling Moment Before Execution By The Japanese, She Was 24. (Late 1938) [502 X 806]
Image source: REYNREY
#33 Sailors Saluting A War Veteran, Leningrad 1989
Image source: Johnkaz34
#34 Students Dance In Tiananmen Square Before The Arrival Of The Chinese Military, June 4th 1989
Image source: MustacheEmperor
#35 Chief Low Dog – An Oglala Lakota Chief Who Fought With Sitting Bull At The Battle Of Little Bighorn, C. 1881
Image source: oldsoul8789
#36 The Queen Consort Of Mongolia, Genepil, In Mongolia. The Last Queen Consort And Married To The Bogd Khaganate, Bogd Khan, Until His Death On April 17th, 1924, When The Monarchy Was Abolished. She Was Killed During The Stalinist Purges In May 1938. Photograph Dated January 1st, 1923
Image source: _Raven_Roth
#37 Rare Photo Showing Niagara Falls Without Water, 1969
Image source: NothingForUs
#38 Mt St Helens The 17th Of May 1980 And 4 Months Later
Image source: Ewenf
#39 David Bowie After Being Arrested For Marijuana Possession In Rochester, 1976
Image source: TheEliteKoala1
#40 Photograph Of The First Official Defector Of The “German Democratic Republic”, Conrad Schumann, Who Escaped To The Western Side On August 15, 1961 After Jumping The Unfinished Area Of the Fence That He Guarded.
Image source: Pavel-Romanov
#41 Eiffel Tower Under Construction, July 1888 [colorized]
Image source: Alidaboss42
#42 Kubrick Taking A Photo With Daughter Vivian, On The Set Of The Shining. Nicholson Thought He Himself Was The Photo’s Subject. 1980
Image source: the89delta
#43 Actor And Martial Arts Star Jackie Chan At The Benefit Concert In Hong Kong, In Support Of Tiananmen Square Protesters – 1989
Image source: vaish7848
#44 The Director Of The Belgrade Zoo Tries To Convince Sami The Chimpanzee To Return Home After He Escaped, 1988
Image source: TakeTheCube
#45 Indigenous Children Forced To Pray To God In A Residential School Ran By The Canadian Government And Catholic Church Between 1930 And 1970, Unknown Location
Image source: Andreaslikesthememes
#46 Babies Left To Sleep Outside, Enforcing Immune Sistem, Moscow 1958
Image source: mikihak
#47 Coal Miner Waiting To Get Into The Communal Shower At The End Of His Shift, Taken In Gelsenkirchen, Germany, 1958. By Photographer Max Scheler
Image source: Feiruzz
#48 Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Wife Minutes Before Assassination That Would Lead To Ww1, 1914 [colorized]
Image source: RomarioMax
#49 People Fighting To Get On A Plane In Nha Trang, April 1, 1975, During The Us Withdrawal From South Vietnam
Image source: Sarke1
#50 Nirvana During The Photo Shoot For Their Album Nevermind, Which Was Released 30 Years Ago. 1991
Image source: OGWhiz
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