“A picture is worth a thousand words”—a phrase most of us have heard before. And for a reason. Photographs can capture loads of information in just a split second and immortalize it for years to come. By freezing moments, photographers enable us to travel to places and times we’ve never witnessed ourselves. They allow us to see the world exactly as it was, whether it was yesterday or a hundred years ago.
The Instagram account called Historical Pix boasts a beautiful collection of pictures from various points in time. Their uploads cover a multitude of topics, from war to technology, from sport to fashion; you name it, it’s there. As they themselves describe, “It’s just history. The good, the bad, and the ugly.”
We have gathered some of the most impressive photographs shared by the account. Scroll down for the images and feel free to browse this list of historical pics or this one, if you’d like to see more.
#1 1945. 10-Year-Old Stoic Japanese Boy Standing At Attention Having Brought His Dead Younger Brother To A Cremation Pyre, Nagasaki
Years Later, Joe O’donnell, The American Photojournalist Who Took This Photo, Spoke To A Japanese Interviewer About This Photograph: “I Saw A Boy About Ten Years Old Walking By. He Was Carrying A Baby On His Back. In Those Days In Japan, We Often Saw Children Playing With Their Little Brothers Or Sisters On Their Backs, But This Boy Was Clearly Different. I Could See That He Had Come To This Place For A Serious Reason. He Was Wearing No Shoes. His Face Was Hard. The Little Head Was Tipped Back As If The Baby Were Fast Asleep. The Boy Stood There For Five Or Ten Minutes. The Men In White Masks Walked Over To Him And Quietly Began To Take Off The Rope That Was Holding The Baby. That Is When I Saw That The Baby Was Already Dead. The Men Held The Body By The Hands And Feet And Placed It On The Fire. The Boy Stood There Straight Without Moving, Watching The Flames. He Was Biting His Lower Lip So Hard That It Shone With Blood. The Flame Burned Low Like The Sun Going Down. The Boy Turned Around And Walked Silently Away.”
Image source: historicalpix
#2 1961. East German Soldier Ignores Orders To Let No One Pass By Helping A Young Boy Cross The Newly Built Berlin Wall, To Reunite With His Family
Image source: historicalpix
#3 Anna Coleman Ladd Was An American Sculptor Who Is Best Known For Her Work Creating Prosthetic Masks For Soldiers Who Were Disfigured During World War I
Ladd, Who Was Born In 1878 And Died In 1939, Worked With A Team Of Assistants At The American Red Cross In Paris To Create The Masks, Which Were Made Of Copper And Other Materials And Were Designed To Be Worn Over The Soldiers’ Faces In Order To Restore Some Of Their Appearance And Self-Confidence. The Masks Were Highly Realistic And Were Often Painted To Match The Soldiers’ Skin Tones. Ladd’s Work Was Praised For Its Artistic And Technical Skill, As Well As For Its Humanitarian Purpose
Image source: historicalpix
#4 The Kiss Of Life. 1967
Utility Lineman Jimmy D. Thompson Giving Mouth-To-Mouth Resuscitation To Fellow Worker Randall G. Champion, After Champion Was Knocked Unconscious By An Electric Shock. Because Of Thompson’s Intervention, Champion Survived And Lived Until 2002. Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photograph By Rocco Morabito
Image source: historicalpix
#5 1959. A Young French Girl Poses With Glee As She Cradles Her Cat
Image source: historicalpix
#6 1976. Soviet Explorer, Nikolai Machulyak, Feeding A Polar Bear And Her Cubs With Condensed Milk And Meat, Near Cape Schmidt Off The Coast Of The Chukchi Sea
Image source: historicalpix
#7 1954. Cats Stand Up On Their Hind Legs To Catch Squirts Of Milk During Milking At A Dairy Farm. Photo By Nat Farbman
Image source: historicalpix
#8 Beatles Fans In 1964 And 2013. Ringo Starr Took The Top Photo From Car Window, After The High School Friends Skipped School To See The Beatles During Their First Trip To The Us In 1964
Image source: historicalpix
#9 C. 1910. Native American Blackfoot Warriors At Glacier National Park, On The Shore Of St. Mary Lake, Montana. Photo By Roland W. Reed
Image source: historicalpix
#10 Members Of The Red Warriors – A French Youth Anti-Fascist Street Gang That Used Violent Force To Combat The Surge Of Neo-Nazi Violence From France In The Mid To Late 1980s
The Red Warriors Often Acted As Security For Punk Shows And Left-Wing Activist Groups, Who Were Often Targeted With Violence By White Power Skinheads. Over Time, The Red Warriors, And Other Youth Gangs With Similar Goals, Became Well-Known In France For Their Confrontational Methods For Resisting Fascists
Image source: historicalpix
#11 Graffiti On Troops’ Helmets During The Vietnam War
Image source: historicalpix
#12 1839. The Oldest Known Photographic Portrait Of A Human In The USA, Taken As Self-Image By Photography Pioneer Robert Cornelius. He Had To Remain Motionless For 10 To 15 Minutes To Capture The Photograph
Image source: historicalpix
#13 Eruption Of Mount St. Helens, 1980, By Richard Lasher
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#14 C. 1910. Child Miners Photographed By Lewis Hine. Hine’s Photographs Were Instrumental In Bringing About The Passage Of The First Child Labor Laws In The United States
Image source: historicalpix
#15 C. 1929. A Little Girl Hands Lilies To A Police Officer On Duty At The Porte Saint-Denis In Paris
Image source: historicalpix
#16 1975. John Cleese On The Set Of Monty Python And The Holy Grail
Image source: historicalpix
#17 Great Blizzard Of 1888, New York City
Image source: historicalpix
#18 1967. Kangaroo Hits A Photographer For Trying To Photograph Him, England. Photo By Voller Ernst
Image source: historicalpix
#19 1945. Boys Hanging On A Full Train After The Liberation Of Holland. Photography By Menno Huizinga
Image source: historicalpix
#20 September 1945. Australian Soldiers Catch Up On News From Home After Their Release From Japanese Captivity In Singapore
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#21 1954. A Young Boy Carrying Two Bottles Of Wine Under His Arms, Rue Mouffetard, Paris. Photo By Henri Cartier-Bresson
Image source: historicalpix
#22 1920s. Traditional Rwandan Hairstyle Of Amasunzu
Amasunzu Hairstyle Is Traditionally Worn By Rwandan Men And Unmarried Women, With The Hair Styled Into Crests, Often Decorated With Beads And Cowrie Shells. It Is Frequently Described As Crescent-Shaped. The Style Is Associated With The Rwandan People’s Cultural Identity And Has Been Passed Down Through Generations
Image source: historicalpix
#23 1911. The Wreck Of The Arden Craig Off The Isles Of Scilly, West Of Cornwall. Photo By Francis James Mortimer
Image source: historicalpix
#24 Grand Central Terminal In New York City, C. 1954
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#25 1894. Archaeologists And Workers Pose In Front Of The Near-Perfectly Preserved And Still-Upright Statue Of Antinous, Unearthed Near The Temple Of Apollo In The Sanctuary At Delphi, Greece
Image source: historicalpix
#26 1931. German Photographer Willi Ruge Took This Photograph Seconds Before Landing During His Seven-Minute Parachute Jump From An Airplane Over Berlin
Image source: historicalpix
#27 1909, Wakefield, Massachusetts. Young Members Of The Payro Family Being “Photographed” By Their Cat. Photo By Joseph C. Payro
Image source: historicalpix
#28 C. 1910. Portraits Of Immigrants At Ellis Island, New York, By Augustus F. Sherman
Image source: historicalpix
#29 1961. Audition For A Black Cat Role In A Low-Budget Hollywood Horror Movie
More Than 150 Cats Showed Up For The Audition. The Lead Role Was Filled By A Professionally Trained Black Cat. Additionally, Seven More Cats Were Chosen For Publicity Based On How “Mean” The Look In Their Eyes Was. Photography By Ralph Crane
Image source: historicalpix
#30 Listening To The Birds, 1885, By John Dumont
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#31 C. 1930s. A Turkish Fisherman Returns With His Booty
Image source: historicalpix
#32 Powerhouse Mechanic, 1924, By Lewis Hine
Image source: historicalpix
#33 1930s. A Chinese Buddhist Monk Walking On A Chain Bridge At Jiangyou Figure Hill Temple In China
Image source: historicalpix
#34 1889. A Blind Man Carrying A Paralyzed Man With Dwarfism In Damascus, Syria. Photo By Italian Photographer Tancrède Dumas
Image source: historicalpix
#35 Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – 2022)
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#36 1954. Marilyn Monroe On Stage Performing For Thousands Of American Troops In Korea
Image source: historicalpix
#37 1928. A War Veteran Sells Matches On The Street In Canterbury, Kent, England. Photo By Clifton R. Adams
Image source: historicalpix
#38 9/11
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#39 C. 1911. Mexican Revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, Cuernavaca, Mexico
Image source: historicalpix
#40 Hong Kong, 1950s-60s By Fan Ho
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#41 C. 1917. Frozen Fountain, Washington Boulevard, Detroit
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#42 1910. Paris Motor Show At The Grand Palais In Paris
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#43 1936. The New York Central Railroad Streamliner ‘Mercury’ Passes Through Syracuse City Hall
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#44 C. 1860s. Studio Portraits Of Samurai Warriors
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#45 June 6, 1944. D-Day In Color
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#46 1932. Sailing Ship S.v. Penang In Millwall Docks, London, Towers Above The Poverty Of The Surrounding Housing
Image source: historicalpix
#47 1930. Worker Smoking Cigarette And Carrying Bag Across Shoulders Pauses In The Middle Of Steel Beam High Above City Streets, During Construction Of The Manhattan Company Building At 40 Wall Street, New York City. Photo By Arthur Gerlach
Image source: historicalpix
#48 Golden Gate Bridge Under Construction, C. 1935
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#49 1972. A Burning Wall Crumbles Down, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photo By A. Abbas
Image source: historicalpix
#50 1970s. Girl Licking Ice Cream And Playing With The Tip Of The Gun’s Bayonet To Elicit A Reaction From A Royal Guard Outside Stockholm Palace, Stockholm, Sweden
Image source: historicalpix
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