Pictures can tell stories worth a thousand words. This is especially true for historical ones. Just by carefully studying the setting, objects, and people in them, we can learn what everyday life was for people in the past and how it’s different from today. Images, just like written diaries or letters, are primary historical sources that can be examined, providing insights into the past that words can’t even begin to describe.
Today’s collection of photos from the days gone by is brought to us by the Historical Capsule subreddit. Let’s all celebrate the beauty of the past by scrolling down and marveling at the thought-provoking and mesmerizing images in this list, and be sure to upvote the ones that you believe everyone should see!
#1 Dewey The Cat, Who Died In 1910, And Meant Enough To His Owner To Be Honored With A Gravestone That Stands Today Over 113 Years Later
Image source: zadraaa
#2 In 1969, When Black Americans Were Still Prevented From Swimming Alongside Whites, Mr. Rogers Decided To Invite Officer Clemmons To Join Him And Cool His Feet In A Pool, Breaking A Long-Standing Colour Barrier That Had Existed In The United States
Image source: zadraaa
#3 Last Picture Of Hachiko, The Faithful Dog Who Waited For Over 9 Years Outside Shibuya Station For His Master To Return Even After He Had Died. (Colorized, 1935)
Image source: zadraaa
#4 Female Students From Afghanistan In Kabul, 1975
Image source: zadraaa
#5 Tuskegee Airmen In Italy, 1944
Image source: senorphone1
#6 1920: Women Line Up To Vote For The First Time In New York After The Passage Of The 19th Amendment
Image source: GoMx808-0
#7 Barack Obama Dressed As A Pirate With His Mother Stanley Ann. 1960s
Image source: Ill-Peanut8318
#8 The Bread In This 1952 Episode Of I Love Lucy Was Real And Custom-Made By A Los Angeles Bakery. After Filming, It Was Shared With The Cast, Crew, And Audience
Image source: zadraaa
#9 Fashion In Pre-Revolutionary Iran: Pahlavi Era 1950s-1970s
Image source: zadraaa
#10 Mom With Her Psychedelic Baby Pram, London, 1967
Image source: zadraaa
#11 Animals Being Used As Part Of Medical Therapy, 1956
Image source: zadraaa
#12 In 1940, The Lascaux Cave Paintings, Estimated To Be 17,000 Years Old, Were Discovered In Southwestern France
Image source: GoMx808-0
#13 When Every Soft Drink Bottle On The Shelf Was Still Glass, 1980s
Image source: zadraaa
#14 A ‘Conversation Pit’ From The 1960s
Image source: zadraaa
#15 Duke Kahanamoku, The Man Who Made Surfing Popular Around The World, Hawaii, 1920
Image source: zadraaa
#16 Charging An Electric Car In The Garage, 1911
Image source: zadraaa
#17 Magazine Advertisement From 1996 – Nearly 30 Years Ago
Image source: zadraaa
#18 A Samurai With Long Bow, From Satsuma Domain. Japan, 1860
Image source: zadraaa
#19 Punks In Poland, 1990
Image source: zadraaa
#20 This Is Ash From The Erupting Mt. St. Helens Raining Down On Robert Landsburg. He Took This Photo, Rewound The Film, Tucked The Camera In A Backpack And Laid Over It While Being Buried In The Ash. His Body Was Found 17 Days Later
Image source: Ill-Peanut8318
#21 My Father Returning Home From World War II In Europe: March 1945, Queens, NY
Image source: Blue-bery
#22 Mother With Children 1800 Years Ago. Alexandria, Roman Egypt
Image source: zadraaa
#23 This Photo Was Taken In The Late 1800s And Shows An Ancient Maya Zoomorphic Stone
Image source: zadraaa
#24 My Grandparents On Their Wedding Day, 1940’s
Image source: Expression-Little
#25 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 11. April, 1945. He Would Die Of A Cerebral Hemorrhage At The Age Of 63 The Following Day
Image source: zadraaa
#26 Feelin’ Groovy: Fascinating Vintage Color Picture Of High School Fashion Across America In 1969
Image source: MIss_oblivia
#27 The Port Of Carthage, In Modern-Day Tunisia, As It Would Have Appeared In The 3rd Century Bce And How It Looks Today
Image source: zadraaa
#28 A Woman Walks Her Dog At The Bois De Boulogne In Paris, 1910
Image source: zadraaa
#29 An Azerbaijani Wedding, 1965
Image source: zadraaa
#30 Two Women Showing Uncovered Legs In Public Place For The First Time, Toronto, 1937
Image source: zadraaa
#31 Before Smartphones And Online Streaming, 40 Years Ago – Sony Watchman (1984)
Image source: zadraaa
#32 Downtown Anchorage, Ak After 1964 Quake
Image source: AiiRisBanned
#33 Woman On A Cart Pulled By Two Buffalo, 1910
Image source: zadraaa
#34 A Louisiana Creole Family. Probably From The Early 1900s
Image source: zadraaa
#35 An American Soldier Who Lost His Legs In World War 1
Image source: zadraaa
#36 Desmond Thomas Doss & His Wife Dorothy After Receiving The Medal Of Honor From President Harry Truman On October 12, 1945
Image source: zadraaa
#37 A Well-Dressed Young Lady In The 1930s. Almost Looks Like It Could Have Been Taken Yesterday
Image source: zadraaa
#38 This Behemoth Of A Flip Cut, 1960s
Image source: zadraaa
#39 A Mother And Her Child In Spitalfields, One Of The Worst Slums In London, 1903
Image source: zadraaa
#40 My Grandfather In His Youth As A Soldier In Yugoslavia 1971
Image source: Secret_Templar
#41 Ross Sisters Do A Small Tower. Around The 1940s
Image source: Electrical-Aspect-13
#42 Athelte Ivy Russell (Surrey, England 1907) Does A Bent Press With 47 Kilos At 57 Kilos Herself., Around 1930s
Image source: Electrical-Aspect-13
#43 Metal Suit, Said To Enable A Diver To Descend To A Depth Of 1,200 Feet, 1938
Image source: zadraaa
#44 My Great Grandfather On The Eastern Front (1943-4)
Image source: PreparationLonely616
#45 Two Women In Front Of An Anti-Women’s Suffrage Poster In Zürich, Switzerland, 1947
Image source: swishswooshSwiss
#46 ‘If You Talk Too Much, This Man May Die!’; Fort Hood, January 1943
Image source: zadraaa
#47 Inhabitants Of St. Kilda, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, 1926. The Islands Had Been Inhabited Since Antiquity, But Would Be Evacuated In 1930
Image source: zadraaa
#48 American Servicemen Salute A Soviet Traffic Controller At The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, 1945
Image source: zadraaa
#49 Public Men’s Toilet. France, 1920s
Image source: zadraaa
#50 U.S. Army Corporal Larry Matinsk Puts Cigarettes Into The Extended Hands Of Newly Liberated Prisoners Behind A Stockade In The Allach Concentration Camp. April 30, 1945
Image source: zadraaa
#51 Inflatable Ox-Skin Floaty Used To Cross Rivers, North India, 1900
#52 Goodest Girl (Sept 11, 2001)
#53 The Paramount Pictures Logo On The Day It Was Originally Painted, 1965
#54 Launching Of The Steamer Frank J. Hecker. St. Clair, Michigan, September 2, 1905
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