Photos are a great way to learn history. Putting a visual to what things used to be like can add context to what you’re reading. It’s like looking at a childhood photo and thinking, “where did it all go wrong?”
There’s a group online called “Old Photos In real Life” where people share cool and interesting before and after photos and it’s pretty amazing to see how much changes over time.
1. “The Big Oak; Thomasville, Ga (1895/2020)”
2. “Craftsmanship”
3. “My Family Farm C.1900/2000. It Was In Our Family For 125 Years. My Childhood Bedroom Window Is In The Top Center. It Was Also My Father’s And My Grandfather’s Bedroom”
4. “Here Is My Great Great Grandfather’s Nashville House In 1896, Two Years Before My Grandfather Was Born. This Picture Has Always Been In The Family Of Course, But Only Today Did I Use Google Maps To Look Up The Address And Find It How It Looks Today. I’m Thrilled That I Found It”
5. “Ancient Greece Before And After Excavation”
6. “Visitors In The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Viewing Painting (Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing The Delaware – 1851) 1910 And 2019”
7. “The Golden Cross Inn, Coventry. 1819 vs. Now”
8. “Machu Picchu, Peru. 1915 & 2020”
9. “The Berlin Wall Fell 31 Years Ago Today!”
10. “Hiroshima 75 Years Ago”
11. “Czech Out Prague 1910 And 2020”
12. “Amazing Looking Home Restored In Detroit. 1993 And Now”
13. “Hick’s Court, St Ives, England – 1888 And Today”
14. “Milan, Italy 1950s And 2021”
15. “Town Square In Uelzen, Lower Saxony, Germany- During The Battle Of The Rhine, April 1945 And 2021”
16. “English Tank In The Streets Of My Town, 1945-2021”
17. “Today vs. Childhood Memory”
18. “Van Gogh’s ‘Cafe Terrace At Night’ From 1888 And Present”
19. “Church St. Martin In Cologne, Germany 1946 And 2021”
20. “In 2005, Some Friends And I Found The Road To Jabba’s Palace Off Twenty Mule Team Canyon In Death Valley, Ca”
21. “Curtiss C-46 Commando, One Of Pablo Escobar / Carlos Lehder’s Drug Smuggling Planes Near Norman’s Cay In The Bahamas, After 35 Years Submerged In Saltwater”
22. “Theodore Roosevelt Would Be Proud”
23. “The Main Entrance To The City, York, England 1865 – 2015”
24. “The Royal Crescent, Bath, UK. 1829-2020. Built 1774”
25. “Court Of The Lions, Granada, Spain – 1840 And Today”
26. “It Hasn’t Changed Much In 157 Years, Aside From The Platform Height And Electrification. The World’s Oldest Undeground Station, Baker Street! *saxophone Plays In The Distance*”
27. “The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland – C.1847 And Today”
28. “Abandoned Restaurant In Petrópolis, Brazil (1960’s And 2013)”
29. “Buenos Aires, Argentina [1925, 1980, 2002, 2021]”
30. “Unfinished Manhattan Bridge In 1908 And Now”
31. “Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur, India. 1798 Lithograph By Thomas Daniell And 2016. Built Between 1003-1010”
32. “Kraków, Poland (1939 And 2010s)”
33. “Stonehenge: 1877 And 2019”
34. “Arch Of Constantine In Rome, 1943 (Taken By My Grandfather), And What It Looks Like Today”
35. “St Francis Of Assisi Church”
36. “Woodstock Festival Site- 1969 / 2020”
37. “Hong Kong’s Kowloon Peninsula 1964 – 2016”
38. “A Former Public Bath In Wuppertal, Germany, Now A Brewery And Beer Hall. 1993 vs. 2019”
39. “Mount Rushmore”
40. “Trains At Harper’s Ferry, Wv In 1947 And 2021. The 1947 Image Taken By Ed Wittekind, 2021 Image Shot By Me In The Same Exact Spot”
h/t: BoredPanda