Nate
These historical black and white photos are like time machines in JPEG form. These cool throwback pics show how much things have changed from fashion to technology to everyday life.
It’s wild to think about a world before the one we know now. For better or worse, if you needed a reminder that the past really is a different world, these vintage photos will do the trick.
1. “In 1928, 16-Year-Old Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Robinson Schwartz Became The First Woman Ever Awarded An Olympic Gold Medal For Track And Field”
“A few years later, in 1931, Schwartz was in a plane crash. Mistakenly identified as dead, she was placed in the trunk of a car, and driven to the morgue where it was discovered that she was still alive but in a coma. It took her years to walk normally again but she returned to track and field and was part of the US relay team at the 1936 Summer Olympics where her team won gold.”
2. “The La Public Library’s Bookmobile Program For The Sick, 1928”
3. “A Man Posing With A Donkey In His Lap, Ca. 1910s”
4. “An Original Car Wash Designed To Mainly Clean The Undercarriages Since Most Roads Were Still Dirt Roads In Chicago, Us In 1924”
5. “Marion Liebig, Miss Hesse 1959, Keeps Warm Under The Artificial Sunshine Of An Infra-Red Lamp, During A Promotion For The Lamp, In A Snow-Covered Park In Wiesbaden, Germany, 1960”
6. “An Interesting Vintage Image Of Mary Anne Hawkins Surfing The Flooded Streets Of Long Beach, California, Ca. 1938”
7. “An Early Ambulance Operated By St John, In The U.k., 1920. The Patient Was Placed In A Coffin-Like Sidecar And The Lid Was Closed For Transport”
8. “A Giant Snowman Measuring 17 Ft., Made By Two Girls In Aberdeen, Scotland, 1963”
9. “The Woman Was Photographed On The Background Of Painted Canvas Covering The Destroyed Buildings, Warsaw, 1946”
10. “A Japanese Woman Carrying Her Children In A Bucket On Her Head, Japan, Ca. 1900s”
11. “In 1972, Dr. John Fryer Risked His Career To Tell His Colleagues That Gay People Were Not Mentally Ill. His Act Sent Ripples Through The Legal, Medical, And Justice Systems”
“On the second day of the annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association in 1972, something extraordinary happened.
While the assembled psychiatrists, mostly white men in dark suits, settled into rows of chairs in the Danish Room at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, a disguised figure had been smuggled through the back corridors. At the last minute, he stepped through a side curtain and took his place at the front of the room.
There was an intake of breath in the audience. The man’s appearance was grotesque. His face was covered by a rubber Nixon mask, and he was wearing a garish, oversized tuxedo and a curly fright wig. But the outlandishness of his outfit diminished in importance once he began to speak.
‘I am a homosexual,’ he began. ‘I am a psychiatrist.’
For the next 10 minutes, Henry Anonymous, M.D. — this is what he had asked to be called — described the secret world of gay psychiatrists. Officially, they did not exist; homosexuality was categorized as a mental illness, so acknowledging it would result in the revocation of one’s medical license, and the loss of a career. In 42 states, sodomy was a crime.
The reality was that there were plenty of gay people in the A.P.A., psychiatry’s most influential professional body, the masked doctor explained. But they lived in hiding, concealing every trace of their private life from their colleagues.
‘All of us have something to lose,’ he said. ‘We may not be under consideration for a professorship; the analyst down the street may stop referring us his overflow; our supervisor may ask us to take a leave of absence.’
This was the trade-off that had formed the basis of the masked man’s life. But the cost was too high. That’s what he had come to tell them.
‘We are taking an even bigger risk, however, in not living fully our humanity,’ he said. ‘This is the greatest loss, our honest humanity.’
He took his seat to a standing ovation”
12. “Mourning Mask And Veil Worn By Empress Elisabeth Of Austria After The S*****e Of Her Only Son, Crown Prince Rudolf, At His Hunting Lodge At Mayerling, 1889”
13. “This Isn’t Just A Superb Example Of Dorothea Lange’s Documentary Photography Of Hand-Painted Signs (A Frequent Subject Of Hers), But An Example Of How She So Poignantly Captured Snapshots Of America’s Sociopolitical Landscape”
14. “A Champagne Inspector Wearing A Special Mask To Protect Against Accidental Discharges, Ca. 1933”
15. “Close-Up Portrait Of Canadian Actor Donald Sutherland As He Poses, Half Clean-Shaven And Half With Chin-Length Hair, New York, 1970”
16. “A Sailor In Drag, 1906”
“The man in drag is apparently Able Seaman Arthur Roach, a crew member of the H.M.S. Prince of Wales. He poses as a milkmaid behind a wooden fence and in front of a painted background. He is wearing a rather odd hybrid fancy-dress outfit, part showgirl/courtesan (ruffles and jewelry), part little girl at the seaside (very short skirt, bucket and spade). (Photographic postcard by H.J. Bond, 1906)”
17. “Audi Workers Demonstrating The Body Strength Of The Audi 920 In 1938”
18. “Boo-Koo Hamburger Stand In Harlingen, Texas. Burgers 5 Cents, Chili A Dime, Breakfast Two Bits, The 7up Is Real. (Photo By Russell Lee. February 1939)”
19. “3 Kids Wearing Their Halloween Costumes, Circa 19”
20. “View Of A Lineman Working On Power Or Telephone Lines At An Intersection In Pratt, Kansas, 1911”
21. “David Kellman, Bobby Shafran, And Eddy Galland Were Identical Triplets Who Were Separated At Birth And Unknowingly Adopted By Different Families”
“Their incredible and heartbreaking story gained national attention and was later documented in the 2018 film Three Identical Strangers.
In 1980, Bobby Shafran arrived at Sullivan County Community College in New York for his first day and was surprised to be warmly greeted by students who seemed to recognize him. Another student, Michael Domnitz, realized Bobby was identical to his friend, Eddy Galland, who had attended the same school the year before.
The two young men soon met and were shocked to find they were long-lost identical twins. Their story was published in a local newspaper, and soon after, David Kellman saw the article and noticed the striking resemblance between Bobby and Eddy—because he, too, looked exactly like them.
He reached out, and the three young men reunited, realizing they were, in fact, triplets who had been separated at birth.”
22. “This Is The Last Known Photo Of Michael Rockefeller, The 23-Year-Old Son Of Former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, Pictured With A New Guinean Tribe Known For Cannibalism”
“Michael disappeared without a trace during his 1961 New Guinean expedition and his body was never found.”
23. “Contestants In A Dolly Parton ‘Look Alike’ Competition In Phoenix, 1979”
24. “A Steam Locomotive Is Transported Across The Rio Grande River Via A Cable In New Mexico, USA, 1915”
25. “The ‘Michelin Band’ Performs At The Inauguration Of The Michelin Hour Radio Show, April 17, 1928”
26. “A Young Woman Holds Her Arms And Legs In Four Water Bathes With Electric Current, To Improve Blood Circulation, Circa 1938”
27. “Did You Know Pinball Was Actually Banned In Major US Cities From The 1940s Until The 1970s?”
28. “Before The Invention Of Radar During World War II, Incoming Enemy Warplanes Were Detected By Listening With The Aid Of ‘Sound Locators’ That Looked More Like Musical Instruments Than Tools Of War”
29. “This Photo From The Mid-1910s Shows Motorcyclist Johnny Hogg And His Wife Riding On An Aqueduct Pipeline With A Harley-Davidson Sidecar Rig”
30. “Giant Inflatable ‘Pinocchio’ From The 13th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade In New York City, 1937”
31. “Photojournalist Marjory Collins Snapped These Two Women At O’Reilly’s Bar On Third Avenue, New York City In 1942”
The sign reads, “Positively no gentlemen served in booths unless accompanied by a lady. – The Management.” It’s possible the women are covering their faces to avoid being seen out in public at a bar –– or, perhaps, in the day before selfies and cellphones, they simply didn’t want their picture taken. Marjory didn’t identify them, but then she only captioned the photo as “O’Reilly’s bar on Third Avenue in the ‘Fifties,’” not giving the exact name or cross street. Marjory Collins (1912–1985) covered the home front extensively in World War II, having studied at Sweet Briar College and the University of Munich. She started her documentary photographic career after selling her wedding silver to buy a camera. From 1942-1943, Collins traveled the United States, completing 50 assignments that captured American life.
32. “The Winner Of The Neatest Figure Competition At The Lido In Margate, England Wears A Hood So That The Judges Could Not Be Influenced By Her Face And Instead Only Judge Her Body, 1946”
33. “Before Sending The First Human Yuri Gagarin To Space, Russian Scientists Made A Lot Of Experiments With Animals”
“The most well known are two dogs who were sent in Russian rocket just before the first human made his flight.
This launch of the first space pig is less known to public. And look how this hero was treaded with humanity – they gave him some wine before the launch in order to bring it in relaxed state.”
34. “Typical ‘Aussie’ Humor Is Reflected In This Sign Erected On The El Alamein Road By Australian Troops, 1942”
“The Australians are famous for all their well-developed sense of humor. At the wire along the El Alamein road, they have erected a number of signs which are calculated to take all the desire from anyone with ideas of proceeding further west at the present time.”
35. “This Odd Looking Motorcycle Was Captured By The US Army At A German Military Base In 1945”
“At first glance, it might remind you of an Indian Chief with it’s full skirted fenders, but take a closer look and you’ll see that it is very different kind of machine. Leave it to German engineers to design a motorcycle with a three cylinder two stroke engine mounted inside the front wheel.
The oddities don’t stop there either, since the engine was mounted in the front wheel, transmission and clutch were housed up front as well. That meant the entire powertrain could be removed just by dropping the front wheel. The motorcycle was actually built by 5 German engineers from Munich in 1935, but WWII got in the way of their production plans.”