Mike
It’s kinda wild how much of history is just something one guy wrote down and we just have to take his word for it. I love history, but I also subscribe to the “pics or it didn’t happen” philosophy.
Photographs are a pretty new invention in the grand scheme of human history. However since their creation there’s been a photographer at almost all of the biggest moments, both good and bad.
These rare historical photos are likely ones you’ve never seen before. They aren’t the popular ones that made it into history books, but they are truly amazing in that we can see a snapshot in time that needed to be preserved.
1. 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
2. What is now the fully developed Las Vegas strip, 1955.
3. A Coca Cola advertisement made by spreading grains for pigeons in Saint Mark’s Square, Venice, 1960
4. A man takes a selfie using a stick of wood to activate the camera, 1957
5. American soldier wearing the crown of the Holy Roman Empire in a cave in Siegen, Germany, on April 3, 1945.
6. 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 well-known color barrier.
7. The Imprint of a Mitsubishi kamikaze Zero along the side of H.M.S Sussex. 1945.
8. 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.
9. Woman cutting her birthday cake in Iran 1973, 5 years before the Islamic Revolution
10. Survivors of 1972 of the Infamous Andes plane crash. The passengers resorted to cannibalism to survive 72 days in the snow.
11. A policeman in San Francisco scolds a man for not wearing a mask during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, 1918
12. Stalin in Bailov Prison, Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1910.
13. Soviet peasants listen to the radio for the first time, 1928.
14. At 4:31 AM, an unauthorized photo taken of Stalin inside of the Kremlin shows the very moment he was informed that Germany had began their invasion of the Soviet Union. It was taken by Komsomolskaya Pravda, editor in chief. He was ordered to destroy it, but instead saved it. June 22, 1941.
15. The 9 Kings of Europe gather for the first and only time for a photograph at the funeral of King Edward VII in London. May 20th, 1910
16. New Yorkers stop to watch the “Seinfeld” finale, Times Square, 1998
17. George Carlin being arrested for violating wisconsin’s obscenity laws after performing the controversial routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television” May 27th 1972
18. Babies left to sleep outside, enforcing immune sistem, Moscow 1958
19. Võ Thi Thang smiling after being sentenced to 20 years hard labour in a prison camp by the South Vietnamese govt. After being sentenced she reportedly smiled at the judge and said “20 years? Your government won’t last that long.”
20. Anne Frank’s father Otto, revisiting the attic where they hid from the Nazis. He was the only surviving family member.
21. Cetshwayo, King of the Zulu who defeated the British at the Battle of Isandlwana, 1878
22. Queen Elizabeth II in her robes on the occasion of her coronation in June 1953
23. Soldiers returning home from WWII 1945
24. Actor and martial arts star Jackie Chan at the benefit concert in Hong Kong, in support of Tiananmen Square protesters – 1989
25. The Carter administration installed 32 panels on the White House designed to harvest the sun’s rays and use them to heat water in 1979.
26. Statue of David by Michelangelo, encased in bricks to prevent damage from bombs, during World War 2
27. A student protester gives the V for victory sign in front of Chinese soldiers of the PLA. Tiananmen square, 1 June 1989. Photo taken by Peter Charlesworth.
28. Mobsters hide their faces at Al Capone’s trial 1931.
29. “Happiest Man in China”, taken in 1901 by British anthropologists after deciding to document the Chinese. The Chinese didn’t know photos were a “serious matter” and decided to be goofy, hence the pose and smile.
30. Only one of two photographs in existence of the US Supreme Court in session. Cameras are forbidden in the Supreme Court, but this photograph was taken by a young woman who concealed her small camera in her handbag, cutting a hole through which the lens peeped, 1937.
31. “Human Fly” George Willig scales the exterior of the World Trade Center’s South Tower in 1977. Completing the climb in 3.5 hours, he was arrested at the top after signing several autographs, and was fined $1.10 by the city – a penny for each floor he passed.
32. Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic from Nirvana at Kurt Cobain’s funeral. Seattle, Washington
33. Soldier stands besides his M60 machine gun, which is mounted on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to deter rioters from entering the building during the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination riots in Washington D.C. (April 1968)
34. 7’3” Jakob Nacken (221 cm) the tallest nazi soldier ever chatting with 5’3” (160 cm) Canadian corporal Bob Roberts after surrendering to him near calais, france in September of 1944
35. Hitler rehearsing a speech in front of a mirror, taken by his personal photographer Heinrich Hoffman, 1925.
