35 Rare 19th-Century Photos Offering A Whole New Look At History
History hits different when you actually get to see it, and these rare 19th-century photos prove it. We definitely didn’t get these in our school textbooks.
Living in the modern world, it’s hard to wrap your head around what things were actually like that long ago, but these vintage images make it feel a little more real. There’s something wild about catching everyday moments from the 1800s in crisp detail, like time-travel snapshots taken by someone who had no idea they’d end up on the internet one day.
1. Portrait Of The French Actress Sarah Bernhardt
2. Historic Portrait Featuring James Mye, Mashpee Wampanoag, 1860
3. Children Sleeping Outdoors, 1890s
4. Portrait Of A Young Woman From Ethiopia, Late 1880s
5. “Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let Me Die,” Featuring Model Mary Ann Hillier, Circa 1867
6. Charging Thunder, A Sioux Performer From Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, 1900
7. Abraham Lincoln, Three-Quarter Portrait Taken Before His Cooper Union Address In New York City, 1860
8. “Fading Away,” Titled “Farewell To The Dying,” Considered One Of The Earliest Photographs To Explore Mortality, 1858
9. Diver Emil Racovitza At The Banyuls-Sur-Mer Oceanographic Observatory With An Upside-Down “Underwater Photography” Sign, 1899
10. Photograph Of Lower Yellowstone Falls From The Hayden Expedition, 1871
11. View Of Close 193 Along High Street, Scotland, 1868
12. Portrait Of Frederick Douglass, Circa 1860s
13. Boulevard Du Temple, Paris (3rd Arrondissement), Daguerreotype By Louis Daguerre, Believed To Be The Earliest Photograph To Capture A Living Person, Circa 1838
14. Photograph Of Street Performers, 1898–1899
15. Historic View Of A Brig On The Water, 1856
16. Photograph Of Sitting Bull With Buffalo Bill, 1895
17. The Maharani Of Nepal Pictured With Her Followers, 1885–1894
18. Portrait Of A Woman Seen From The Back, Circa 1862
19. Isambard Kingdom Brunel Before The Launching Chains Of The Great Eastern, Photographed By Robert Howlett, 1875
20. View Of Ancient Ruins In The Cañon de Chelle, 1873
21. Sergeant Dawson And His Daughter, Photographed By John Mayall, 1855
22. Historic View Of Bandits’ Roost At 59½ Mulberry Street, 1888
23. Old Faithful Geyser Erupting In Yellowstone Valley, Circa 1870–1871
24. Blacksmith Forging A Horseshoe, Circa 1859–1860
25. “The Haystack,” By Fox Talbot, 1844
26. Schneider, 1863
27. Pierrot Laughing, 1855
28. A Native Hut, Circa 1890
29. Men Standing Amid The Rubble At LaSalle Street And Washington During The Great Chicago Fire, 1871
30. Aerial-Style View Of Boston Titled “As The Eagle And The Wild Goose See It,” 1860
31. Portrait Of Sir John Herschel, 1867
32. Historic Image Showing The Kitchen Of The 8th Hussars In Russia, 1855
33. East And West Shaking Hands At The Laying Of The Last Rail Of The Union Pacific Railroad, 1869
34. The Market Nassau, Circa 1890
35. Historic View Of Cathedral Rock, 1861
