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 credits: 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 credits: 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 credits: zadraaa
#4 Female Students From Afghanistan In Kabul, 1975
Image credits: zadraaa
#5 Tuskegee Airmen In Italy, 1944
Image credits: senorphone1
#6 Barack Obama Dressed As A Pirate With His Mother Stanley Ann. 1960s
Image credits: Ill-Peanut8318
#7 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 credits: zadraaa
#8 Fashion In Pre-Revolutionary Iran: Pahlavi Era 1950s-1970s
Image credits: zadraaa
#9 Mom With Her Psychedelic Baby Pram, London, 1967
Image credits: zadraaa
#10 Animals Being Used As Part Of Medical Therapy, 1956
Image credits: zadraaa
#11 In 1940, The Lascaux Cave Paintings, Estimated To Be 17,000 Years Old, Were Discovered In Southwestern France
Image credits: GoMx808-0
#12 When Every Soft Drink Bottle On The Shelf Was Still Glass, 1980s
Image credits: zadraaa
#13 Duke Kahanamoku, The Man Who Made Surfing Popular Around The World, Hawaii, 1920
Image credits: zadraaa
#14 Charging An Electric Car In The Garage, 1911
Image credits: zadraaa
#15 Magazine Advertisement From 1996 - Nearly 30 Years Ago
Image credits: zadraaa
#16 A Samurai With Long Bow, From Satsuma Domain. Japan, 1860
Image credits: zadraaa
#17 Punks In Poland, 1990
Image credits: zadraaa
#18 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 credits: Ill-Peanut8318
#19 My Father Returning Home From World War II In Europe: March 1945, Queens, NY
Image credits: Blue-bery
#20 Mother With Children 1800 Years Ago. Alexandria, Roman Egypt
Image credits: zadraaa
#21 This Photo Was Taken In The Late 1800s And Shows An Ancient Maya Zoomorphic Stone
Image credits: zadraaa
#22 My Grandparents On Their Wedding Day, 1940's
Image credits: Expression-Little
#23 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 11. April, 1945. He Would Die Of A Cerebral Hemorrhage At The Age Of 63 The Following Day
Image credits: zadraaa
#24 Feelin’ Groovy: Fascinating Vintage Color Picture Of High School Fashion Across America In 1969
Image credits: MIss_oblivia
#25 The Port Of Carthage, In Modern-Day Tunisia, As It Would Have Appeared In The 3rd Century Bce And How It Looks Today
Image credits: zadraaa
#26 A Woman Walks Her Dog At The Bois De Boulogne In Paris, 1910
Image credits: zadraaa
#27 An Azerbaijani Wedding, 1965
Image credits: zadraaa
#28 Two Women Showing Uncovered Legs In Public Place For The First Time, Toronto, 1937
Image credits: zadraaa
#29 Before Smartphones And Online Streaming, 40 Years Ago - Sony Watchman (1984)
Image credits: zadraaa
#30 Downtown Anchorage, Ak After 1964 Quake
Image credits: AiiRisBanned
#31 Woman On A Cart Pulled By Two Buffalo, 1910
Image credits: zadraaa
#32 A Louisiana Creole Family. Probably From The Early 1900s
Image credits: zadraaa
#33 An American Soldier Who Lost His Legs In World War 1
Image credits: zadraaa
#34 Desmond Thomas Doss & His Wife Dorothy After Receiving The Medal Of Honor From President Harry Truman On October 12, 1945
Image credits: zadraaa
#35 A Well-Dressed Young Lady In The 1930s. Almost Looks Like It Could Have Been Taken Yesterday
Image credits: zadraaa
#36 This Behemoth Of A Flip Cut, 1960s
Image credits: zadraaa
#37 A Mother And Her Child In Spitalfields, One Of The Worst Slums In London, 1903
Image credits: zadraaa
#38 My Grandfather In His Youth As A Soldier In Yugoslavia 1971
Image credits: Secret_Templar
#39 Ross Sisters Do A Small Tower. Around The 1940s
Image credits: Electrical-Aspect-13
#40 Athelte Ivy Russell (Surrey, England 1907) Does A Bent Press With 47 Kilos At 57 Kilos Herself., Around 1930s
Image credits: Electrical-Aspect-13
#41 Metal Suit, Said To Enable A Diver To Descend To A Depth Of 1,200 Feet, 1938
Image credits: zadraaa
#42 My Great Grandfather On The Eastern Front (1943-4)
Image credits: PreparationLonely616
#43 Two Women In Front Of An Anti-Women’s Suffrage Poster In Zürich, Switzerland, 1947
Image credits: swishswooshSwiss
#44 'If You Talk Too Much, This Man May Die!'; Fort Hood, January 1943
Image credits: zadraaa
#45 Inhabitants Of St. Kilda, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, 1926. The Islands Had Been Inhabited Since Antiquity, But Would Be Evacuated In 1930
Image credits: zadraaa
#46 Public Men’s Toilet. France, 1920s
Image credits: zadraaa
#47 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
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Image credits: zadraaa
