These 40 Significant Historical Photographs Might Change The Way You See The World Around Us
If you look closely at the subjects of historic photographs, you will realize how alive they appear.
Old photographs provide us with insight into the past, a past that has shaped the world we live in today.
Although we can't know what the people waiting in line for wine in Chukotka, Soviet Union, in 1985 were thinking, or what the daredevil sky boys who built the Empire State Building in 1930-31 were contemplating while balancing unsecured on the 88th floor, we can gain a pretty good idea of the wonders of history.
Historical images that convey stories about people and their lifestyles in the past captivate our imagination like few other things. They feel familiar even though they are from a long time ago – old images can transcend time and space, transporting us to long-ago settings, places, and situations.
Many spectacular moments from the past have been immortalized on film thanks to photography, a form of visual expression that debuted in 1839 and stunned the entire world. So, due to this informative Facebook group dubbed "Historic Photographs," we're taking a miscellaneous history class today—one you wouldn't want to miss in school.
The page, which has nearly 2.5 million followers, is an internet destination for rare historical photographs and the extraordinary stories behind them. Pull your seat closer as we present some of the most captivating ones below.
1. "American Soldiers At Mass In The Rubble At Cologne Cathedral, March 1945"
Historic Photographs2. "Residents Of West Berlin Show Their Children To Their Grandparents Living In East Berlin, 1961"
Historic Photographs3. "A Dapper Group On Their Way To Church, Chicago 1940s"
Historic Photographs
4. "A 'Knocker-Up' In London (1929). Before Alarm Clocks, People Were Paid To Wake Clients Up For Work By Knocking On Their Doors And Windows With A Stick"
Historic Photographs
5. "Residents Of Hanoi Wait In Chest-Deep Sidewalk Shelters For The All-Clear Signal During An Air Raid Alert. Hanoi, North Vietnam, 1967"
Historic Photographs
6. "150 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Footprints In France"
Historic Photographs
7. "A 32-Year-Old Mom Trying To Start A New Life In California, March 1937"
Historic Photographs
8. "Long Before Color-Sensitive Film Was Invented, Russian Photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky Took 3 Individual Black And White Photos, Each With A Filter (Red, Blue And Green) To Create High-Quality Photos In Full Color. This Self-Portrait Is Over 110 Years Old"
Historic Photographs
9. "The Roof Of An Old Fiat Factory. Yes, That Is A Track (Lingotto, Turin - Italy)"
Historic Photographs
10. "A Motor Home In 1922"
Historic Photographs
11. "Mary Wallace: First Female Bus Driver For Chicago Transit Authority, 1974 (Colorized)"
Historic Photographs
12. "The First Photo Of Chernobyl On The Morning Of The Nuclear Disaster (April 26, 1986). The Heavy Grain Is Due To The Huge Amount Of Radiation In The Air That Began To Destroy The Camera Film The Second It Was Exposed For This Photo. Photo Taken By Igor Kostin"
Historic Photographs
13. "Bruce Lee And His Family In 1970"
Historic Photographs
14. "Shoemaker’s Lunch, 1944. Photo By Bernard Cole"
Historic Photographs
15. "Nan Wood Graham And Dr. Byron McKeeby Pictured In 1942 Recreating Their Original Poses For The Iconic ‘American Gothic’. She Was The Painter’s Sister, And He Was Their Dentist"
Historic Photographs
16. "Stoney First Nation Member, Guide Samson Beaver With His Wife Leah And Their Daughter Frances Louise, 1907. Photo Taken By Mary Schäffer"
Historic Photographs
17. "Star Wars Characters Together From Left To Right: Han Solo, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker And R2-D2, 1977"
Historic Photographs
18. "Pablo Picasso Painted This When He Was 15 Years Old"
Historic Photographs
19. "The FBI Fingerprint Files, 1944"
Historic Photographs
20. "On August 23, 1989, About 2 Million People From Latvia, Estonia, And Lithuania Formed A Human Chain That United All 3 Countries To Show The World Their Desire To Escape The Soviet Union And The Communism That Brought Only Suffering And Poverty. This Power Stretched 600 Km"
Historic Photographs
21. "The Seal Of Tutankhamun's Tomb (On The Third Golden Shrine) Before It Was Opened In 1923. It Was Unbroken For Over 3000 Years"
Historic Photographs
22. "Three Generations Of Women Outside Their Stone Cottage In Ireland, 1927"
Historic Photographs
23. "Lt. Col. Robert Stirm Is Greeted By His Family, Returning Home After More Than Five Years As A Prisoner Of War In North Vietnam. Burst Of Joy Is A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photograph By Associated Press Photographer Slava 'Sal' Veder, Taken On March 17, 1973, At Travis Air Force Base In California"
Historic Photographs
24. "Monica Bellucci And Gianni Versace, 1995"
Historic Photographs
25. "20-Year-Old Helen Mirren Dressed For Her Role As Cleopatra In A Theatrical Production, 1965"
Historic Photographs
26. "U.S. Cavalry Soldiers Pose In Front Of A Tree Known As The 'Grizzly Giant,' 1900. The Tree Still Stands"
Historic Photographs
27. "World War One Memorial In Váci Rátót (Hungary)"
Historic Photographs
28. "There Was A Time When You Could See The Core Structure Of The Twin Towers (1970, During The Construction)"
Historic Photographs
29. "Niagara Falls Froze Over In 1883"
Historic Photographs
30. "The Level Of Detail On The Column Of Marcus Aurelius In Rome, Which Was Completed Around AD 193"
Historic Photographs
31. "The Sioux Nation Of Native Americans' Teepees Spread Across The Great Plains In The 1800s (Image Believed To Have Been Taken In The Dakota Territory)"
Historic Photographs
32. "Marilyn Monroe Photographed By Earl Leaf, 1950"
Historic Photographs
33. "German Soldier Helps A Little Boy Sneak Across The Berlin Wall, 1961"
Historic Photographs
34. "Silent Film Actress Delores Costello, Drew Barrymore's Grandmother, 1928"
Historic Photographs
35. "An Elevator Parking Lot In Chicago, 1930s"
Historic Photographs
36. "Sailors Saluting A War Veteran, Leningrad, 1989"
Historic Photographs
37. "Negotiation Between The Zoo Director And An Escaped Chimpanzee. Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1988"
Historic Photographs
38. "Rosa Parks Sits At The Front Of A Bus Following The End Of Racial Segregation By The Transit Company, Circa 1965"
Historic Photographs
39. "A Rare Example Where An Engineer Thought About The Mechanic (Daf-Domburg Diesel From 1949, Made In The Netherlands)"
Historic Photographs
40. "World War I Field: More Than 100 Years Later"
Historic Photographs
These photos are amazing. Old images have a special effect on our perception of time.
They influence how we see time by visualizing abstract historical events and providing an emotional connection to eras we might not otherwise be familiar with. This makes them somewhat magical.
Wouldn't you agree?
