Latest Stories

The Real Story Behind Norman Rockwell’s 1964 Painting ‘The Problem We All Live With’

In the mid-20th century, the Civil Rights Movement sparked a decisive transformation in the United States, aimed at dismantling the deep-rooted discrimination against African Americans that persisted since the end of the Civil War. While prominent figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks are often associated with the...

Life Before Earphones: The 1980s Boombox Craze in Vintage New York City Photos

New York City in the 1970s and 1980s was marked by serious challenges to everyday life—graffiti-covered subways, rampant vandalism, piles of uncollected garbage, and high crime rates. Noise, drugs, and other social issues added to the city’s struggles, making the streets chaotic and unpredictable. Sidewalks were often littered with dog waste,...

The Iconic Unemployed Worker with a Social Security Tattoo: The Story Behind One of the Most Striking Photos of the Great Depression

In 1939, photographer Dorothea Lange passed through Oregon’s Willamette Valley, documenting life during the Great Depression. While traveling, she paused to observe a string bean harvest, where a large influx of temporary workers had arrived to pick crops for a few weeks in August. Many of these workers were migrants from...

Heartbreaking Images That Capture the Harsh Reality of the 1980s AIDS Crisis

The 1980s saw the AIDS epidemic surge to catastrophic levels, leaving communities devastated and countless lives hanging in the balance. Across the U.S. and beyond, people were dying at an alarming rate, while others were gripped by fear of a mysterious disease they barely understood but believed could soon sweep...

The horrors of Western Front through photographs, 1914-1918

Looking out across a battlefield from an Anzac pill box near the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders...

When the British Military Industry was Dominated by Women, 1914-1918

Women and men work amid rows of artillery shells at the National Filling Factory in Chilwell. 1917. During World War...

The First Armistice Day in Rare Historical Pictures, 1918

Soldiers celebrating the news of the Armistice. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of...

Vintage Photos Show France in the Final Year of World War I, 1918

It’s 1918 and France was caught in the final year of World War I. American photographer Lewis Hine traveled across...

The Belgian Refugees in Britain: A Warm Reception that Turned to Resentment, 1914-1918

Belgian refugees on the harbor at Ostend waiting for a boat to take them to England. 1914. The outbreak of...

The terrifying flamethrowers of World War I through rare photographs, 1915-1918

French forces use flamethrowers against enemy positions. 1916. The first flamethrower, in the modern sense, is usually credited to Richard...

Hans Hildenbrand: The German front in rare color photos, 1914-1918

German trenches. These incredible color photographs of the German battlefront during the First World War, 1914-1918, were taken by Hans...

Rare photographs of military observation balloons of World War I, 1914-1918

A balloon apron is suspended to defend London from air attacks. 1915. Observation was an incredibly important role in aerial...

Haunting pictures of Londoners sheltering in the Underground during World War II, 1940-1941

During the Second World War, Londoners of all classes flocked to Underground platforms to keep themselves safe from the destruction that was being wrought above the ground by the German bombers. The Blitz refers to the strategic bombing campaign conducted...

Photographs from the Surplus Vehicle Boneyards of World War Two, 1945-1948

Armored vehicles sit in storage at a U.S. facility. 1946. When World War II ended in 1945, the industrial war machine did not stop overnight. Estimates of the value of...

The German occupation of Czechoslovakia in rare photographs, 1938-1939

From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, and Ciano pictured before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany. After Germany’s annexation of Austria in March 1938,...

Photos from the historic meeting on Elbe River between American and Soviet troops, 1945

Lieutenant Bill Robertson and Lieutenant Alexander Silvashko, Germany, 1945. These iconic photographs were taken the day Soviet and American troops met at the Elbe River, near Torgau in Germany, marking...

Historical Photos from the Japanese Surrender Ceremony, 1945

On September 2, 1945, Japanese representatives signed the official Instrument of Surrender, prepared by the War Department and approved by President Harry S. Truman. It set out in eight...

Nobuo Fujita: The story of the only Japanese pilot to bomb mainland America, 1942

On 9 September 1942, though, something happened that had never happened before: an enemy plane bombed the contiguous United States. There had been rumors of bombers over Los Angeles...

Flying First Class in the 1960s Seen Through Amazing Photographs

First class of Swissair in 1960s. Life was once simpler. There was only one class for passengers on airline flights....

These Pictures Capture the Vibrant Residents of a Single East Berlin Street, 1986-1987

The rock group Phonolog. These interesting pictures, taken by photographer Harf Zimmermann, revolve around Hufelandstraße, a bustling neighborhood street in...

Romantic Men’s Hairstyle From the 1960s–1970s

Men’s hair in the seventies was a joy to behold. There was a little bit of variation throughout the...

New York City snapshots of Chinatown in the early 1980s

Celebrating Chinese New Year on Bayard St., in New York City’s Chinatown, in 1984. From 1981 to 1984, the photographer...

Deportation of the Roma People from Nazi Germany, 1938-1940

A Roma woman and child in a camp during an investigation by the Racial Hygiene Research Center at the...

The first female bodybuilders and strongwomen showing off their gains, 1900s

Strong woman and acobat Louise Leers (aka Luise Krökel), 1930s. The first “strongwomen” appeared in the 19th century but were...

The Hindenburg Disaster in rare pictures, 1937

The German zeppelin Hindenburg flies over Manhattan on May 6, 1937. A few hours later, the ship burst into...

The bookmobiles – Vintage photos of traveling libraries, 1910-1960

The Public library of Cincinnati’s first bookmobile, circa 1927. The bookmobile was a traveling library often used to provide books...