Pictures hold something truly special—a speck of time that once was and shall never be again. They’re the closest thing we have to a time machine, allowing us to glimpse through a window of film and into the past.
Although technology has come leaps and bounds since the very first photograph, and we’ve gotten used to its magic, it still feels like a pirate treasure to come across old pictures from a time not-too-long-ago. From close families, to celebrities, there’s something for everyone, and the Facebook group called “Historical Pictures” is just the hub of it all.
Today, we’ll be featuring some of the photos the members of the group have shared, and hope that it’ll tickle your fancy to go dig out your own photo albums. So, dear readers, I invite you to look at this photograph (brownie points if you read that in Nickelback), well a couple dozen of them, upvote your faves, leave some comments, and have a good time!
If you’re craving another Bored Panda article that’s similar to this, I got you covered: here’s one and here’s another. Now let’s get into it!
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#1 This Is Jim Thorpe. Look Closely At The Photo, You Can See That He's Wearing Different Socks And Shoes
This wasn't a fashion statement. It was the 1912 Olympics, and Jim, a Native American from Oklahoma represented the U.S. in track and field. On the morning of his competitions, his shoes were stolen. Luckily, Jim ended up finding two shoes in a garbage can. That's the pair that he's wearing in the photo. But one of the shoes was too big, so he had to wear an extra sock. Wearing these shoes, Jim won two gold medals that day
Image credits: David Kahiu
#2
Image credits: The Vintage News
#3
Image credits: Weird History
#4 First Nations Husband And Wife, (A. Ross, 1886)
Image credits: Native American Culture Regions
#5 Lucille Ball. A Timeless Beauty
Image credits: Brent Peltier
#6 Dolly Parton In The Late 60's
Image credits: Keep It Cult
#7 Soldier Coming Home To His Daughter After WWII, 1945
Image credits: Old Photos
#8 A Young Woman Posing For A Studio Portrait, Kentucky, 1890-1910
Image credits: Old Photos
#9 Two Gentleman From The Early 1900s
Image credits: Old Photos
#10 Sophia Loren, Circa 1955
Image credits: Old Photos
#11 The Champion Watermelon Eater At The 4th Of July Celebration In Brooklyn, 1935
Image credits: Ben Levin
#12 “Girls In The Windows”
In 1960, photojournalist Ormond Gigli assembled 43 women, dressed them in refined, colorful garb, and situated them in 41 windows across the facade of the classic New York City brownstones. Years later, the image ended up being his most famous artwork.
Image credits: Héla Chargui
#13 Richard Lasher Was On His Way To Ride His Dirt Bike When Mt. St. Helens Erupted In Front Of Him (1980)
Image credits: David Anii Okafor
#14 My Sweet Sixteen Self. I Will Be Eighty In February 2023
Image credits: Mary Ann Wall
#15 An Officer Halts Traffic To Make Way For A Cat Carrying A Kitten Across The Street, 1925
Image credits: Old Photos
#16 Camberley Kate, And Her Stray Dogs In England. She Never Turned A Stray Dog Away, Taking Care Of More Than 600 Dogs In Her Lifetime. (1962)
Image credits: Bushra Mushtaq
#17 A Photo Of My Grandfather, Clyde Hensley, Lived Deep In The Appalachian Mountains Of Western North Carolina
Lived off the land, kept bees, grew tobacco, dried it, twisted it, made molasses. You name it. I always knew him as happy and content. For no special reason. True Grit. 1912-2002
Image credits: Benji Barnes
#18 Cheryl Browne, First African-American Contestant For The Title Of Miss America In 1971
Cheryl Adrienne Browne was born in New York City in 1950 and studied dance at LaGuardia High School in Manhattan. After high school, she moved to Decorah, Iowa to study dance at Luther College. After winning the Miss Decorah contest, on June 13, 1970, she beat 19 white contestants to win Miss Iowa, making her eligible to compete for the 1971 Miss America crown. Cheryl became the first black woman to compete for the Miss America title, the first African American contestant to make it to the final, even though competition rule number seven, instituted during the 1930s, which read: “Contestants must be of good health and of the white race,” had been abolished 30 years before in 1940.
Image credits: Historical Photos of Women's Stories
#19 Three Young Ladies Posing With A Friend, 1930
Image credits: Old Photos
#20 “Les Nouvelles Meirveilleuses”. In The Spring Of 1908, Three Women Walked Onto The Longchamp Racecourse In Paris And Jaws Dropped
he elite society event was known for debuting the latest couture creations to the public, but no one had seen fashion quite like this before. Dressed in blue, white and havane brown creations, according to newspapers, spectators called the three women a “monstrosity”, accused them of being semi-naked and showing revolting *décolletage. *It was these three dresses however, which would forever change fashion that day and launch the twentieth century silhouette. As for the designer? Well, no one really bothered to remember her name… But perhaps you might like to know who it was. Jeanne Margaine-Lacroix was her name, a young Parisian designer who had taken over her mother’s long-established couture house and was starting to gain popularity in turn-of-the-century Paris for her lightly corseted dresses featuring minimum boning and more elastic material… Long before Lycra or Spanx came along, she soon began making dresses made from stretchy elastic silk jersey, outlining the hips and thighs and slimming the figure. To debut her creations to society, she hired three beautiful models and chose the Parisian racetracks of 1908 as her catwalk.
Image credits: Mark Loader
#21 My Great-Great Aunt Helen Taken In 1913 When She Was 16 Years Old. She Passed Away At 90 Years Old In 1987
Image credits: Heather Helen Leiterman-Su
#22 A Ghostly Yet Mesmerizing Image From 1900
Image credits: Old Photos
#23 Ron Howard's Wedding To His (Still) Wife Cheryl In 1975--With Henry Winkler
Image credits: Charles Tranberg, Author
#24 Silent Film Actress, Delores Costello, Drew Barrymore's Grandmother, 1928
Image credits: Brent Peltier
#25 Mother And Daughter Photographs From 1900
Image credits: Old Photos
#26 Bride Leaving Her Recently Bombed Home To Get Married, London, Nov 4, 1940
Image credits: Amila Prasanna
#27 Marilyn Monroe Circa 1954
Image credits: Ricardo Carvalho
#28 Nora Washington With A Catfish She Caught With A Cane Pole, No Less In The Colorado River, Bastrop, Texas 1950s
Image credits: Brent Peltier
#29 Fun Before The Internet, 1960s
Image credits: Ben Levin
#30 Christmas Dinner, 1936. Dinner Consisted Of Potatoes, Cabbage And Pie
Image credits: Old Photos
#31
Image credits: Ron Peters
#32 This Innuit Girl Descending Into Her Home, An Ice Igloo
This powerful image transcends time, and continues to go viral over 70 years later. Helen Konek is 91 years old now. But she was 17 when photographer Richard Harrington asked to take images of her family near Arviat, Nunavut. This one is in the massive igloo her father Pipqanaaq built.
Image credits: Explore Native American Culture
#33 Portrait Of A Young Grumpy Girl From The 1850s
Image credits: Historic Photographs
#34 A Roman Toddler's Footprint In A Red Clay Tile, Imprinted As It Was Drying ~2000 Years Ago
Image credits: Museum of Artifacts
#35 The Baby In This Picture Is My Grandmother Born In 1893. Along With My Great Grandmother, Great Great Grandmother And Great Great Great Grandmother
Image credits: Lori Linley Liebetrau
#36 This Is Economy Class Seating On Pan Am 747 In The ‘60’s
Image credits: Brent Peltier
#37 Irish Seaman And Antarctic Explorer Thomas Crean Photographed In 1915 Aboard The Endurance In Antarctica During The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Of 1914–1917 LED By Ernest Shackleton
The Endurance was trapped in ice for 492 days and sank, so the 28-man crew had to use lifeboats to reach the uninhabited Elephant Island. Crean was one of 6 members of the crew to make the 800 miles (1300 km) journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia in the small-boat James Caird to seek rescue for the rest of the crew. Once they reached South Georgia after 17 days at sea, 3 of the men, including Tom Crean, trekked across the island to a whaling station on the north side of South Georgia. There they were able to organize rescue efforts for the 3 men left on the south of the island and the remaining crew on Elephant Island. The entire crew of the Endurance returned home without loss of life.
Image credits: David Anii Okafor
#38 Titanic Survivors Marjorie And Charlotte Collyer In New York Immediately Following The Sinking Of The Liner In 1912
Image credits: David Anii Okafor
#39 My Grandmother From 1947
Image credits: Charlie Carlson IV
#40 Portrait Of Lillian, Cora And Luvenia Ward. Taken In Worcester, Massachusetts, Circa 1900
Image credits: Show off Africa
#41 Women Grocery Shopping In The 1960s
Image credits: Historic Photographs
#42 This Boy And His Dog Were Photographed By Photographer J. E. Williams In New Athens, Ohio In The Late 1890s-Early 1900s
This was another one that was cracked but the damage wan’t in critical areas and I was able to clone some image from the photo taken at the same time. From my glass negative collection
Image credits: Memory Lane Photos
#43 Cicely Tyson And James Earl Jones
Image credits: African American History
#44 Charging An Electric Car In The Garage, New York, 1911
Image credits: Old Photos
#45 Benton County, Tennessee, 1930's
Caption Carl Mydans was a photographer that worked some for the federal government during the Great Depression. He took several heart breaking pictures of rural families, especially in the South. This family was photographed near Benton County, Tennessee. He titled this one "Rural Mother
Image credits: Travis Chumley
#46 Bedouin Couple In Front Of Their Tent, Adwan Tribe. 1898. (Colorized By Frédéric Duriez)
Image credits: Historic Photographs
#47 My Grandparents, Poland 1952
Image credits: David Balage
#48 Taken In 1972 Us Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant
Image credits: Naomi Harris
#49 Elvis, His Father Vernon, And His Grandmother Minnie Mae, 1959
Image credits: Historic Photographs
