30 photos that can add something to your knowledge about the past (31 photos)

It's not just dusty old books that give us a glimpse into the past. Photography can be a surprisingly useful tool in helping us understand the context of the history of specific time periods, from fashion and style trends to technological and architectural features.





1. The Victorian couple can't help but laugh as they pose for a photo. 1890s



2. In 1922, a group of scientists went to Toronto General Hospital, where children with diabetes were kept in wards



Most of them were in a coma and died from diabetic ketoacidosis. Others were treated by putting them on an extremely strict diet that inevitably led to starvation. These children were essentially on their deathbeds, awaiting what was at the time certain death. The scientists acted quickly and began injecting the children with a new purified insulin extract. As they injected the last comatose child, the first one to be injected began to wake up. Then, one by one, all the children woke up from their diabetic coma. A room full of death and darkness suddenly became a place of joy and hope.

In the early 1920s, Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin under the direction of John MacLeod at the University of Toronto. With the help of James Collip, insulin was purified, making it available for successful treatment of diabetes. Both Banting and MacLeod received Nobel Prizes for their work in 1923. That same year, Banting, Collip and Best decided to sell the insulin patent to the University of Toronto for $1. Banting then famously said: “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.”

3. Married couple Mildred and Richard Loving answer questions at a news conference the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in their favor in Loving v. Virginia. June 13, 1967



Loving v. Virginia 388 U.S. 1 is a landmark decision by the US Supreme Court that established freedom of intermarriage. The decision was supported unanimously by all members of the court.

4. Members of the "black" women's softball team Owls (Owls), 1930s



5. Cherie, a Great Dane puppy, completely passed out after stealing 2.5 kg of ham from the kitchen table, 1953



6. Cats, which were kept on rodent-catching ships until the mid-20th century, “signed” their passports with their paw prints.



7. Surprise!



8. Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia from Star Wars) on vacation in Europe, 1971



9. Girl and her kitten, 1931



10. Film actress Faye Webb with her pet goose. Goose with beautiful glasses, 1925



11. Cairo Mary, a bouncer at the Shanghai Reds (San Pedro), escorts a client to the door. 1953



12. Sniper Annie Oakley shoots over her shoulder using a hand mirror, 1899



Annie Oakley, born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American markswoman who became famous for her marksmanship in Buffalo Bill shows.

13. Marilyn Monroe, 1939



14. The smallest and cutest stylist. 1950s



15. The moment when British Princess Elizabeth met her future husband



WhenKing George VI visited Dartmouth College in 1939 and a promising cadet named Philip was tasked with entertaining his daughters. The 18-year-old boy obviously made an indelible impression on 13-year-old Elizabeth. This archival photo shows their first meeting, which took place while playing croquet.

16. Boy and his boar, 1930



17. Futuro is a prefabricated house built between the late 1960s and 1970s. Less than a hundred of these houses were made



18. Letter written by John Steinbeck to Marilyn Monroe



Dear Marilyn,

In my entire life I have never met anyone who asked for an autograph for themselves. Always for a child or an old aunt, and you know better than I how annoying it is. So it is with some excitement that I tell you that I have a nephew named John Atkinson who resides in Austin, Texas. He is on the verge of puberty, but this is only one of his problems. His other problem is you.

I know that you are not made of heavenly air, but he doesn’t know that. The suggestion that you are an ordinary person would deeply shock him, and I will not be the one to tell him about it.

On a recent trip to Texas, my wife made the fatal mistake of telling John that we knew each other. He, of course, didn’t believe it, but his respect for me grew even because I could lie about something like that.

I'm constantly asked for all sorts of stupid favors, so I won't hesitate to ask one of you. Could you send him, under my responsibility, a photograph of yourself, perhaps in a pensive, girlish mood, addressing him by name, with a hint that you are aware of his existence. He is already your slave. But your letter would make it mine too.

If you comply with my request, I will send you a guest key to the women's entrance to Fort Knox and, besides, I will like you very much. Sincerely yours, DS.

19. Advertising from the 30s about the dangers of thinness (nobody likes skinny girls!) and how to gain weight with beer



20. USA, Nevada, 1977. Wild horses



21. Engineer Karen Leadley working on analog computers in the aerospace department of General Dynamics, 1964



22. English humor: Good morning. The Daily Mirror, England, April 4, 1944 “And now you are listening to a chick that hatched three hours ago and his opinion on the current situation”



23. Cleaning ladies washing a crucifix, 1938



24. "Cow boots" used by moonshiners during Prohibition to cover their tracks, 1924



25. Dinner party at the Astor Hotel in New York, 1904



26. Hop pickers on stilts in Faversham, England, 1920



27. “Headless” - a popular posing style in the 20s



28. Pele having lunch with his parents, 1958



29. Students in a college dorm room in 1910 (University of Illinois)



30. Danish Arctic explorer Peter Freuchen with his first wife Navarana Mekupaluk in 1912



She died of the Spanish flu in 1921. Freuchen participated in several Arctic explorations, wrote more than a dozen books (fiction and non-fiction), participated in the Danish resistance against Germany during World War II, and was imprisonedby the Nazis and sentenced to death, but managed to escape to Sweden. He eventually came to Hollywood and worked as a consultant and screenwriter, and starred in the Oscar-winning film Eskimo (1933). In 1956, he won $64,000 on the American quiz show The $64,000 Question.

But perhaps his most famous feat was that he narrowly escaped death when he one day found himself trapped in a snow cave due to the heat generated by his own breath, which created an impassable crust of ice that blocked the entrance. Here is an excerpt from his memoirs: “What a way to die... I gave in again and let several hours pass without further movement. But while I rested, I regained my strength and my morale improved. After all, I was alive. I hadn't eaten for several hours, but my digestion was fine. I have a new idea! I have often seen dog droppings on sleds and noticed that they freeze and become rock hard. Wouldn't cold have the same effect on human excretions? As repulsive as the thought was, I decided to try an experiment. I had a bowel movement and managed to fashion a chisel-like tool out of the excrement, which I left to freeze... I was patient. I didn't want to risk breaking my new tool by using it too early... I finally decided to try a chisel and it worked!”

Freuchen managed to escape his icy captivity, but was forced to amputate several of his toes and eventually lost his left leg due to frostbite. He died in 1957 from a heart attack.