Unique historical footage that will take you back in time (21 photos)

I suggest you take another ride in a time machine. A new selection of interesting retro photos of the 19th century is ready. As always, it will be interesting and informative.





Tenants of an apartment building on Bayard Street - five cents a place. New York, 1889.

The photograph was taken by Danish-American photographer Jacob Riis in 1889. It was included in his photo book "How the Other Half Lives" and published in 1890.

A photographer documented the poor living conditions of New York's lower classes with a police escort.

This photograph shows a crowded room in a tenement building with poor hygienic conditions. The people in the photograph were caught unawares. The sanitary police intervened that night because the price of beds was 5 cents, two cents below the minimum allowed by law. Riis himself describes the misery of the room:

In a room no more than thirteen feet on either side, twelve men and women slept, two or three on cots set up in a sort of alcove, the rest on the floor. In the eerie atmosphere, a kerosene lamp burned dimly, probably to guide other and later guests to their beds, as it was just after midnight. The plaintive cry of a child came from the next room in the hall, where three figures could be seen lying in the semi-darkness. The apartment was one of three in two neighboring buildings that we found within half an hour to be just as crowded.



The honeymoon of Boris Dmitrievich and Maria Vasilievna Vostryakov. Italy, Venice, 1898.

Boris Dmitrievich Vostryakov (1875–1937) was a wealthy Moscow merchant and manufacturer, descended from the Khludov merchant family. Here he is photographing his wife.





Photographer: Boris Vostryakov

Photograph of the four daughters of rancher Joseph M. Chrisman in their sod house in Custer County, Nebraska, 1886.

Harriet, Elizabeth, Lucy, and Ruth Chrisman were the names of the daughters.

People who lived in tiny sod houses like these girls, or in the small log cabins you see often in historical photographs, did not spend all day in their homes. They spent almost 90% of their day outside. Cooking, washing, spinning, sewing, and any other daily tasks were done outside. The sod house served as a place to sleep and as a shelter from the elements or wild animals.



Photographer: Solomon D. Butcher

Rotary snow blower, circa 1885.

Three men watch a large rotary snow blower clearing railroad tracks in Ivanhoe, Colorado.



Photographer: William Henry Jackson

A horse meat dealer. London, circa 1890.

A new type of dealer appeared in London in the early 19th century. They walked around the city or sold pet food at the market. They sold horse meat obtained from the slaughter of horses that were too old or sick to do their work in the metropolis. London, by the way, was the largest city in the world, with a population of 6 million people.



A young woman plays a mandolin. Guanajuato, Mexico, late 19th century.

A mandolin is a compact plucked string instrument derived from a lute. Sometimes it seems that the photographs of those times are more lifelike than modern ones taken on a smartphone.



A flock of sheep with the Acropolis in the background. Greece, 1903.

The Acropolis of Athens is a 156-metre-high hill with a temple complex built on it in the city of Athens. It is one of the richest open-air museums, where temples and other structures that are over 2,000 years old have been preserved and restored to varying degrees. There are no more empty spaces around where you can graze sheep. The city has swallowed everything up.



Photographer: François Frédéric Boissonnas

Beach at Tamarama. South Wales, 1890s.

In 1887, Tamarama opened Sydney's first beachfront amusement park, and one of Australia's earliest. Called the Bondi Aquarium, its biggest attraction was a submersible rollercoaster that dove and twisted over the beach. People flocked to the rides not just for the rides, but also for the vaudeville acts and aquarium creatures, including seals and a tiger shark.



Per Eriksen Fløtten and his family, Norway, 1895.



Photographer: Ellisif Ranveig Wessel

A Native American looks at the newly completed transcontinental railroad in Nevada, 1869.



Climbing the Pyramid of Cheops. Egypt, 1870-1880.

Arabs climb to the top of the pyramid, possibly for a group photo.



Boulevard des Capucines in the outskirts of Paris. Late 19th century.

The boulevard is named after the Capucine convent that stood here.



Photographer: Paul Genue

Crimean winter clothing. Crimea, 1856. Captain Brown of the 4th Light Dragoons (seated) and his servant in winter uniform. British Imperial soldiers fought on the Ottoman side.



Photographer: Roger Fenton

The Rampur Rope Bridge in India, circa 1870.



Venice, 1860s.



Photographer: Carlo Nailly

Montmartre. Paris, 1860s.

Montmartre is the name of a 130-meter-high hill in the north of Paris and an ancient Roman settlement. In 1860, the area became part of the city, giving its name to the 18th arrondissement. In the 1860s, it became a center of art. Artists moved here, attracted by the low rents and rural beauty of the area. This was also facilitated by the proximity to the School of Fine Arts, which was located on the other side of the Seine.



Photographer: Charles Marville

Three homeless boys sleep on the stairs of a Lower East Side alley, New York City, 1890.



Photographer: Jacob Riis

Street musicians in London, 1877.



Photographer: John Thompson

Gold miners. Alaska, USA, late 19th century.



Slaves in the coffee yard of a farm. Vale do Paraiba, Sao Paulo, 1882.

Brazil was the last place in the Americas to abolish slavery (it didn't happen until 1888).



Photographer: Mark Ferres