18 Photos That Will Change the Way You Look at the Past (19 photos)

What do a self-proclaimed Emperor of the United States, a Soviet female sniper, and the legendary Marlene Dietrich have in common? They all lived in an era we often write off as distant and unremarkable.





Yet these images prove otherwise. A century ago, people laughed, loved, took risks, invented, and marveled at the world's beauty just as we do today. Take a closer look—every face and moment in this collection holds a story worthy of a novel.

1. A perfectly timed daguerreotype capturing a young girl laughing. Hand-tinted details, 1850s



2. Clint Eastwood, 1962





3. Oglala Lakota men hired for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, 1905



4. Catherine "Camberley Kate" Ward pushing her famous dog cart, 1962



From 1943 until her death in 1979, Ward dedicated her life to caring for stray dogs in Surrey. She never turned away an animal and rescued over 600 dogs throughout her lifetime.

5. A boy getting a dog-powered ride through the streets of London, England, 1930s



6. Joshua Norton, the self-proclaimed Emperor of the United States, riding a bicycle in San Francisco, 1869



7. Making a call from a payphone, 1970s



8. The world's first photo of Earth taken from the Moon, captured by Lunar Orbiter 1 on its 16th orbit just before passing behind the lunar surface, August 23, 1966



9. Britney Spears recording her debut album in Stockholm, Sweden, 1997



10. Robin Williams and his first wife, Valerie Velardi, on their wedding day, 1978



11. On April 19, 1939, the BBC broadcast musician James Tappern playing the silver and bronze trumpets discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922



It was the first time these trumpets had been sounded in over 3,000 years.

12. Roza Shanina, a Soviet sniper with an independent female sniper platoon of the 3rd Belorussian Front and recipient of the Order of Glory



Shanina was credited with 59 confirmed enemy kills.

13. In 1939, after flour mill owners in the US learned that impoverished mothers were using flour sacks to make clothes for their children, they began printing colorful, cheerful patterns directly on the bags



14. Benedictine monks working their fields, Huntsville, Utah, 1954



15. A woman having her hair straightened with a clothes iron, 1960s



16. Three generations of women outside their stone cottage in Ireland, 1927



17. Two New Caledonian men in traditional attire, wearing sunglasses and coins across their chests, 1880s or 1890s



18. Marlene Dietrich and Erich Maria Remarque, 1940