Captivating Photos from the Past You Need to See (41 photos)
The adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" was coined by American newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane in 1911. These simple words apply to many aspects of life, but especially to historical photography. Sometimes a single image can reveal far more about the past than volumes of articles or historical records.
Every photograph in this collection tells its own story about iconic figures or events of yesteryear. Once taken to capture the present moment, they now serve as portals to a bygone era. Over time, many of these images have become legendary as the public came to understand their significance and historical context. Perhaps these glimpses of war, hardship, the fight for freedom, and simple human moments will give us valuable perspective for the future. 
A woman pushing a gas-resistant baby carriage. England, 1938. 
Unpacking the head of the Statue of Liberty, 1885. 
Elvis Presley serving in the U.S. Army, 1958. 
Animals used in therapy for children, 1956. 
Testing new bulletproof vests, 1923. 
A 27-year-old Charlie Chaplin, 1916. 
The Hindenburg airship disaster, May 6, 1937. 
A circus hippopotamus harnessed to a cart, 1924. 
Annette Kellerman posing in a fitted swimsuit to champion women's rights in 1907. She was subsequently arrested for indecency. 
Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, 1901 (she was 63 years old!). 
A 106-year-old Armenian woman guarding her home, 1990. 
Baby cages designed to ensure infants in city apartments got enough fresh air and sunlight, circa 1937. 
The original Ronald McDonald, 1963. 
The employee cafeteria at Disneyland, 1961. 
An advertisement for Atabrine, an anti-malaria medication, in Papua New Guinea during WWII. The sign reads: "These guys didn't take their Atabrine." 
A soldier sharing a banana with a goat during the Battle of Saipan, circa 1944. 
A young girl clutching her doll among the ruins of her bombed home after an air raid on London, 1940. 
Construction of the Berlin Wall, 1961. 
An unidentified soldier in Vietnam, 1965. "War is Hell." 
A London bookstore destroyed during the Blitz, 1940. 
Walter Yeo, one of the earliest patients to undergo advanced plastic surgery and skin grafts, 1917. 
A suntan lotion vending machine, 1949. 
Measuring swimsuit length—women faced fines if their swimwear was deemed too short, 1920s. 
Martin Luther King Jr. and his son removing a burned cross from their front lawn, 1960. 
A motel owner pouring acid into a swimming pool while Black guests were inside, circa 1964. 
A beach lifeguard, 1920s. 
Prosthetic legs, United Kingdom, circa 1890. 
A mother and son watching a mushroom cloud after a nuclear detonation near Las Vegas, 1953. 
A mother hiding her face in shame after putting her children up for sale. 
An Austrian boy overjoyed after receiving a new pair of shoes during WWII. 
German officers and cadets celebrating Christmas, 1941. 
A Christmas dinner during the Great Depression: turnips and cabbage. 
The real Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin, circa 1927. 
The last inmates leaving Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, 1963. 
Melted and damaged waxworks following a fire at Madame Tussauds in London, 1930. 
A chimpanzee posing for cameras after a successful space mission, 1961. 
Pouring illegal alcohol down the drain during Prohibition in Detroit, 1929. 
Princeton University students pictured after a fierce freshman-versus-sophomore snowball fight, 1893. 
"The Most Beautiful Suicide": 23-year-old Evelyn McHale leaped from the 83rd floor of the Empire State Building, landing atop a United Nations limousine, 1947. 
The chaotic first morning after Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving on the right, 1967.
