The crinoline appeared on the fashion scene in the mid-1800s and took its name from the French word crin (“horsehair”), a stiff material made using horsehair — and "linen." A crinoline (hoop) is defined as a framework consisting of round/oval circles (s…
France became dominant in the high fashion (couture or haute couture) industry by the end of the 19th century through the establishment of the great couturier houses. The technology started to redefine Western society in many ways and this continued int…
Advertising has become an integral part of our socio-economic lives and it’s carefully designed to speak to the hearts and minds of consumers. It taps into our psyche, hopes, dreams, goals, and fears. In this article, we will flip through the pages of h…
Tucked away among the canyons and mountainous terrain in southern Jordan, the city of Petra has stood for well over 2,500 years. In that time, Petra has gone from an early settlement to a crucial and wealthy trading hub in the region, and then to a forg…
Grant Wood‘s “American Gothic” shows the images of a man and a woman standing in front of a small wooden house. The woman is dressed in a colonial print apron evoking 20th-century rural Americana while the man is adorned in overalls covered by a suit ja…
In 1899, a group of French illustrators led by Jean-Marc Côté was tasked with imagining what France would look like in the year 2000. Their ideas weren’t always on the money but many have been realized albeit not exactly according to the original drawin…
Amasunzu is a traditionally Rwandan hairstyle that was once worn by men, as well as by unmarried women in order to indicate to potential suitors that they were single and of marriageable age. The hair is styled into crests and is frequently described as cresce…
In May 1985, as one of the first measures under the new general secretary of the Communist party, Michael Gorbachev, the last big Soviet-style campaign was set in motion, a campaign to curb alcohol consumption. It was a forceful and ruthless campaign, w…
With the rise of the daily newspapers in the 1880s, more than half of all newspapers in the United States were sold by newsboys (and a few newsgirls). Newspapers that previously had appeared only in morning editions began to be offered in afternoon edit…
During World War I, the majority of horses and mules in Britain were used to aid the war effort. In total, 1.2 million horses were conscripted and sent to Western Front. Many farmers and traders had to find alternative beasts of burden, but none more exoti…
The Spacelander bicycle was designed by Benjamin Bowden for the 1946 exhibition Britain Can Make It. Originally known as the Classic, the streamlined design was said to represent what the bicycle of the future was supposed to look like. Its curving line…
In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller published the first known map to feature parts of the New World labeled “America''. The map was titled Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespucii aliorumque lustrati…
Caroline Munro (born in 1949) is an English actress, model and singer known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s. Munro's career commenced in 1966 when her mother and a photographer friend entered some …
On May 1, 1903, an African-American man named Will West entered the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth. Like any other new prisoner, West was subjected to the standard admission procedure: prison clerks took photographs, a physical description, a…
The Maya people have been called many names over the years, such as “the mysterious Maya” and “the magnificent Maya,” and many scholarly books have been written about this ancient Mesoamerican civilization. Many years before European explorers came to t…
This photo collection shows color images of the lifestyle, windmills, canals, cities, and countryside of the late 1890s Netherlands. The pictures are created using the Photochrom process which is a technique that applies colors on black and white images…
Elizabeth Taylor, born in 1932, was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She then became the highest-paid movie star in the 1…
The boy and girl looked toward the camera. They were just old enough to understand the task assigned to them: to stand very still, with arms linked, and direct their gaze to the contraption in front of them. Isaac was eight and Rosa, six. How two former…
These future fantasy collectible cards were published by the German company Echte Wagner in the first half of the 20th century. Originally Echte Wagner made margarine, and it made a lot of trade cards that were distributed all over Central Europe. In 19…
These vivid color photographs of Ireland were produced as tourist mementos and postcards using a technique called Photochrom. The collection features the main cities of Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and Waterford alongside the main tourist attractions of the day. …