Travel back in time with stunning vintage portraits that offer a captivating glimpse into the diverse cultures of the world, from Brazilian headhunters, Persian hermits to Indian snake charmers, over a century and a half ago.
Frank Carpenter embarked on his first global journey at a time when only a minuscule percentage of Americans had ventured abroad—less than one percent, to be exact.
Through his photographic dispatches from the farthest corners of the Earth, Carpenter didn’t just share pictures.
He provided a gateway for millions to explore the rich fabric of human life, showing the myriad customs, traditions, and landscapes of distant lands.
Across three epic journeys around the globe, Frank Carpenter amassed a treasure trove of tens of thousands of photos, capturing the essence of the cultures and landscapes he encountered, and enriching the world’s understanding of its own diversity.
Women in Turkish clothing, 1923.
Born in Mansfield, Ohio in 1855, Frank Carpenter began his career as a journalist, a profession that would ignite his passion for travel.
By 1888, he had secured enough assignments with newspaper syndicates and magazines to finance his first journey around the world.
His primary task was simple: to send a weekly letter to these publications, detailing his observations and experiences from his travels.
He continued to travel extensively, logging 25,000 miles in South America in 1898, and later doing letter-writing tours of Central America, South America, and Europe.
From the mid-1890s until he died, Carpenter traveled almost continuously around the world, authoring nearly 40 books and many magazine articles about his travels.
His travels and writings were so extensive historians have trouble placing his exact whereabouts at any given time, though his books speak to where he went.
Camels draw water from Egyptian well, 1905.
His writings include personal memoirs and what he called ‘geographical readers’ for use in geography classes.
These would remain standard texts used in American schools for forty years. His writings helped popularize cultural anthropology and geography.
With his daughter Frances Carpenter, Carpenter photographed Alaska between 1910 and 1924.
A collection of over 5,000 images were donated to the Library of Congress by Frances at her death in 1972.
The collection at the Library of Congress totals approximately 16,800 photographs and about 7,000 negatives.
“Fete day costume, Shkypetars, men of the eagle, as Albanians are known in their own country”, 1923.
Carpenter died of sickness in 1924 while in Nanking, China, on his third round the world trip.
The Boston Globe obituary observed he “always wrote fascinatingly, always in a language the common man and woman could understand, always of subjects even children are interested in. [He] had a genius for finding out things, and the things that interest everyone, and then for writing them interestingly.”
Anatomy class in Sudan, 1890-1923.
Patriarch Harootiun Vehabedian of the Armenian church wearing hood, robe and five medals, 1880-1924.
An Aymara Indian, Bolivia, 1900-1923.
Kenyan man, 1880-1923.
Chola cook, 1900-1923.
East African official for Germany, formerly a sultan, Tanganyika, Africa, 1902.
Emir Nawwaf, a desert sheik, 1910-1920.
Zulu men near a cauldron, 1920-1930.
Eskimo boy wearing ragged clothing made from flour sacks, Belcher Islands, Northwest Territories, Canada, 1927.
Head hunters in the upper Amazon, Brazil, 1890-1923.
Two gypsy women standing, Palestine, 1893.
Boy and girl dancing in Scotland, 1900-1925.
Fakir with monkeys, 1890-1920, India.
Japanese bedroom with thick quilt used as a bed, 1890-1923.
Empress Sunmyeong (1872-1904), the first wife of Emperor Sunjong of Korea (1874-1926), 1890-1904.
Man peddling vegetables, Japan, 1890-1923.
Mexican people with guitars, 1923.
Dervish man, 1920-1930.
Nubian woman, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 1890-1923.
Two women posing in Palestine, 1910-1925.
Spraying oil on breeding places of mosquitoes, 1890-1925. Panama.
Indigenous Filipinos hold baby, 1890-1923.
A picture from Thailand, 1890-1923.
Group of Russian peasants, 1875.
Serbian man wearing hat, vest, belted pants, and pointed toed shoes with cane standing outside of building in Yugoslavia, 1880-1924.
Snake charmers in India, 1890-1900.
Sudanese woman, 1890-1923.
Druse bride of Mt. Lebanon, Syria, 1910s.
Two Jewish women face each other in Tunisia, 1900-1923.
Bedouin woman, 1900-1910.
A witch doctor, 1920-1930.
Woman in old Greek Costume, 1920
Two women posed, seated, Saigon, South Vietnam, 1890-1923.
Two Jewish girls on a beach in Tunis, Tunisia, 1860-1890.
Zulu man, 1890-1923.
(Photo credit: Frank Carpenter / Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons).