In pre-war Germany in the 1930s, there was great interest in all kinds of rocket-propelled vehicles; cars, airplanes, boats, motorcycles, and skates (roller and ice). However, one of the strangest and least promising applications of rocket propulsion was …
Mississippi’s Tatum Salt Dome in rural Lamar County near Hattiesburg was the site of two nuclear test explosions in the mid-1960s. The Salmon test on Oct. 22, 1964 and the Sterling test on Dec. 3, 1966, were conducted to help determine whether and how nuc…
Television was introduced to Americans in 1939 and began to gain a foothold after the Second World War. In the 1950s, the sale of TV sets and the boom in programming made TV America's favorite source of entertainment. In 1950, just under 20 percent of A…
The term Dust Bowl was coined in 1935 when an AP reporter, Robert Geiger, used it to describe the drought-affected south-central United States in the aftermath of horrific dust storms. Historically, the Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that …
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, farms started to use new machinery and fertilizers that transformed them from small-scale enterprises into food factories. Entrepreneurs selling products designed to increase a farmer’s production were anxious …
Albert Einstein is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory of relativity, but he also made important contributions to the development of the theory of quant…
Victorian mourning jewelry was popular during the late 1800s and was used as a tribute or memento to remind the wearer about their love for the person they had lost. Death was a regular occurrence in Victorian times, thanks to pervasive diseases like ch…
The 1989 Pink Floyd concert in Venice on a floating stage next to San Marco’s Square gathered over 200,000 fans in the crowd and unintentionally resulted in the mayor and the entire city council resigning in the aftermath of their performance. The city auth…
Godzilla, or Gojira, has been one of the most enduring and iconic kaiju (Japanese giant monsters) in popular culture. Undoubtedly, the monster created from the nuclear bomb blast has captured the imagination of people around the world. The rampaging ra…
Early automobile manufacturers used a wide range of tests to prove a car's strength, endurance, capability, and worthiness. These tests were often adopted as selling points and to highlight the car’s performance and prowess in advertising brochures. In …
These photographs show Chicago's African-American community, primarily the South Side, and are taken by photographer John H. White, who went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photojournalism in 1982. His portraits of everyday life stand the test of time,…
From the early 1950s until the 1970s, sugar was marketed as a healthy substance that would help curb hunger and provide an energy boost. A “pro-sugar” ad that appeared in an August 1964 issue of Time gave a “note to mothers,” explaining that drinks without …
These vintage photos show one of the unique features of Detroit in winter: the famous ice fountain on Washington Boulevard. Several jets of water are allowed to play all winter, resulting in tons of crystal and massive berg of ice that at times reached heig…
The Antarctic Snow Cruiser was developed under the direction of famed explorer Admiral Richard Byrd and it was intended to facilitate transport in Antarctica during the United States Antarctic Service Expedition (1939–41). His second-in-command, Dr. Thoma…
It’s quite fascinating to read the vintage magazine adverts because nothing gets old faster than technology news and ads. In this article, we’ve collected some retro computer ads to give you a hands-on look into what made the tech headlines before the age o…
This collection of autochromes taken in the 1920s by Gervais Courtellemont and W. Robert Moore for National Geographic reveals the everyday life of Egyptian women, men, merchants, and children. They show familiar Cairo city locations and famous sites su…
Mug shot photography revolutionized crime investigations and enabled the police to keep visual records of the arrested criminals. Beginning in the mid-1800s, police photographed the faces of known criminals. Called "mug shots" (after the British slang w…
In May 1949, Charles L. Langs announced a daring innovation in beachwear: a pair of bra cups a woman could affix to her breasts with an adhesive. His idea was to use individual strapless cups for each breast, backed with specially developed glue. Langs …
Mummy portraits have been found across Egypt, but are most common in the Fayum Basin, particularly from Hawara in the Faiyum Basin and the Hadrianic Roman city Antinoopolis. "Fayum portraits" is generally used as a stylistic, rather than a geographic, d…
Here's a weird relic from the past: a 1979 calendar dedicated to cocaine. Yes, you read it correctly, to cocaine. While the substance was illegal, it wasn’t considered all that bad (and it was normal to advertise cocaine gadgets in magazines). Each month…