These disturbing 1970s New York City photos reveal the dark side of a city on the brink of economic and societal collapse. During this decade, the city gained notoriety for high rates of crime and social disorders; the city’s subway system was regarded as…
The majority of homes in the 1960s were furnished with an eclectic mixture of furniture from a variety of periods, featuring large, bold images, such as posters and brightly decorated bedspreads and window blinds set against brightly colored walls. Green, (…
Berlin in the 1920s was a city of many social contrasts. While a large part of the population continued to struggle with high unemployment and deprivations in the aftermath of World War I, the upper class of society, and a growing middle class, gradually r…
The office has transformed dramatically through the last decades: in layout, style, colors, work culture, and in technology. These decades saw the worker become more individualistic, with office design becoming more ergonomic and more high tech. It wasn’…
This collection shows photographs from World War Two that are not necessarily odd, let’s just say not quite normal, and by the book. The conflict involved virtually every part of the world during the years 1939–1945. The war was in many respects a conti…
These old photographs of the American frontier capture life and struggle in the Wild West. The completion of the railroads to the West following the American Civil War opened up vast areas of the region to settlement and economic development. The archetypic…
Bugatti was founded in 1909 in the then-German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The cars were known for their design beauty and for their many race victories. Famous Bugatti automobiles include the Type 35 Gr…
These old color photos, part of Albert Kahn’s collection, were captured by photographer Stefan Passe in 1913 and depict everyday life scenes in Mongolia. At the time of Passe’s journey, Mongolia was under the protectorate of the Russian Empire with full aut…
When societies industrialize, food systems expand and specialize to meet the new waves of customers. These amazing old photographs show Japan’s demae, or delivery men, who braved the crowded streets balancing towers of dozens of piping hot meals on their sh…
Many think that London was the best place in the world in the 1960s. Youth culture flourished and post-war austerity finally gave place to a decade of optimism and exploration. In this decade, the traditional hierarchies begin to dissolve paving the way for…
Yuri Gagarin, Hero of the Soviet Union, was a cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. Traveling in the Vostok 1 capsule, Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. By achieving this major milestone in the Space Race he bec…
This photo collection of vintage ads gives a glimpse into how the computer industry developed in the early 1980s. Magazines were rife with these types of ads emphasizing a few particular selling points such as the new computer tech being educational, wo…
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current electricity supply system. Training for an engineering career, he attended …
Rainey Bethea (born in 1909) was the last person to be publicly executed in the United States. An African-American male, who was about 26 years old, he confessed to the rape and murder of a 70-year-old white woman named Lischia Edwards, and was publicly hanged…
Medical sciences in the early parts of the 20th century were far advanced from the medieval days of leeches, but still, most of the treatments and medical devices were misguided and often even barbaric by our modern standards. Seeming to mean well, biza…
Man-lifting kites are specially designed kites that can lift humans. Back in the day, when airplanes and helicopters were pure fantasy, these man-lifting kites were the closest that humans could get to their dream of flying. Originally, the kites were used …
The Warsaw Uprising of 1944 was a heroic and tragic 63-day struggle to liberate World War 2 Warsaw from German occupation. The Uprising began on 1 August 1944 as part of a nationwide Operation Tempest, launched at the time of the Soviet Lublin–Brest Offensi…
These photographs were taken in 1988 by Bruno Barbie and Carl De Keyser and show the everyday life in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. By the end of the decade, the Soviet Union was a country descending into chaos, torn apart by natural and indu…
Diana, Princess of Wales, commonly called Princess Diana was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales (later Charles III), and mother of Princes William and Harry. Diana's activism and glamour made her an inte…
From the early days of flight and the "golden age of travel", to modern-day airlines, air travel has changed a lot over the past century. Through this photo collection, we take a journey through time to show you what air travel looked like from the 1930s to…