The Kennedy name is often associated with political power, charm, and tragedy. But hidden within the family’s storied past is one of its most haunting chapters—the life of Rosemary Kennedy. Photographs of her from before and after a devastating medical proc…
The quintessential image of wartime Saigon often centers on the figure of the bar girl: a young Vietnamese woman, dressed to captivate in a halter top and mini-skirt, offering cigarettes, liquor, or even her company to passing American GIs, all in broken Engli…
In the 19th century, the accessibility of medicine was like opening Pandora's box—it brought both blessings and bizarre, sometimes perilous, quackery. Some "cures" were harmless hoaxes, but many others were downright dangerous, often containing addictiv…
In American history, the term "whipping" brings to mind a harsh and haunting punishment from the past. It was a brutal practice that left physical and emotional scars on countless people. Whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements…
Abraham Lincoln, widely revered as one of the greatest leaders in American history, left an indelible mark on the nation during his tenure as the 16th President of the United States. Serving as the first president to be extensively photographed, L…
This 1947 comic book produced by the Catholic Catechetical Guild Educational Society was part of a "Red Scare" in the U.S. that raised fears about the horrors of a communist takeover. With over four million copies sold and even more given away, this 50-page…
This article displays an impressive photo collection of vintage car advertisements in the late 1950s and 1960s. The 1960s automobiles belonged to a distinct decade of automobile history with the advent of economy, muscle and pony cars. The 1960s saw the …
In the recorded history of Washington, DC the Knickerbocker storm remains unsurpassed, both for the amount of snow it produced and for its devastating toll on human life. The collapse of the roof at the Knickerbocker Theater, which took 98 lives (many of th…
Ralph Madsen, known as the Tallest Texan Cowboy, was above 7 feet 6 inches (2.28 meters) tall and weighed 228 pounds (104 kg). He was born Ralph Earl Madsen on April 19, 1897, in Norfolk, Nebraska, and was not from Texas as his nicknames and stories sug…
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 idea of creating a monumental sculpture in the Black Hills was first suggested in 1923 by South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson, who had envisioned creating likenesses of famous Native American and American Old West personalities on a needlelike …
The 1.5 million Union and perhaps 600,000 Confederate veterans were very visible members of post-war society. For one thing, they dominated political offices in both the North and the South. Most U. S. presidents during this period had fought for the Un…
The early 1920s were the gilded age for the Ku Klux Klan, as many successful and powerful people were either openly Klansmen or sympathetic to the cause. The organization boasted a membership of 3 million nationwide, including prominent community leader…
TIME magazine decided to create a list of the 100 most influential pictures ever taken. They teamed up with curators, historians, photo editors, and famous photographers around the world for this task. "No formula makes for iconic photos," the editors said. …
John F. Kennedy was born into a rich, politically connected Boston family of Irish-Catholics. He and his eight siblings enjoyed a privileged childhood of elite private schools, sailboats, servants, and summer homes. During his childhood and youth, "Jack…
The decisive year was 1968. In the early morning of 30 January, Vietcong forces launched the Tet Offensive, named for the Vietnamese holiday then being observed. In coordinated attacks throughout South Vietnam, the Vietcong assaulted major urban areas a…
On May 07, 1954, Viet Minh forces won the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and ended French involvement in Indochina. This victory led to the Geneva Conference where the French and Viet Minh negotiated a ceasefire agreement. (Note: the other part of this photo c…
The second part of the American Civil War photo collection covers the people of the Civil War: the generals, slaves, civilians, politicians, and soldiers that lived through those turbulent years. For other parts: The American Civil War in pictures (part 1)…
The Civil War was certainly the most catastrophic event in American history. More than 600,000 Northerners and Southerners died in the war, a greater number than all those who had died in all other American wars combined. (The other parts of these ph…
Covering 1,216 acres, in Flushing Meadows, New York, the 1939 New York World's Fair, like the legendary Phoenix rising from the ashes, was erected on what was an ash-dump. The theme, "Building the World of Tomorrow" echoed in virtually every corner of the …