Earlier this year, reddit user averagedekutree was browsing through a book store in Milwaukee when she came across a century-old high school yearbook from 1913. The high school was called Texarkana in Arkansas, and flipping through the pages is like taking a step through time. What’s fascinating is to observe both the differences and…
Just like many families today, Richard and Anna Wagner took annual holiday portraits, sending out the photos as Christmas cards to friends and family. From 1900 (when the couple first married) until 1942, the couple took portraits in front of their Christmas tree (sadly Richard passed the following year). It’s fascinating to see not…
WORKPLACE SAFETY, 1926 Photographer Unknown via Ovadia & Sons on Tumblr Seen here are painters atop the Woolworth Building in New York City in 1926. Just looking at this photo makes my stomach churn and palms sweat. How is that guy just standing on that spire like that? The Woolworth Building at…
An automaton (plural: automata or automatons) is a self-operating machine or robot. Seen above is the Writer, an automaton built in the 1770s by world-renowned Swiss watchmaker, Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-1790). Made from nearly 6000 parts, the Writer is a self-operating, programmable machine, capable of writing letters and words with a quill pen. The 240-year-old…
Artist Michael Paul Smith – Self Portrait For the last 25 years, Michael Paul Smith has used model cars, forced perspective and custom-built miniature displays in real-world settings to create Elgin Park, Smith’s version of a mid 20th century American town Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and currently living in New England, Smith’s model-making skills…
Between 1910 and 1930, a series of 2500 ‘special photographs’ were taken by the New South Wales Police Department. As curator Peter Doyle of the Justice & Police Museum in Sydney explains: These ‘special photographs’ were mostly taken in the cells at the Central Police Station in Sydney and are of men and women…
Marc Hermann (@MHermannPhoto) is a professional news photographer born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He is an official historian and interim trustee of the New York Press Photographers Association. As of November 2012, Hermann has been a staff photographer with the Corporate Communications department of MTA New York City Transit. In a fascinating…
THE STUDLEY TOOL CHEST Photograph by GREG SUTTER | Posters Available Master craftsman Henry O. Studley (1838-1925) was an organ and piano maker, carpenter, and mason. He is best known for building this incredible tool chest during his tenure at the Poole Piano Company in Massachusetts, working on it over the course…
THE ORIGINAL CAST OF SESAME STREET Photograph via Muppet Wiki In this vintage photograph we see the original cast of Sesame Street which aired from 1969-1970. Most notable is Oscar the Grouch’s orange fur which would switch to the more recognizable green in the second season. According to the Muppet Wiki: The…
OBSERVING MARS IN 1926 Photograph via Smithsonian Institution In this photo from 1926, we see George A. Van Biesbroeck (1880-1974), an astronomer at Yerkes Observatory, observing Mars when it approached close to the Earth that year. Van Biesbroeck is shown using the observatory’s 40 inch refracting telescope, the largest of its kind…