15 Fun Historical Photos Perfect for the History Nerds
The best historical photographs are not always the ones documenting world-changing events. Sometimes, they simply capture a detail of everyday life that makes the past feel considerably less distant. People had strange solutions to familiar problems, celebrities occasionally behaved like regular tourists, and supposedly modern ideas often appeared decades earlier than expected. Those little discoveries are especially satisfying for anyone who can lose an afternoon following one obscure historical fact into another. Fortunately, photographers have been documenting the weird, clever, and surprisingly relatable side of life for generations, leaving behind plenty of evidence that history was rarely as serious as textbooks make it seem. Here are 15 fun historical photos perfect for the history nerds.
New York Once Sent Mail Under the Streets
Beginning in the late 1890s, New York used pneumatic tubes to shoot containers filled with mail beneath the city. By 1914, roughly 30% of the first-class mail passing through the city’s main post office traveled through the system, with canisters reaching about 35 miles per hour.
Salvador Dalà Took His Pet Ocelot Everywhere
Surrealist Salvador Dalà owned an ocelot named Babou and was photographed taking the exotic cat to restaurants and hotels during the 1960s. Considering who its owner was, casually bringing a wild cat into public may have been one of the less surprising things Dalà ever did.
The First Selfie Is Much Older Than You Think
In 1839, photography pioneer Robert Cornelius sat perfectly still long enough to create a self-portrait using the daguerreotype process. The resulting image is widely regarded as one of the earliest photographic portraits and one of history’s first photographic self-portraits.
People Played Human Chess
Long before video games offered giant virtual chessboards, people occasionally turned the game into a full-scale spectacle. Historical photographs show “human chess” matches in which costumed participants stood in for pieces on enormous boards while other people decided their moves.
Queen Elizabeth II Was Pretty Handy With a Camera
Queen Elizabeth II was photographed using cameras throughout her life and was known to enjoy photography herself. Images of the monarch concentrating on getting her own shot offer an amusing reversal of roles for someone who spent most of her life being photographed by everyone else.
A Bicycle Could Fit an Entire Family
Multi-seat bicycles were not limited to tandems built for two. Photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries show enormous cycles designed for several riders, including machines with enough seats to make a modern family bike ride look remarkably straightforward.
The Eiffel Tower Had a Newspaper Office
Gustave Eiffel did more than build an observation deck into his famous Parisian tower. During the 1889 World’s Fair, Le Figaro briefly operated a printing press and newspaper office on the tower’s second level, producing a special daily edition for visitors.
Women Used Flour Sacks to Make Clothes
During the Great Depression, families frequently reused cotton sacks that had held flour, animal feed, and other goods to make clothing. Manufacturers eventually noticed and began producing sacks with colorful printed patterns, turning practical packaging into material people actually wanted to wear.
London’s First Escalator Came With an Employee to Calm Passengers
When Harrods introduced an early escalator in 1898, the unfamiliar ride could apparently be unnerving enough to require some reassurance. Accounts of the opening say an employee waited at the top to offer passengers a drink after they completed their journey.
The Michelin Man Used to Smoke Cigars
Early versions of Bibendum, better known as the Michelin Man, were surprisingly different from today’s cheerful white mascot. Advertisements frequently depicted him with a cigar, reflecting both the era’s advertising culture and the character’s original image as a wealthy, imposing figure.
People Had Portable Record Players
Portable music did not begin with the Walkman. Early 20th-century photographs and advertisements show compact gramophones packed into suitcase-like cases, allowing people to bring records along for picnics, trips, and other outings.
A Car Had a Pedestrian Scoop on the Front
In the 1920s, inventors experimented with devices intended to make collisions with pedestrians less dangerous. One solution resembled a large scoop attached to the front of a car, designed to catch a person rather than allow them to fall beneath the wheels.
People Watched Television Through Glasses in 1963
Long before VR headsets, inventor Hugo Gernsback appeared in Life magazine wearing his unusual “Teleyeglasses”. The bulky device placed tiny television screens directly in front of the wearer’s eyes, producing a remarkably familiar silhouette more than half a century before modern headsets became common.
The Beatles Had a Pillow Fight in a Paris Hotel
In 1964, photographer Harry Benson captured the Beatles having a pillow fight at the George V hotel in Paris. The spontaneous-looking photographs became some of the group’s most famous early images and show four rapidly rising stars behaving more like kids on a school trip.
Drive-In Theaters Once Had Tiny Heaters for Each Car
Watching a movie from your car was considerably less appealing during a freezing winter night, so some drive-ins came prepared. Vintage photographs show small individual heaters that could be brought into cars, allowing audiences to keep watching even when the temperature dropped.