Poignant Historical Photos Showing Life in the Past
Everything is advancing so fast that it's tough to remember how life used to be before smartphones, the internet, and food deliveries available at any time of the day. Things were slower, that's for sure, and at the time, it felt like they were too slow for their own good. Now, we wish we could slow down just a bit every now and then instead of being dragged to the next thing, and then to the next.
And the more information - or TikToks - we consume today, the more we forget about the past and its rich history. Some things weren't really that different in nature, but societies evolved, for better or for worse, and new needs arose.
But it's good to go back and check how things were, even if there are too many wars to count. So, here are some poignant historical photos showing life in the past, from happy celebrities to unique individuals of the world.
The Great Blizzard of 1947
This is what New York looked like back then.
Mr. Rodgers at the US Senate
Advocating for the importance of non-commercial media in child development in 1969.
South African Miners
Descending to the mine on a cable car in the 1880s.
Smoking the Peace Pipe
Mayor Fiorello La Guardia wearing a Native American headdress and sitting between the chiefs of the Cheyenne and Arapaho in 1938. He was given the name of 'Chief of the Rising Clouds.'
Mall Record Store
This is what the '90s looked like.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in 1970
Lorne Greene and Betty White riding horses, because it was pretty normal to do that back then.
Live Aid
The iconic concert at JFK Stadium in 1985.
Happy Couple
Liam Neeson and Helen Mirren together in 1984.
F1 Photographers
Taking all the risks in Monaco in 1968.
Beers in the Bumper
1970s style.
Smoking Ladies
In a mall in the '80s, when it was totally okay to do it.
SS Eastland
The capsizing of the ship in the Chicago River in 1915 killed 844 passengers and crew.
FBI Agent delivering ransom
$1,000,000 in cash for the Delta plane hijackers in 1972. Yes, the FBI agent is in his underwear.
Battle of the Bulge
A US soldier shakes hands with a dog in Luxembourg in 1944. Not the best picture depicting the battle, but at least it's very cool.
Skeletor at Toys R US
1985 was the bomb.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1930
Modest balloons of popular characters at the time.
Three Gentlemen
In Stockholm, Sweden, in the 1880s.
Soviet Pineapples
The '70s were the first time they saw real pineapples.
New York Subway
A whole aesthetic.
New York Dogs
Served by a man who should be a boxer.
