41 Rare Historical Photos That Will Completely Transform How You See The Past

1.

Did you know women were encouraged to douche with Lysol in the ’40s for hygiene and even contraception?

2.

This person actually found an old bottle in their home from when it had this purpose.

3.

Speaking of dangerous things advertised to women…literal arsenic wafers. Women were told that if they ate them, it would help their skin.

4.

This ad also did not age very well.

5.

Touch screen techonology has been around way longer than you probably thought — in 1986, Buick actually tried out touch screens on their cars.

6.

Did you know the last lawful execution by guillotine in the Western world was in 1977? The man’s name was Hamida Djandoubi, and he was executed in France for murder. This is him.

7.

Here’s what Nirvana charged for a ticket in 1993…and their reaction to higher ticket prices. For reference, $17 in early 1993 would be about $38-$39 today.

8.

This example of a literary test* for Black potential voters in 1960s Louisiana demonstrates how such tests were used to confuse test-takers and prevent them from voting.

9.

This news article from 1912 is straight-up eerie — and sad — to see now, considering how little we’ve done to combat climate change.

11.

Another thing that aged very badly? When Neville Chamberlain, then Prime Minister of Britain, met with Hitler (along with France’s Édouard Daladier and Italy’s Benito Mussolini) to essentially cede part of Czechoslovakia in exchange for Hitler’s pledge of peace, he came home and declared, “Peace in our time.” This was, of course, not what happened. Just under a year later, Hitler invaded Poland, starting World War II.

12.

Check out the old Pledge of Allegiance. Notice anything strange? It doesn’t feature “Under God.” That was added in 1954.

13.

Ever wonder what condoms used to look like…?

14.

Wanna see a Russian machine gun from WWII? It’s kind of awesome (and also terrifying). The machine gun is way older than I realized — the first fully automatic machine gun was invented in 1884.

15.

Speaking of WWII, this propaganda poster is wild to see now. It speaks to the sentiment of the time — that women were dumb and wouldn’t understand political or war speak — and warns men that they could actually be spies (or could gossip to people who were).

17.

Also, check out the “drunkometer,” an early version of the modern breathalyzer.

18.

I can’t even imagine what it felt like to receive these papers giving a family permission to leave Germany in 1940.

19.

This is what glasses for blind people used to look like back in 1850, and it’s kind of cyberpunk.

20.

As someone who remmebers 9/11, but wasn’t old enough to really understand it, it’s eerie to see these newspapers released in the wake of the attack.

21.

Speaking of NYC, here’s what the Empire State Building looked like when it was first built in the early ’30s. Now, tbh, it always feels smaller than I want it to be. Also, fun fact: there were originally plans to have blimps or airships dock at the top of the building. A dirigible did actually briefly dock in 1931.

22.

Wanna see a torture mask from Germany in the 19th century? It’s pretty horrifying.

23.

Here’s another torture device. Invented in the 1500s, it was used primarily to punish women after they had gossiped or spoken out of turn. Messed up, right?

24.

The very first Amazon office, from 1994, is a far cry from what they are today.

25.

And this old parody news report aged very, very poorly.

26.

This old illustration of a Siberian unicorn is incredible because THEY ACTUALLY EXISTED. They were essentially giant rhinos with horns, and they became extinct approximately 200,000 years ago (how’s that for history?). Forget regular unicorns, I want more of these guys in fantasy series.

27.

And did you know this is how big turtles used to be?

28.

Did you know they had to do tilting tests for London’s famous double-decker buses to make sure they wouldn’t fall over on the streets? Here’s one such test from 1933.

29.

Check out these tickets for the Olympics held in Paris in 1924. A little different than today, huh?

30.

And here’s what a plane ticket would’ve looked like if you wanted to attend.

31.

This 1920s motorized scooter cracks me up. Just imagine someone zooming down the street in one of these bad boys dressed like this. It’s also wild that motor scooters existed then!

32.

This ad for a computer is shocking to see now, considering how much $6k is in today’s money: almost $25k. Can you imagine spending that on a computer?

33.

Ever heard of the half-dime? Production started in the late 1700s and continued even after the nickel was introduced, until the nickel eventually replaced it post-1873. There was also a three-cent coin that I’ve personally never even heard of, which was around until the 1880s, when it was discontinued because the new version of the dime looked too similar. There was also once a half-cent coin, which declined even earlier.

34.

Speaking of money, I bet you didn’t know there’s such a thing as a $100,000 bill. It’s from the 1930s, and it was not meant for people to actually use; rather, it was to be used between Federal Reserve branches.

35.

This doctor’s medicine bag is probably full of illegal and expired meds now, but it’s still cool to see what doctors carried around in the 1930s.

36.

And apparently, this used to be normal back in the day.

37.

This electric corset from the late 1800s or the early 1900s looks…uncomfortable, to say the least. “Electric” devices were all the rage then, ranging from belts to brushes to garters. They were reported to have medicinal and therapeutic uses. It seems to have used magnets, not electricity, and no, it didn’t work.

38.

Speaking of corsets, the woman with the smallest waist in history is Ethel Granger, who had a 14-inch waist.

39.

This letter from a soldier sounds like it could have been written only a hundred years ago. However, it’s actually an 1,800-year-old letter. It’s from a soldier deployed in a Roman legion sent to his family in Egypt. In the letter, he expresses frustration that his family has not replied, despite his having written them six letters. “You treat me so as a stranger,” he wrote, saying he was going to try to get leave to go see them.

40.

Obviously, it makes sense that WWI wouldn’t have been called “World War I” at the time, but it’s still weird to see this pre-WWII book called it “the world war.”

41.

Finally, Axel and Eigil Axgil were the first-ever couple worldwide to have a legally recognized same sex domestic partnership, which awarded them legal recognition comparable to married couples. Here they are in 1989 when they entered a domestic partnership. They’d been together 40 years. Oh, and BTW, their last name is a mix of their first names! They’d combined them all the way back in 1956.