1.
Here’s the theater chair that President Lincoln was assassinated in.
2.
Here’s a book about WWI before WWII happened — meaning WWI was only considered “the world war.”
3.
Here’s an old letter from an American soldier fighting in WWII to a woman back in the States, describing his fellow soldiers.
4.
And here’s a wildly racist “Japanese Hunting License” from WWII.
5.
If you’ve never heard of a “blood chit” before, it’s basically a card, patch, or other item kept or sewn on a soldier in the event that they crash their plane or end up incapacitated somewhere. Whoever finds the soldier can read the patch, where the same message is printed in many languages: “I am a citizen of the United States of America. I do not speak your language. Misfortune forces me to seek your assistance in obtaining food, shelter and protection. Please take me to someone who will provide for my safety and see that I am returned to my people. My government will reward you.”
6.
Here’s what the Pledge of Allegiance used to look like — the “Under God” wasn’t added until 1954.
7.
And “In God We Trust” was not added to paper currency until 1957. Found some old money in a box of my late grandmother’s. Here, you can see the difference between a bill from 1939 and 1957.
8.
Ever wonder what it was like to be a prisoner of war? Well, this person’s grandpa was one during WWII, and you can check out his ID card from his time as a POW in Guernsey here.
9.
Here are some doodles from 1878 that show not much has really changed after all.
10.
This 1800s graffiti by prisoners in England also makes me feel weirdly connected to the past.
11.
As does this 2000-year-old paw print from a dog or cat.
12.
These old potato chips also make me feel connected to the past, though I find it funny they call it “a healthy food.”
13.
This is what an undesirable discharge from the ’70s looks like. Different from dishonorable discharge, this was often used to expel gay men from the army (though in the below case, the poster claimed that he thinks the man, his great uncle, went AWOL and came home).
14.
In comparison, this is what a honorable discharge from the Civil War looks like.
15.
The ~$100 hospital bill from a 6-day birthing stay in 1956 will probably make you very, very angry.
16.
As will the price of this 1984 Michael Jackson ticket.
17.
These tickets from the ’70s will likely make you even angrier. This person saw Aerosmith for NINE DOLLARS.
18.
Did you know there’s such a thing as a $10,000 bill and a 3-cent bill? The $10,000 bill hasn’t been issued since the ’60s, and the 3-cent bill (used in place of coins as people hoarded metal during the Civil War) hasn’t been issued since the 1870s.
19.
There also used to be $1000 bills.
20.
Ever wonder what Confederate money from the Civil War looked like?
21.
How about a draft notice for the Civil War?
22.
Here’s a Vietnam War draft notice for comparison.
23.
It’s super wild to see this “invasion note” from when Japan invaded the Philippines in the 1940s, introducing their own currency (the Filipinos had destroyed, dumped, or sent away their own currency). These were colloquially known as “Mickey Mouse Bills” because there were no reserves to back up the bills, which were constantly becoming worth less and less during a period of terrible inflation.
24.
Speaking of Mickey Mouse…did you know there were multiple versions of the Disney logo? These are different ideas from 1975, when they changed the logo to what we know it as today.
25.
It’s also soooo wild to see an old magnet from Amazon back in the day. This is from when they only sold books.
26.
Lysol also used to look a *little* different.
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Along with Kodak film.
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And National Geographic.
29.
This isn’t quite as old, but I still find it fascinating to see what old Mastercards looked like in the ’70s.
30.
This ad, also from the ’70s, is far more wild to see. Who thought a baby hammock — for a CAR, no less — was a good idea?
31.
This ad is somehow more bizarre. A pet monkey for under $20???
32.
This machine, though, actually makes me want to travel back in time to the ’60s…or go visit the person with this machine.
33.
Ever get frustrated that your Social Security card is just a flimsy piece of paper? Well, people used to have brass social security cards made as stand-ins for the paper versions – this is what they used to look like.
34.
I’m kind of obsessed with this old Social Security pamphlet, which looks like something from Fallout.
35.
It’s also so interesting to see political propaganda from back in the day. This was made to protest Nixon’s New Economic Policy, which devalued the dollar and delinked it from gold.
36.
Buttons from old elections are super weird to see today. I can’t even imagine how different presidential elections were before modern media.
37.
This is what fire extinguishers used to look like in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were essentially bulbs filled with water and some sort of fire suppression liquid that you could throw at a fire (or would break on their own when exposed to fire) to attempt to extinguish the flames.
38.
TIL, the Army used to issue lighters to soldiers. Here’s what one from WWII looked like.
39.
Here’s what a Japanese Rifle from WWII looks like.
40.
And here’s what’s left of an old bayonet someone found from WWI.
41.
Here’s what first aid kits form the early 1900s looked like — this one even includes morphine.
42.
Jumping forward quite a bit, here’s what very old computers looked like.
43.
This is what old TV remotes looked like back in the ’60s.
44.
This 1985 dorm room is truly a time capsule.
45.
Today’s kids don’t even know about floppy disks — and I’ll be honest with y’all, even as a millennial, I had no idea they were ever this big.
46.
It’s actually super cool to see the evolution of the floppy disk — from a giant size to the smaller, more familiar version to me and then to all the tiny equivalents we have today.
47.
In case you think vaccine cards are some new COVID-era thing, here are polio vaccine cards from the ’60s.
48.
And here are even older vaccine cards from the early 1900s.
49.
It’s super weird to see a passport from Yugoslavia, a country that hasn’t existed since ’92.
50.
It’s also strange to see this Australian passport from back when Australia was still a British colony.
51.
This is not just any old bible — this is a bible a WWI bullet ripped through, saving the holder’s life.
52.
This Vietnam War-era Army book is super interesting to see now.
53.
As is this teacup made in occupied Japan.
54.
Any Theodore Roosevelt fans here? This guy’s got a letter from Teddy framed in his house.
55.
This 1918 newspaper declaring the end of WWI is particularly interesting — especially because it prematurely declared the end of the war.
56.
This old, almost perfectly preserved newspaper about Hitler’s rise to power is eerie to see now.
57.
And here’s a paper from the 1700s that’s still in damn good shape.
58.
Speaking of newspapers, here’s a bit of a printing block from during the Civil War.
60.
Though this shopping list from the ’30s makes me feel like some things never change (except “tapioca” and “blanc mange powder” being musts).
61.
And finally, this is what old congressional records looked like. Let’s hope today’s government workers are grateful for digitization.
