I'll admit it: I'm a history nerd. But even if you were the type of person who zoned out during every single high school history lesson, you have to admit, there's something fascinating about seeing rare old photos — of everyday life and the groundbreaking events of decades past.
So I've compiled some historical photos that actually kind of made my brain explode all over the walls. Prepare to be fascinated:
1.
The first surviving quintuplets in Texas belonged to a couple named Jerry and Debbie Davis, and they were born in 1975. There was only one boy (in the middle), and they're now 51 years old:
2.
Here's one patient's back a couple years after the Hiroshima bombing in 1945:
3.
And here's what Mount Rushmore looked like while it was in progress, around the 1930s–1940s:
4.
This image from 1903 displays a tiger that supposedly killed 200 people in Calcutta, India, and was therefore locked up:
5.
In this image, we can see Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter competing in the 1970 Miss World pageant. This was five years before the first Wonder Woman season premiered:
6.
Kathy Switzer was the first woman to participate in the Boston Marathon in 1967, and, well, a lot of men weren't fans of that. In this image from the marathon, a man is pulling Kathy back in protest:
7.
Here's what John Lennon and Yoko Ono looked like on their wedding day, on March 20, 1969. In this picture, they're holding their wedding certificate:
8.
When Germany surrendered in World War II, celebrations broke out all over the world. This picture is from New York in May 1945, the day the news broke:
9.
This French ad from 1934 portrays communism as "the cancer":
10.
Audrey Hepburn gave birth to her first child Sean in 1960. This image displays her and her first husband, Mel Ferrer, in the hospital shortly afterward:
11.
In 1965, a huge power failure hit eight states in the US and parts of Canada. Twelve hours into the failure, New Yorkers waited desperately for the subway to reopen:
12.
Here's a picture of President Roosevelt in Georgia at Thanksgiving dinner in 1938. It wasn't just an ordinary dinner, though — he spent it at the Warm Springs Foundation for children with polio:
13.
Can you guess who this is? Yep, that's Marilyn Monroe before she made it big. This portrait is from 1946, and she was only 19 at the time:
14.
Here's an image from 1964 of President Lyndon B. Johnson standing outside the home where he was born. He was 56 here, and the home is on the now-famous LBJ ranch in Stonewall, Texas:
15.
In 1961, figure skater Peggy Fleming's coach died in a catastrophic plane crash, as well as the entire 1961 US figure skating team. Seven years later, Peggy won gold for figure skating at the Olympics, the same year this photo is from:
16.
In this picture, we can see Walt Disney and songwriter Johnny Mercer working on the movie Song of the South, which came out in 1946. The film is best-known for the song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," which won an Oscar:
17.
Nadia Comăneci was the first woman to ever receive a perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics in 1976 — and, get this, she was only 14 at the time. Here's a photo of her at the Olympics from that same year:
18.
This image is of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sally Field from the set of the 1976 movie Stay Hungry:
19.
In 1970, this self-service airplane ticket machine was the latest high-tech invention for American Airlines:
20.
In this picture, five women are taking their oaths to officially become nurses for the US Navy. The second woman from the right is the first-ever Black nurse in the Navy, Phyllis Mae Dailey:
21.
Judy Garland is obviously best-known for The Wizard of Oz, but you might also be aware that she's Liza Minnelli's mother. This picture of the mother-daughter pair is from when Liza was starring in the musical Best Foot Forward in 1963. Liza was 17 here, the exact same age Judy was when The Wizard of Oz came out:
22.
And here's a picture of Judy from 1939, when she was 17 — she's kissing her longtime bestie and fellow actor Mickey Rooney after he presented her with an award:
23.
In case you're not done with gymnastics photos: check out this group of male gymnasts in 1910, who are performing a truly mind-boggling stunt at the YMCA:
24.
The women in this 1965 picture are protesting the addition of fluoride in the New York water supply. This fluoridation began in 1966 and remains to this day:
25.
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. This image from 1977 displays a delegate holding the rifle that James Earl Ray used to kill him:
26.
In this picture from 1965, two Planned Parenthood clinic workers are celebrating a court ruling supporting birth control:
27.
This image is from a protest against the Vietnam War in 1967. Protesters walked from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon, a two-mile walk:
Similarly: What's your favourite historical fact or event? Tell us in this quick anonymous form, or in the comments below!
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