Photography & Digital Art,CuriositiesOCT 4, 2022

Netizens Highlight 30 Big Historical Events That Happened Around A Century Ago

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In 1826, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took the first photograph to have survived to the present day, capturing the view from the window of his studio in Le Gras, France. Just a few years passed and photography had firmly entered people's lives, and history lovers received a new, truly invaluable source of information.

Almost two centuries have passed since then, literally every outstanding person during this time managed to end up on photographic paper, and we know exactly how almost all famous historical events took place. And, of course, there are many not-so-outstanding ones - after all, every person wants to leave a memory of themselves in history, even if it is just a faded piece of cardboard measuring ten by fifteen inches.

Historical photos are of particular interest - it's always great to see how people lived, for example, a hundred years ago. By the way, there is an extremely popular community on Reddit called "100 Years Ago" with over 686K participants. Initially, it was conceived in August 2013 as an attempt by enthusiasts to historically document World War I in photographs, day by day.

But as time went on, it was November 12, 2018 - and community members already enjoyed posting photos taken exactly a century before the current date so much that they continued to do so. As a result, we can now, for example, look at photographs shot in October 1922.

Perhaps, if everything in our world goes well, our descendants will look with interest in this community for some pictures from 2022, but for now, Bored Panda has compiled for you this selection of the most popular and most intriguing community historical photos. So fasten your seat belts, our time machine is going back in time!

More info: Reddit

#1 [july 18, 1920] James Gregory Is Inducted As Morristown, New Jersey’s First Black Policeman

NordyNed

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207points

#2 [february 9, 1920] My Grandfather Wanted To Be A Cartoonist. He Worked For The Railroad Instead, Sending Home Many Letters

Ignorantsportsguy

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204points

#3 [may 16, 1920] Szmul Rzeszewski, An 8-Year-Old Boy, Makes World Headlines When He Defeats 20 Challengers In Paris, Including Some Of The Best Chess Players On Earth, Simultaneously

[may 16, 1920] Szmul Rzeszewski, An 8-Year-Old Boy, Makes World Headlines When He Defeats 20 Challengers In Paris, Including Some Of The Best Chess Players On Earth, Simultaneously

NordyNed

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191points

#4 [january 17, 1922] Betty White Was Born.

Nathans_Bikeapedia

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185points

#5 [february 6, 1922] Chief John Smith Died. He Was An Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indian Who Lived His Entire Life In The Cass Lake, Minnesota Area, And Was Reputed To Have Been 137 Years Old When He Died Of Pneumonia

[february 6, 1922] Chief John Smith Died. He Was An Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indian Who Lived His Entire Life In The Cass Lake, Minnesota Area, And Was Reputed To Have Been 137 Years Old When He Died Of Pneumonia

cabeachgal

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182points

After photography came into vogue in the first half of the 19th century, many artists seriously feared that they would now lose their jobs - after all, the camera conveyed reality, landscapes and portraits in much more detail than any painter.

But it turned out exactly the opposite - deprived of the need to follow reality, the artists gave free rein to their imagination - and the second half of the 19th century became a real flowering of various artistic styles. This, by the way, is repeating itself with modern designers and their nightmares of losing their jobs due to the development of neural networks.

#6 [august 16, 1920] After Finding The Bricklaying Business Too Full Of UPS And Downs, This Amazing Young Girl Decided To Take A Shot At Iron Girdering For A Change

[august 16, 1920] After Finding The Bricklaying Business Too Full Of UPS And Downs, This Amazing Young Girl Decided To Take A Shot At Iron Girdering For A Change

NordyNed

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165points

#7 [july 27, 1920] Sailing Into Yokohama Harbor, Japan

NordyNed

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162points

#8 [august 15, 1919] Downtown Baghdad, Iraq, Totally Untouched By War

NordyNed

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160points

#9 [december 28, 1920] Amelia Earhart Flies For The First Time, Sparking Her Lifelong Interest In Aviation. She Disappeared At Sea Just 16 Years Later

B_C_S

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147points

#10 [june 13th, 1920] The United States Post Office Department Rules That Children May Not Be Sent Via Parcel Post

michaelnoir

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141points

Interestingly, most of the vintage photographs that we review are actually almost always staged - even those that look completely casual. “The thing is, a hundred years ago it was literally impossible to take a picture on the street without drawing attention to yourself,” says Dmitry Kravtsov, a documentary and portrait photographer from Ukraine, who was approached by Bored Panda for comment.

#11 [july 20, 1919] United Kingdom Flag Created Out Of A Giant Human Formation 1919

Thats_JustGreat

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137points

#12 [july 16th, 1921] Proper Date For The "How You Think You Look" Cartoon As Published In Judge Magazine

michaelnoir

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129points

#13 [january 15th, 1920] On January 15, 1920, Traumatized Customers Make A Run On A Liquor Store The Day Before Prohibition In America Begins

michaelnoir

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129points

#14 [february 13th, 1922] Woman Seated At A Soda Fountain Table Pouring Alcohol Into A Cup From A Cane

MonsieurA

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#15 [october 5 1919] Enzo Ferrari, An Italian Car Mechanic And Engineer, Enters His First Race. He Finished Fourth

Ferrari was a good driver, but not great. He won just 13 of the 47 races he entered. Some say he cared too much for the sports cars he drove and could never ruin an engine in order to win.

cabeachgal

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125points

"Remember what photographic equipment was more than a hundred years ago - a tripod, a cape for a photographer, a massive camera - of course, all this attracted the attention of people around," Dmitry comments. "So even if people were asked to ignore the photographer, they still tried to look more impressive, even unconsciously. And now we look at these photos, and think - hell, even ordinary people looked so stylish a hundred years ago!"

#16 [may 11, 1917] Kurdish Girls Carrying Water, May 11, 1917

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#17 [june 10th, 1922] Frances Ethel Gumm Is Born In Grand Rapids, Minnesota

She'd go on to become Judy Garland and have an illustrious career as an actress and singer, her most iconic role being that of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

KawaiiPotato15

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121points

#18 [april 3rd, 1920] In One Of The Great Celebrity Marriages Of The Year, Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald And Flapper Zelda Sayre Were Married In New York City, Eight Days After The Publication Of His Bestselling Novel, "This Side Of Paradise"

[april 3rd, 1920] In One Of The Great Celebrity Marriages Of The Year, Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald And Flapper Zelda Sayre Were Married In New York City, Eight Days After The Publication Of His Bestselling Novel, "This Side Of Paradise"

michaelnoir

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118points

#19 [july 15, 1919] An Unidentified Couple Posed For A Photo Just After Getting Engaged On July 15, 1919

cabeachgal

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116points

#20 [november 25, 1919] Italian Opera Singer Luisa Tetrazzini, At Her Arrival In New York Aboard The Liner Mauretania On Nov. 25, 1919

DyersvilleStLambert

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110points

“As for classic staged or studio photographs, there’s nothing to say here. They prepared for the shooting in advance, put on the most beautiful outfits, took spectacular poses. Many photographers in their studios even had entire reference books - collections of beautiful poses, both for singles and for pair and group shots. And do not forget that an ordinary person, not rich or famous, took no more than ten photographs in their life - after all, they were expensive, really expensive," says Dmitry Kravtsov.

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