45 Of The Most Captivating Historical Pictures, As Shared By This Instagram Account

On August 8th 1982 a line drive foul ball hits a four year old boy, Jonathan Keane, in the head at Fenway Park. Jim Rice, realizing in a flash that it would take EMTs too long to arrive and cut through the crowd, sprang from the dugout and scooped up the boy. He laid the boy gently on the dugout floor, where the Red Sox medical team began to treat him. When the boy arrived at the hospital 30 minutes later, doctors said Jim’s prompt actions were instrumental in saving the boy’s life. Jim returned to the game in a blood stained uniform. A real badge of courage. After visiting the boy in the hospital, and realizing the family was of modest means, he stopped by the business office and instructed that the medical bill be sent to him. The spring following the incident, Jonathan was asked to throw the ceremonial first pitch for the Red Sox’s home game opener. He gladly accepted and had the opportunity to reconnect with Rice.

These 3 Jewish men arrived in Auschwitz on the same day and were tattooed 10 numbers apart. 73 years later they are photographed meeting for the first time for the Last Eyewitness Project, as free men who survived to build families and prosperous lives.

Two boys make a trade in Kenya, 1962. 9 year old Kevin from New York had come to Kenya to join his stepfather as guest of a Maasai tribe, where he and the chief’s son Dionni became close companions. “The Maasai taught me lots of things,” Kevin wrote in his diary. “They are very nice people and we had no problems understanding each other. They taught me to shoot the heaviest bow I have ever seen and I taught Dionni how to play baseball and write his name. He doesn’t speak any English and I learned 11 words in Swahili.”

Father and son fool around whilst getting their picture taken in 1910.

Last photo of Hachikō, a Japanese Akita dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, for whom he continued to wait for over nine years following Ueno's death. In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University, brought him to live in Shibuya, Tokyo, as his pet. Hachikō would meet Ueno at Shibuya Station every day after his commute home. This continued until May 21, 1925, when Ueno died of a cerebral hemorrhage while at work. From then until his death on March 8, 1935, Hachikō would return to Shibuya Station every day to await Ueno's return.

A beach in Iran a few months before the Islamic Revolution of 1978/79.

A Japanese couple taking a self portrait in 1920.

A Senegalese WW1 soldier who lost both his arms writes a letter with his new prosthetic limbs at the Vocational Rehabilitation School for Amputees in Paris, 1918. He was part of the Senegalese Tirailleurs, a corps of colonial infantry in the French Army.

Mother holding her daughter at a Budapest market in 1987. 30 years later, they recreated the photo. The photographer is Atilla Manek. The subjects are his wife and daughter.

US Army technician Alvin Harley receives a kiss from a liberated French girl on Valentine’s Day, 1945.

Adam Rainer was born in 1899 in Austria. He holds an unusual distinction in medical history. He’s known as the only person that was both a dwarf and a giant. From birth into adulthood Rainer was always short and stood at just 3 foot 8 inches at the age of 19. But at 21 he began a growth spurt, due to a tumor on his pituitary gland, that made him over seven feet tall just 10 years later.

RMS Queen Elizabeth pulling into New York at the end of WW2 with returning soldiers, 1945. Her carrying capacity was over 15,000 troops and over 900 crew. While it may look overcrowded, it is because everyone was on deck as the ship pulled into the harbor.

Mailman N. Sorenson poses with his heavy load of Christmas mail and parcels in Chicago, 1929.

Simo Häyhä, also known as The White Death, was a Finnish sniper in WW2 during the 1939–1940 Winter War against the Soviet Union. Here are some facts about him: He had 500 confirmed kills in less than 100 days. He used no scope on his rifle. He held off 4,000 Soviets with only 31 other Finns. He was shot in the jaw with an exploding bullet, which ended his career. He survived and lived to the age of 96.

US soldier with pictures of his girlfriend attached to his helmet, Củ Chi base camp, Vietnam in 1968.

The bride who refused to let her wedding day be stolen by the Blitz bombing of London in 1940. The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during WW2. The Germans conducted mass air attacks against industrial targets, towns, and cities, beginning with raids on London towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940.

Escape artist Harry Houdini locked up in chains about to take a 30 foot plunge off the Harvard Bridge into the Charles River in Boston, 1908. Houdini is quoted as saying “there is always the possibility that I will be unable to free myself, as one never can tell what will happen to a lock, however, I am a good swimmer, have confidence in myself, and I hope to perform this feat successfully.” Some 20,000 spectators gathered to see Houdini’s leap, including the mayors of Boston and Cambridge. They waited 40 seconds for the magician to resurface, which he did with the shackles in his hands.

A Leading Stoker nicknamed “Popeye” with 21 years in service and fighting aboard the HMS Rodney, taken in 1940. "Stoker" remains the colloquial term used to refer to a Marine Engineering rating in the Royal Navy.

Ann Elizabeth Fowler Hodges, the first documented individual to not only be struck by a meteorite but also live through the encounter in 1954. The grapefruit sized fragment crashed through the roof of her farm house, bounced off a large wooden console radio, and hit Hodges while she napped on a couch. The 34 year old woman was badly bruised on one side of her body, but was able to walk. The event received worldwide publicity.

The famous 1930 painting “American Gothic” by Grant Wood depicts a farmer standing beside his daughter, often mistakenly assumed to be his wife. The painting is named for the house's architectural style in the background. The two faces in the painting were actually modeled by Wood’s sister Nan Wood Graham and their dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby (shown above).