Lost in History is an online page—one that has a presence on multiple social media, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, where it has its largest following at 1.2 million—that focuses on showing interesting glimpses into human history.
By interesting, we mean lesser-known or lesser-seen moments from the past that stand out more than others. Either because they are weird or bizarre or just different, or because you mayhaps didn’t think of it that way, or it was a stepping stone to greatness in a certain field (e.g. medicine), and the like.
Whatever the case, it’s definitely a unique take on history, and this page shows it.
More specifically, the page features events, people or just plain ol’ things (or different angles thereof, in some senses) that you don’t see every day. Take the Titanic, for instance: it’s made out to be this huge cruise ship that was tanked by an iceberg, like a gargantuan natural force that took down a behemoth of technological advancement in logistics, but by today’s standard, it’s kinda tiny. But size doesn’t matter, right?
Here’s the King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley caught off-guard in an early-day selfie. Here’s Fidel Castro as a young boy back in his school days. Here’s a man begging his wife not to be divorced. Things you just don’t see every day, or on the front page of history.
And speaking of unique angles on history, History Today elaborates on it by saying that history is narratives. It’s a certain kind of journey to explain things, decisions, outcomes, facts, whatever, and these various narratives hold them.
The article also proposes that the main task of history as a discipline is to be the epicenter of a constructive debate on our existence and everything in it—from political systems to leadership to economy to society and culture.
While it can be argued that the study of the “how” and the “why” in all things history seems like the most interesting part of the discipline, the entirety of history is as important as everything else in it. It’s more than just specific stories—context also matters, and marginalizing history will in fact hinder the full potential understanding of what’s what.
All romanticism aside, history is what led to the way things are today and can ultimately lead to how things will be in the future. Massive Open Online Courses, an online education organization, puts it into perspective:
“Take the Great Depression, for example—one of the most difficult but impactful periods in American history. The economic crisis put almost 15 million people out of work and sent countless families into homelessness, stealing their sense of security. Many of those people would feel insecure for the rest of their lives.”
“The government had to learn how to help. This effort gave rise to Social Security, federal emergency relief programs, and funding for unemployment efforts. These changes continue to make life more secure for millions of Americans.”
“Society today comes from hundreds and thousands of actions like these. The more you learn about how these things happened, the better you understand real life.”