#1 In 1972, Dr. John Fryer Risked His Career To Tell His Colleagues That Gay People Were Not Mentally Ill. His Act Sent Ripples Through The Legal, Medical, And Justice Systems
#2 In 1928, 16-Year-Old Elizabeth “Betty” Robinson Schwartz Became The First Woman Ever Awarded An Olympic Gold Medal For Track And Field
#3 A Shoe Doll That Belonged To A Child In The Slums Of London, Ca. 1905
Human history embodies more of the grimdark grittiness and chaos of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ than the nobledark heroism of ‘The Lord of the Rings’... unfortunately.
That’s not to say that all of history is just misery and endless suffering. Far from it. There’s a lot of joy and beauty to be found as well. But it’s a mix of thoroughly positive and quirky events happening alongside miserable ones. Humor and quirkiness have been around since, well, forever. They’re not recent inventions.
#6 A Giant Snowman Measuring 17 Ft., Made By Two Girls In Aberdeen, Scotland, 1963
The common thread between good journalists and historians is that they fundamentally care about the truth. Or at least getting as close to it as possible.
Unlike what you see on TV and the silver screen, the real world isn’t quite as neat. There’s lots of nuance. There are plenty of shades of gray. Heroes aren’t completely heroic. And most tales don’t have a happy or tidy ending.
#7 An Early Ambulance Operated By St John, In The U.k., 1920. The Patient Was Placed In A Coffin-Like Sidecar And The Lid Was Closed For Transport
#8 A Japanese Woman Carrying Her Children In A Bucket On Her Head, Japan, Ca. 1900s
#9 Emile Leray (Born 1949) Is A French Electrician Who Is Most Noteworthy For Transforming A Car Into A Motorcycle While Stranded In The Sahara Desert
“I had travelled round Africa about 10 times, so I knew the region well and therefore had no concerns,” said Leray “I decided to do it in a 2CV because, although it is not a 4×4, it is tough. In Africa they call it the ‘Steel Camel’ because it goes everywhere — provided you drive it gently. I obviously was too rough.” Not long after, Leray’s 2CV broke down in the middle of the desert, far from civilization. With no way to call for help and limited supplies, he realized he had to take drastic action if he wanted to survive. Over the course of 12 days, using only the tools and parts he had with him, Emile Leray disassembled his car and built a makeshift motorcycle from the chassis, engine, wheels, and suspension of the 2CV. He created a bare-bones, motorized bike using the rear wheels for traction and mounted the engine in a way that allowed it to drive the wheels. He used parts of the car body as protection and fuel storage. He rationed his food and water carefully, using just 0.5 liters of water per day.
After completing the bike, Leray was able to ride out of the desert and eventually reached safety. Yet the police who met him were less excited, and especially unimpressed with his makeshift vehicle which failed to conform with the specifications of the Citroën 2CV Leray had registered. They slapped him with a hefty fine, worth 4,550 dirhams (450 euros). Emile Leray’s story has been featured in engineering circles, survival magazines, and even in automotive history as one of the most extreme examples of field improvisation. His modified 2CV-motorcycle still exists and has been shown in various exhibitions.
Getting to the bottom of things that happened in the past is hard enough as it is, with so many years, decades, and centuries between you and the events.
Unfortunately, quite often, you also have to sift through a ton of misinformation, biases, agendas, bad assumptions, and misinterpretations of sources.
#10 The Woman Was Photographed On The Background Of Painted Canvas Covering The Destroyed Buildings, Warsaw, 1946
#11 French Knife Grinders In Thiers From The Early 20th Century. They Would Work On Their Stomachs To Save Their Backs From Being Hunched All Day And Had Dogs Sit On Their Legs For Warmth
#12 Mourning Mask And Veil Worn By Empress Elisabeth Of Austria After The S*****e Of Her Only Son, Crown Prince Rudolf, At His Hunting Lodge At Mayerling, 1889
According to Margot Note Consulting LLC, if you want to produce sound historical research, then you need reliable primary sources.
“Records created at the same time as an event, or as close as possible to it, usually have a greater chance of being accurate than records created years later, especially by someone without firsthand knowledge of the event.”
#13 This Isn’t Just A Superb Example Of Dorothea Lange’s Documentary Photography Of Hand-Painted Signs (A Frequent Subject Of Hers), But An Example Of How She So Poignantly Captured Snapshots Of America’s Sociopolitical Landscape
#14 Close-Up Portrait Of Canadian Actor Donald Sutherland As He Poses, Half Clean-Shaven And Half With Chin-Length Hair, New York, 1970
#15 A Few Seconds After This Photo The Pair Were Struck By Lightning. They Both Survived
“When you are conducting research, you want to corroborate the contents of the document you are working with information from other sources that have been proven to be legitimate,” archival expert Note writes.
It’s not just documents that can be considered primary sources. Non-textual sources like photographs work, too.
As per the archival expert, you have to consider two main aspects of reliability. The first one is the record itself. And the second is that you need to consider the individual pieces of evidence within the source itself.
#16 A Man Checks His E-Mail Over A Public Pay Telephone Using A Panasonic Rl-P4001 Acoustic Coupler Dial-Up Modem Attached To A Panasonic Rl-H1400 Hhc (Hand-Held Computer) In The Early 1980s
#18 Flashback To 1988 When A 25-Foot Shark From "Jaws" Rode Through Boston En Route To The Museum Of Science To Be Part Of A Science Of Movie And Television Magic Exhibit
Note emphasizes that some of the main things that you should ask yourself when considering the reliability of a source include:
- Who made the record, when, and why?
- Was the source created at the same time as the event it describes?
- Who is the informant, and were they taking part in the original event, were they using secondhand information, and did they have an agenda?
- Is the information presented in the record logical, and does it all make sense in the context of the time, place, and people researched?
#19 An Original Car Wash Designed To Mainly Clean The Undercarriages Since Most Roads Were Still Dirt Roads In Chicago, Us In 1924
#20 This Is A Cover Of Life Magazine From 1914. They Predicted What People Would Be Wearing In 1950. There Is A Caption Under The Illustration Saying, “Weren’t They Funny?”
