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Photos play an important role in our understanding of history. They provide additional details about people, places, and events from different eras that written records sometimes simply cannot portray. Thanks to the surviving images, the past feels more tangible and relatable.

The Instagram account 'History in Black & White' is an excellent example of this. Trying its best to share historical pictures in their original form, the account allows us to take a look into everyday life and pivotal moments that otherwise wouldn't be available to us.

More info: Instagram

#1

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

A young boy playing the banjo to his dog in 1920.

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#2

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Private James Hendrix of the 101st Airborne, playing guitar at Fort Campbell Kentucky in 1962. Jimi Hendrix went on to become one of the most influential guitarists of all time.

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To learn more about how to interpret these photographs, we contacted Danielle Burton—historian, heritage worker, and the voice behind the blog Voyager of History.

"History is about anything that ever happened, but fundamentally, it's very often about people," said the author of Anthony Woodville: Sophisticate or Schemer? in an interview with Bored Panda.

"Societies may have changed, but what makes people people—their emotions, motives, etc.—hasn't."

#3

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

Sergeant William Henry “Black Death” Johnson of the 369th Infantry Regiment (Harlem Hellfighters) wearing his Croix de Guerre medal in circa 1918. In North France, Johnson single-handedly fought off a German raiding party receiving 21 wounds in order to save fellow soldier Private Needham Roberts.

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#4

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a cat escaping from the Animal Rescue League in Boston, Massachusetts in 1940

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#5

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Harriet Tubman photographed in 1911 at the age of 89.

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History is such a vast subject that no one can possibly know it all. But if you look just a little deeper, you'll find something interesting.

"I think the Tudors are very much overdone," Burton said. "There are so many more interesting things on either side of the Tudor dynasty. My personal favorite period is the Wars of the Roses, without which the Tudors wouldn't have existed. The Stuart period that followed the Tudors is also fascinating."

"All of these periods are full of fractious societal dynamics that impacted the whole of society and revealed people's divided loyalties," the historian added.

#6

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A little girl holding her pet toad at a pet show at Venice Beach, California, USA in 1936.

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#7

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet for his wife Lucille in front of the Great Sphinx of Giza in Greater Cairo, Egypt, in 1961.

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#8

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

Statue of David by Michelangelo, encased in bricks to prevent damage from bombs, during World War 2. Photograph taken in the 1940s.

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#9

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A photograph of Edinburgh, Scotland from the sky taken by Alfred G. Buckham in the 1920s.

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The good thing is that you can satisfy your curiosity even if you're unable or unwilling to dive into academic literature.

"I would suggest to someone looking to learn more about history, but not quite ready for a more in-depth study, that they try finding blogs or popular history books to see which topics interest them and might inspire them to delve deeper," Burton added.

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"These can be well-referenced and serve as a good starting point for beginning your own research journey."

#10

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Roland, a 4,000 pound elephant seal, getting a snow bath from his handler at Berlin Zoo, Germany in c. 1930.

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#11

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Oda Nobuyoshi, Japanese Civil Rights activist and dentist during the Meiji Era. Photograph taken in 1880 when he was 20-years-old.

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#12

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A helmeted bulldog guarding a family outside a block of flats during the Blitz on the 15th October 1940

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#13

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Royal Navy stoker with 21 years service nicknamed “Popeye”, photographed on board the HMS Rodney in September 1940. A stoker was responsible for anything from the propulsion systems to hydraulics, electrical and firefighting systems. The HMS Rodney played a major role in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in mid-1941.

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#14

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

The iconic American wartime photograph "The Thousand Yard Stare" showing an exhausted 19-year-old US Marine Private Theodore J. Miller in February 1944 after two days of constant fighting at the Battle of Eniwetok. Miller would be killed in a firefight during the invasion of Ebon Atoll a month later on the 24 March 1944.

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#15

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Cow shoes used by moonshiners during the Prohibition Era to hide their footprints, June 18th, 1924.

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#16

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A federal agent inspects a 'lumber' truck after smelling alcohol during the prohibition period, Los Angeles, in 1926.

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#17

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Photograph of the oldest house in Hamburg, Germany taken in 1898. It was built in 1524 and, despite protests from locals, was demolished on the 8 December 1910.

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#18

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Mercury Trains photographed in 1936. Mercury was the name used by the New York Central Railroad for a family of daytime streamliner passenger trains operating between midwestern cities. The Mercury’s started operating in 1936 and lasted until 1959.

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#19

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The head of a Joseph Stalin statue on the streets of Budapest during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

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#20

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The train wreck at Montparnasse Station in Paris, France on or near the 22nd October 1895.

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#21

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A 16-year-old Bill Clinton, future 42nd President of the United States, shaking hands with 35th US President John F. Kennedy at a American Legion Boys Nation event on July 24th, 1963.

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#22

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A large crowd in Times Square, New York City celebrating the surrender of Germany, May 7th, 1945.

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#23

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Amiens Cathedral photographed during World War I showing the walls lined with sandbags in order to protect the building from artillery. Taken in Amiens, France in 1918.

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#24

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Robert Wadlow, the tallest man to ever live, with his family in c. 1930s. Wadlow stood at 8 ft 11.1 in (272 cm) tall.

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#25

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A group of Japanese Samurai photographed in front of the Sphinx in Giza, Egypt during a visit to the country, 1864.

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An open-air school in the Netherlands photographed in 1957.

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#27

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

Sadie Pfeifer, a young girl working at the Lancaster Cotton Mills in Lancaster, South Carolina, in 30 November 1908. At the time of the photograph, Sadie had worked at the mill for half a year.

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#28

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The last photo ever of Nikola Tesla. Taken on the 1 January 1943, 6 days before his death at the age of 86.

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#29

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One of the largest and heaviest horses ever recorded, Brooklyn Supreme, photographed in c. 1940s. He stood 19.2 hands (198 cm (6 ft 6 in)) tall and weighed 3,200 lb (1,451 kg).

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A young Prince Charles standing between his grandmother, The Queen Mother (left), and aunt, Princess Margaret (right), at his mother Queen Elizabeth's coronation on 2 June 1953

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#31

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Salvador Dali on a ship arriving in New York, United States on the 7 December 1936.

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#32

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

British veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and his wife sitting for a photograph in the 1860s. This veteran served in the Peninsular War which took place from 1807 to 1814 and saw Bourbon Spain assisted by Great Britain against the First French Empire for control of the Iberian Peninsula.

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#33

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Future King George V of the United Kingdom sitting next to his cousin, future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia while posing for a photograph at Marlborough House in London, England in c. 1893. George and Nicholas shared the same maternal grandparents.

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#34

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

Photograph of the Hindenburg Disaster on the 6 May 1937. This was when the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst.

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#35

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What is now the fully developed Las Vegas strip, 1955.

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#36

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

In 1945 a B-25 bomber got lost in the fog and crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building. 14 people died in the accident. This is the damage that the crash caused.

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Tiger
Community Member
2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

On Saturday, July 28, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel William Franklin Smith Jr., of Watertown, Massachusetts, was piloting a B-25 Mitchell bomber on a routine personnel transport mission from Bedford Army Air Field in Massachusetts. Due to thick fog, the aircraft was unable to land at LaGuardia Airport as scheduled. The pilot requested to divert to Newark Metropolitan Airport in New Jersey. Smith asked for clearance to land, but he was advised of zero visibility. Proceeding anyway, he became disoriented by the fog and turned right instead of left after flying dangerously close to the Chrysler Building on East 42nd Street.

Tiger
Community Member
2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At 9:40 a.m., the aircraft crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building, between the 78th and 80th floors, making an 18-by-20-foot (5.5 m × 6.1 m) hole in the building into the offices of the War Relief Services and the National Catholic Welfare Council. One engine shot through the south side opposite the impact, flew as far as the next block, dropped 900 feet (270 m), landed on the roof of a nearby building and caused a fire that destroyed a penthouse art studio. The other engine and part of the landing gear fell down an elevator shaft, severing its cables. The resulting fire was extinguished in 40 minutes. The Empire State Building fire is the highest structural fire to be brought under control by New York firefighters.

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cecilia kilian
Community Member
2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is where Betty Lou Oliver survived the 70+ story elevator fall.

Julie S
Community Member
2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Serious question why did the World Trade buildings collapse and the Empire State Building didn't?

Erik Biesemeier
Community Member
2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In addition to what @martin734 said, the construction was significantly different. The Empire State building was built before steel construction was as widespread, so was built with a much greater safety factor when calculating the strength of the steel beams used, so it has a much denser steel skeleton.

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R Ray
Community Member
2 weeks ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

yet the building did not implode .. hmmm.

der sebbl
Community Member
2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

STFU as you can read above, there are good reasons why you can't compare this to 9/11

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#37

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

A beggar running alongside the carriage of King George V of the United Kingdom somewhere in London, England, 1920.

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#38

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A French and British soldier helping the other light their cigarette during WWI in 1915

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#39

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The tallest (Cornelius Bruns), shortest (Unknown), and fattest (Cannon Colossus) men in Europe playing cards and drinking together in 1913.

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#40

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A blimp destroyed by the shockwave of a nuclear blast, Nevada in 1957.

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#41

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

An anti-communist revolutionary holds a Molotov cocktail behind his back during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

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#42

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

Mugshot of Frank Sinatra after being arrested on charges of seduction and adultery. Photo taken on the 27 November 1938.

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#43

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Chief John Smith a.k.a. White Wolf, reportedly the oldest Native American to ever live (137-years-old), photographed in c. 1920. White Wolf’s true age at his death is often disputed.

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#44

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

A German officer and an NCO wearing portable sound locating apparatus to detect enemy aircraft. Taken somewhere on the Western Front in 1917.

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#45

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

B-17 American Bomber 43-37563 from the 728th Bomb Squadron of the US Army Airforce encounters German Anti-Aircraft artillery fire. The black smoke shown in the image are detonating 88mm caliber shell. Photograph taken in 1944.

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#46

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

A woman photographed standing on the frozen Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri in February 1905.

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#47

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An Irish man sharing a pint with his son in Dublin, Ireland, during the 1950s.

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#48

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First World War German Field Marshal, August von Mackensen, photographed in c. 1915. He was one of Germany’s most prominent and competent military leaders and remained a committed monarchist until his death in November 1945 at the age of 95. His life spanned the Kingdom of Prussia, the North German Confederation, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, The Third Reich, and the post-war Allied occupation of Germany.

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#49

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

Soviet peasants listening to the radio for the first time. Taken at some point in 1928.

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#50

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

The only known photograph from the event, President Abraham Lincoln Lincoln delivering his second inaugural address on the east front of the United States Capitol. Taken on the 4 March 1865.

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#51

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

The Empire State Building in New York City photographed in 1941.

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#52

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

A logging family photographed with a 1300 year old tree they cut down, 1892.

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#53

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59 ½ Mulberry Street, a back alley in Manhattan, New York City, better known as “Bandit’s Roost” due to being the most dangerous area in Mulberry Street which to the photographer Jacob Riis epitomized the worst of New York City’s slums. Photo taken in 1888.

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#54

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

President Lyndon Johnson listens to a tape sent by Captain Charles Robb (his son-in-law) from Vietnam. Taken in 1968.

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#55

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An aerial view of Manhattan, New York City taken in 1931.

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#56

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Hans Langseth, the man who held the record for the world’s longest beard, posing for a photograph in c. 1912 when he was in his 60s.

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#57

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An unemployed lumber worker called Thomas Cave with his wife in Oregon, USA in August 1939. He has his social security number tattooed on his arm.

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#58

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The final photograph taken of Vladimir Lenin. He is seen with his sister Anna Ilyinichna Yelizarova-Ulyanova and his doctor A. M. Kozhevnikov in Gorki in May 1923.

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#59

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

Legendary film director, producer, and screenwriter, Alfred Hitchcock, photographed holding a pitchfork on the lawns of Pinewood Studios, at Iver, Buckinghamshire, the United Kingdom on 22 July 1971.

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#60

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A power house mechanic working on a steam pump in 1920. Photo taken by Lewis Hine somewhere in the United States.

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#61

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

Charlie Chaplin selling war bonds at the foot of the United States Sub Treasury Building in Wall Street, New York City in 1918.

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#62

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

Dr. Wernher von Braun, an aerospace engineer that was a leading figure in Nazi German rocket technology, and then United States rocket technology, photographed standing in front of five F-1 rocket engines in circa 1969.

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#63

Historical-Black-White-Photographs

25th President of the United States, William McKinley, walking up the stairs of the Temple of Music, on the day of his assassination, September 9, 1901. This was the final photograph taken of McKinley alive.

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#64

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Boys of Ardingly School set off home at the start of the Christmas holidays in 1926.

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#65

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A coal miner and his family in their home in Scott's Run, West Virginia photographed on March 19, 1937.

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