For all of the books, shows, and websites we have on history, there will always be very cool facts and anecdotes to discover. From people, to places, to events, you’ll still be surprised that there’s so much more we haven’t seen.
Check out some of these photos that most people would skip over. There are stories to them and you only have to wonder what it must have been like living in those times.
It’s another walk in time, as you catch a glimpse of decades past.
Loggers hold a cross-cut saw in front of a giant Sequoia tree’s trunk. California, 1917. [1080 x 776]
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1. Mary Anne MacLeod
Mary Anne met a young real estate developer at a party when she was living with her sister in Queens. She married Fred Trump on April 5, 1936. The couple had five children, with Donald being the fourth.
Donald was named after Mary Anne’s grandfather, a Scottish fisherman lost at sea.
2. The first Barbie doll
But Handler’s daughter, Barbara, preferred playing with adult paper dolls. Ruth would watch Barbara play house with them. Critics were soon proved wrong as young girls wanted to envision the grown-up life and it was Barbie that helped them do just that.
On March 9, 1959, the first Barbie doll goes on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City. Eleven inches tall, blond hair, Barbie was the first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult features. The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler, who co-founded Mattel [683×836]
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3. Blanche Monnier
Her mother, furious, locked Blanche into an attic hideout, keeping her prisoner for 26 years with the help of Blanche’s brother, Marcel.
Blanche fought starvation while living in the dark throughout her captivity. It was in 1901 when an anonymous letter sent to the Paris Attorney General alerted authorities to her situation resulting in her rescue.
Blanche Monnier, she was a French woman noted for her beauty, she wished to marry an old lawyer that her mother disapproved of, so she locked her in a small dark room in her attic for 25 years. the left one’s taken in the 1870’s, the right in 1901 after she was discovered [1200×628]
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4. Ella Fitzgerald in jail
Tour manager Norman Granz had the signs in the theatre designating a “White” section and a “Negro” section taken down. The theatre owner was furious, calling the police.
Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and Illinois Jacquet were all arrested on trumped-up charges. And all because Houston was not ready to let go of “Jim Crow” laws.
5. Workers posing atop the North tower
Hundreds of laborers came together to put up the structure, including these men. It was a dangerous job.
From its start to completion, 60 workers were killed. 6 died in 1970 when a propane tank exploded thanks to a truck.
Iron Workers pose for a photo atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center, 1973 [2700×3900]
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6. Train at Paris’ Montparnasse Station
The train overran the buffer stop, smashing through the back wall of the station resulting in this photo.
All of the passengers and crew survived, but a passerby on the street was killed when bricks fell on her. It took several days before the mess was cleaned up.
The Montparnasse derailment occurred on 22 October 1895 when the Granville–Paris Express overran the buffer stop at its Gare Montparnasse terminus
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7. Oldest map of the New World
What this shows is that the globemaker had knowledge of the New World. The rounded halves of two different ostrich eggs were put together to form an orb.
A cool fact is that on the Ostrich Egg Globe, and on the Hunt-Lenox Globe (which was a prototype), there is a phrase that translates, “Here be dragons.”
Dracarys.
Oldest New World-Depicting Globe (dating back to circa 1500 – 1504 AD) [960 x 860]
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8. William Harley and Arthur Davidson
They hung it above the door of their work shed. William and Arthur were 20 and 21 years old and were yet to begin working on a bike.
Both boys had no idea how to start so they persuaded Arthur Davidson’s older brother, Walter, a machinist, to help them. It took a few years for a working motorcycle to be built,with several more to make the company viable but it was worth the wait.
William Harley and Arthur Davidson (founders of Harley Davidson Motorcycle Co.), 1914. [600×423]
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9. Amelia Earhart
The submarine was designed to assist with search and rescue efforts around the region.
Earhart, being an adventure seeker, was more than keen to don the brass diving gear and explore the ocean’s floor. On her first attempt, she got cold feet just a few feet below the surface. She did dive the next day but decided it wasn’t her thing.
Amelia Earhart, deep sea diving off the coast of Rhode Island. July 25, 1929.
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10. Nose shaping tool
In theory, they could work just like how ancient cultures would bind babies’ heads to elongate their skulls, or how other cultures put metal rings around women’s necks to make them longer.
But the nose shaper would have to be worn frequently when the girl was very young to alter how the nose grew.
11. Packard tour bus
In 1941, Packard unveiled the 8-door tour bus with an open top, perfect for sightseeing or cruising the boulevard. The 8-door car gave way immediately to war efforts at the start of World War II. Packard stopped producing cars, retooling its factories to help the effort.
12. Drafting the hard way
All that while laying on the floor. When AutoCAD was released, training centers emerged to teach drafters, architects, and engineers how to use the software. That saved countless pencils and bad backs among drafting professionals.
13. Fleetwood Mac
Members of Fleetwood Mac went through drug use and breakups, using their experiences to make the lyrics. The Rumours album contained hit songs such as “Go Your Own Way”, “Chain”, “Oh Daddy”, and “You Make Lovin’ Fun”.
Critics have called Rumours one of the greatest albums of all time.
14. Miss America contestants
Margaret Gorman was crowned the “Golden Mermaid” at the Fall Frolic, returning the following year when the event was officially called the Miss America Pageant. And there, Gorman took the crown as the first Miss America.
15. Locomotive over Aliso Street
The engine dangled about 20 feet above the street, causing quite a scene. The workers immediately disconnected the engine but it took a few days before it could be backed up and removed from its position.
A Santa Fe Diesel passenger locomotive hangs over Aliso Street after running off the end of rails at Union Station. Los Angeles, 1948 [564 x 582]
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16. Jimmy Stewart and Raymond Burr playing chess
The plot focuses on a wheelchair-bound man who spends his time looking out his apartment window, watching his neighbors. But his innocent spying takes a turn when he witnesses a murder.
Jimmy Stewart and Raymond Burr playing chess, Grace Kelly watching. On the set of Rear Window 1954.
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17. A 2,000 year old Egyptian floor mosaic
Both the ancient Greeks and Romans used mosaic for flooring but they usually featured plants, geometric shapes, and astrological figures. This terrier though looks like he just knocked over a Greek vase. Poor dog.
An 2000 years old Egyptian floor mosaic depicting a dog and a knocked-over gold vessel.
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18. Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy
The Grinch posing with Professor Sherman Klump, aka Buddy Love. Good times.
Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy pose for a photo after running into each other working on the same studio set (2000)
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19. John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara
Director John Ford cast Wayne and O’Hara in a story that follows a boxer who returns home to Ireland. The majority of the film was indeed shot on location, with beautiful shots of the verdant Irish countryside taking the background.
20. A fair in France in 1910
A series of highly publicized deaths in the following decade saw regulations put in place to keep passengers safe. Seat belts, brakes and automatic shut-off mechanisms were installed. Extensive testing of amusement rides were made standard for the safety of riders.


21. A Victorian couple having their picture taken
22. A very early selfie
Film was affixed to the inside, on the wall opposite the lens. In 1888, the Kodak company released the first box camera, which soon became the standard box camera mimicked by other manufacturers.
Kodak sold theirs preloaded with film so customers could send the entire camera back to Kodak where they would develop the film then reload film into the camera before returning it to the customer.
One of the earliest selfies, taken by An unidentified Edwardian woman with a Kodak Brownie box camera around, c. 1900
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23. A car accident
Cars didn’t have seatbelts or airbags. There were no anti-lock brakes or crash detection cameras either. Car insurance was a thing but wasn’t mandatory for drivers to get one. Few places had stop signs or traffic signals so drivers in the 1920s just drove and drove.
At least they didn’t have cellphones.
1921. People stand by a car accident in Washington, D.C. Color by: Sanna Dullaway
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24. The Hungarian twins
The humble lives of these two confirmed bachelors were documented in the book, with the twins in their golden years when they were photographed. They lived their whole lives in a rural farmhouse without electricity or running water. The twins worked ten hours or so a day taking care of their animals and growing produce in their gardens.
Identical twins János and István Lukács on their farm in Hungary. Lived in the same house they’d inhabited all of their lives. [689×1000]
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25. The Ingalls sisters
The real family also found themselves in Iowa and Minnesota, before finally settling down in DeSmet, South Dakota, where they had a homestead. Then later on, the Ingalls moved to a house in town with daughter, Mary, who never married.
One of the first known photographs of the three eldest Ingalls sisters, taken around 1879 or 1880 in De Smet, South Dakota. From left to right, Carrie, Mary and Laura Ingalls, who herself wrote the books that inspired the Little House on The Prairie TV series.
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26. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and John Wooden
In return, Abdul-Jabber passed on to Wooden some important life lessons resulting in the two remaining close friends until Wooden’s death at the age of 99.
27. A room in the hollow of a tree in Poland
28. Henry Fonda and James Stewart
Here’s a glimpse of their friendship. After a night party, Fonda challenged Stewart to play his accordion in the middle of Times Square to see if anyone would stop and listen.
29. Actress-singer Pearl Bailey and her husband jazz musician-composer-bandleader Louis Bellson
But they almost didn’t get married. Bellson was a white trombone player and the first musician to play in Duke Ellington’s band. That’s where he met Pearl Bailey, and it was love at first sight.
In the 1950s, interracial marriages were frowned upon. Bellman’s father was very outspoken, but it didn’t stop Bellson flying to London to marry Bailey in November of 1952.
Pearl Bailey and her husband Louie Bellson on a park bench in February 1957 [564 × 748]
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30. Bonita Granville, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
She appeared in Westward Passage in 1932 and These Three in 1936. She was 14 in These Three, earning an Oscar nomination for her work on the film.
In the 1940s, Granville also starred as teen detective Nancy Drew. When Bonita married Jack Wrather, she and her husband became producers on the TV series, Lassie.
31. The Pony Express
This job posting says it all. They looked for expendable teen boys with no families to worry and grieve over them. Strong, resilient, ready to die kids.
Job advertisement for the short-lived USA Pony Express (April 1860-October 1861): “wanted – young… fellows not over eighteen… willing to risk death daily… orphans preferred”
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32. A dog and a cat posing
But in the 1950s, dogs weren’t as spoiled and exposed for everyone to see. That’s why this photo is so remarkable. His owner took the time to dress him up and position him in a chair like a man with cat on his lap.
A man dresses his dog up in a suit and puts his cat in the dog’s lap, 1950’s
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33. Cool delivery guy
No one knows why this guy is showing off his swagger, but it has become a really cool photo.
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