Historical Photos With No Theme

~ beetleypete

I found a selection of photos online that interested me. They have no particular theme, I just liked them.
(Some of them can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

Freed slave children in the 1860s.

An official measuring bathing suits in the 1920s to enforce ‘modesty regulations’.

Fashionable ladies in 1930s London.

An Edwardian picnic. 1902.

Holding on to your hat on a windy day in Philadelphia. 1947.

An American biker on his Harley-Davidson, 1950s.

A beauty contest, 1920s.

Smartly-dressed ice-skating, 1940s.

The Mexico-US border, early 1960s.

New York City. Date unknown.

Models showing off the latest fashions. London, 1960s.

Fashion in Harlem, New York City. 1975.

No disputing they are mother and daughter. 1980.

53 thoughts on “Historical Photos With No Theme”

  1. I agree ~ there is something deeply satisfying about looking at (and into) photos of the past. The connection is imagining times back then to where we are now, how change is absolutely inevitable… and hopefully for the better.

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  8. (1) Rosa n’est pas une enfant slave. (Elle n’est pas européenne.)
    (2) “When I grow up, I want to have that man’s job!”
    (3) The four members of The Craft have grown up, but Nancy is still confined.
    (4) I hope that boy’s name isn’t Edward. He looks rather yummy.
    (5) Actually, the men are feeling lightheaded, and don’t want to their noggins to be gone with the wind.
    (6) “I’m going to train Steve McQueen for that bike jumping sequence. But he can’t do it with a Harley.”
    (7) One of those girls looks a bit too young for the beauty contest.
    (8) At the fish market, we sometimes find skate on ice.
    (9) Back when there actually was a border.
    (10) The old Times Building was so thin, it eventually disappeared. A new building replaced it in 2007.
    (11) Overheard, left to right:
    Woman #1: “Where’s the modesty enforcer with the measuring tape?
    Woman #2: “Nowhere to be seen.”
    Woman #3: “Get me a pair of scissors!”
    Woman #4: “You girls do what you want. I’m not showing my knobby knees to anyone!”
    (12) The boots get higher, and the shorts get shorter. (These boots are made for walkin’, and these shorts are made for gawkin’!)
    (13) I wonder if the father ever mistakes his daughter for his wife? And if that would be fodder for either a disturbing or an amusing serial on someone’s blog?

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    1. (13) I don’t think I will be risking any father/daughter serials, David. I could lose all of my followers. 🙂
      (8) That reminded me that Skate was my mum’s favourite fish.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  12. Pingback: Historical Photos With No Theme — beetleypete | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  16. I wonder how it must have been for people who had been slaves all their lives, to suddenly find themselves free. It must have been a difficult adjustment in all sorts of ways.

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  17. I used the tape measure one for a long ago blog post about fashion trainwrecks. The admin where I went to high school (and many others including my future wife’s a quarter of a continent away) measured hemlines. Not to mention could girls wear pants? What are Culottes,? Shorts, pants (trousers) or a split skirt? Are long hippie chick skirts as off limits as more than 2 inches above the knee? Should tall girls have a different rule than short girls. Boys can wear jeans, why not girls? Are traditionally short pep club skirts exempt?
    Ahh, life was so much simpler when that’s all we had to worry about…

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    1. We had to wear official uniforms at my senior school in the 1960s. The girls had to wear skirts, not trousers, and some of them pushed the boundary on how short they were.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Uniforms were instituted beyond my time but according to my younger brother, the length issue remained a constant. Cheerleaders got a pass because there were athletic shorts, or “Halfs” (the bottom half of ballet etc. leotards) under those skimpy pleated skirts.

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    1. When I was at senior school in the 1960s, the mini-skirt was all the rage. Some girls used to be warned about wearing their uniform skirts too short, though the younger female teachers regularly wore very short dresses or skirts.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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