The phrase "a picture instead of a thousand words" was coined by the American newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane in 1911. These simple words are perfect for many aspects of our life, but especially for historical photographs. Sometimes one simple snapshot can tell much more about the past than long articles and chronicles.
All photos in this issue tell their stories about famous people or events of the past. Once these pictures were taken to capture the present, but now they are heralds of the past. Many photos become iconic years later when the public understands their importance and historical context. Perhaps photographs of wars, poverty, struggle for freedom and small miracles from the past will help us learn something in the future?
A woman with a stroller equipped against gas attacks. England, 1938.
Unpacking the head of the Statue of Liberty, 1885.
Elvis Presley in the army, 1958.
Animals as a means of pediatric therapy, 1956.
Testing new bulletproof vests, 1923.
Charlie Chaplin at age 27, 1916.
The crash of the Hindenburg airship, May 6, 1937.
A circus hippo harnessed to a cart, 1924.
Annette Kellerman campaign for the right of women to wear a tight swimsuit in 1907. Then she was arrested for obscenity.
Annie Edson Taylor is the first survivor of Niagara Falls in a barrel. She did it in 1901 (she was 63 years old!).
A 106-year-old Armenian woman guards a house, 1990.
Baby cages - so that the child living in the apartment receives enough sunlight and fresh air. Around 1937.
First Ronald McDonald, 1963.
Disneyland workers cafeteria, 1961.
An advertisement for athebrine, a drug against malaria, in Papua New Guinea during World War II. Sign on the sign: "These guys didn't take their ahebrine."
A soldier shares a banana with a goat during the Saipan War, ca. 1944 of the year.
A girl with a doll in the ruins of her home after the bombing of London in 1940.
Construction of the Berlin Wall, 1961.
Unidentified soldier in Vietnam, 1965. "War is hell."
A bookstore in London destroyed by bombing, 1940.
Walter Io is one of the first to undergo plastic surgery and skin grafts, 1917.
The tanning machine, 1949.
Measuring the length of a swimsuit - if it is too short, a woman will be fined, 1920s.
Martin Luther King and his son remove a burnt cross from their lawn, 1960.
The owner of the hotel pours acid into the pool where blacks swim, approx. 1964.
Lifeguard on the beach, 1920s.
Dentures, UK, approx. 1890
A mother and son look at a mushroom cloud after a nuclear weapon test in Las Vegas, 1953.
The mother hides her face in shame: she just put her children up for sale.
An Austrian boy has just received new shoes as a gift. The picture was taken during the Second World War.
Hitler's army officers and cadets celebrate Christmas, 1941.
Christmas dinner during the Great Depression: turnips and cabbage.
The real Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, c. 1927 of the year.
The last prisoners leave Alcatraz, 1963.
Melted and damaged figures after a fire at Madame Tussauds in London, 1930.
Chimpanzee after a successful space flight, 1961.
Illegal alcohol is poured out during Prohibition in Detroit, 1929.
Students at Princeton University after a snowball fight between freshmen and sophomores in 1893.
Suicide in style: 23-year-old Evelyn McHale jumped from the 83rd floor of the Empire State Building and landed in the limousine of a UN staff member, 1947.
First morning after Sweden switched from left-hand traffic to right-hand traffic, 1967.
See also:
Before and after colorization: faces of Russian history come to life
Dagestan ghost villages: photos and videos from drones
What Nefertiti, Beethoven and other historical figures would look like today
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