In 1939, a doll-size hot-water bottle on the market was said to be a handy medicine-cabinet accessory for use in the treatment of toothaches and similar ailments. Fitted with a leakproof rub… Read More

In the 1970s, New York City was a broken, ungovernable metropolis barreling into anarchy. New Yorkers remember this decade as the bleakest, most crime-ridden, and most uncertain time the cit… Read More

As you go through family photo albums of any time period there could be something that really catches your eye. There could be a face of an individual, so marked out using a pen that you can… Read More

Born 1903 in Athol, Massachusetts, American actor Charles Starrett played minor roles in films and leading roles in stage plays during the 1920s. He played the romantic lead in his first mov… Read More

Here’s a not-so-ultrasonic laundry cleaner, aka the Hooter! It only takes 5 minutes of unbearable loudness to clean your little tub of clothes.Sound Waves get your wash clean, claims R… Read More

A young Angelina Jolie in a photoshoot with photographer Michael Clement in 1991.Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award-winning actress who rose to fame after her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999… Read More

Flapper fashion did not emerge suddenly. It developed as a result of gradual social and cultural changes. During this period, youth and beauty became a valued commodity. For the first time w… Read More

One of the word’s first supermodels, Gia Carangi (January 29, 1960 – November 18, 1986) was a rule-breaker and trendsetter known for her fiery personality. Since the very beginni… Read More

Tina Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer who teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records and live shows in the 1960s and 1970s and survived her horrifying… Read More

Born 1908 in London, English-American actress Lilian Bond made her first professional stage appearance at the age of 14 in the pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat. Later she joined the ch… Read More

From 1958 to 1960, French fashion designer Marc Bohan designed for the Christian Dior, London line. In September 1960, Dior’s creative director Yves Saint Laurent was called up for mil… Read More

Rendered obsolete by technology, hundreds of abandoned Fotomat drive-thru photo development kiosks still stand in suburban shopping center parking lots.Founded in the mid-1960s, Fotomat spec… Read More

As cars have become faster, speed limit signs have naturally kept up. The first speed limit signs were posted at city and town limits. Early signs were not reflective. By the middle to late… Read More

Imagine stumbling upon a 19-year-old Bob Dylan, without knowing who he was. Imagine hearing him perform, unannounced, for a few dozen like-minded friends, most of whom had never seen him or… Read More

A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens placed in front of the eye and held in place by the ey… Read More

The Voisin C14 chassis was produced from late 1927 into 1932 with a total of 1,795 were manufactured, making the C14 one of Voisin’s most prolific models. Many received custom bodies i… Read More

Janet Jackson landed her first acting role in the 1993 John Singleton film Poetic Justice alongside Tupac Shakur, not long after she’d signed a lucrative deal with Virgin Records.At th… Read More

Maria Callas was born to a Greek family in New York in 1923. Her vocal training took place in Athens, where her teacher was the coloratura soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who had sung with Enrico… Read More

Born 1916 in Boston, Massachusetts, American actress Betty Field began her acting career in 1934 on the London stage in Howard Lindsay’s farce She Loves Me Not. Following its run, she… Read More

While American soldiers were overseas fighting World War II, they longed for something that reminded them of home. They chose this picture of Betty Grable. Some liked her sexy figure; others… Read More

Short shorts, as their name implies, are shorter than average. Such garments had been known since the 1930s when female Hollywood stars wore them for publicity photographs, and in New York C… Read More

Edsel is a discontinued division and brand of automobiles that was marketed by the Ford Motor Company from the 1958 to the 1960 model years. Deriving its name from Edsel Ford, son of company… Read More

Afraid and unnerved by the angry music of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Art Kane was nervous about this shoot in 1968. But, on the day of the shoot, he was met with warmth and co… Read More

Born 1925 as Mildred Gene Kornman in Hollywood, American actress, model, businesswoman, and photographer Ricki VanDusen became an actress at 20th Century Fox after graduating Hollywood High… Read More

Since the 1960s, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan have been two of the most iconic and influential musicians in the world. They were not only musical partners, but also lovers and friends. So what ha… Read More

A typical Edwardian interior was something new and cheerful. Fresh and light colors composed most of the interiors in this period. It saw the beginning of a deviation from the formal to info… Read More

Though the end of the war brought about a joyous time, the winter of 1918 was marked by the spread of Spanish influenza. Much like today, newspapers reported daily case counts. From October… Read More

In 1938, a new hand-type ultraviolet-ray lamp made it easier for nurses in a Brooklyn, N.Y., hospital to brand the initials of a new-born baby on his skin to prevent identification mix-ups i… Read More

“The danger of an accident is always present in my mind, though I am never afraid.” – Camille du Gast, Motor Monthly, Dec. 1903.Camille du Gast (1868–1942) became the… Read More

Born 1901 Marianna Michalska as in Kraków, Polish-American dancer and actress Gilda Gray popularized a dance called the “shimmy” which became fashionable in 1920s films an… Read More

San Francisco in the 1970s was a global hub of culture. It was known worldwide for hippies and radicals. The city was heavily affected by drugs, prostitution and crime. Outcasts and the soci… Read More

Cher is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the “Goddess of Pop”, she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a m… Read More

Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions… Read More

“Now, it seems like you have to do lots of things really well, and you don’t get to stay famous for long unless you’re always switching. Grace Jones is an example of this… Read More

No, the peculiar looking device in the photo was not a camera, nor even a telescope, although partially resembling both. It was a new solar bath apparatus for the head and has made a great h… Read More

Scribner’s Magazine was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. Scribner’s Magazine was the second maga… Read More

The inventor and founder of the Polaroid Corporation, Edwin H. Land, developed the first instant camera as a hobby during World War II. After the war, the growth of the American economy made… Read More

You can’t see her face. The angle from which the photograph is taken is unconventional, and almost vertiginous. The hair, when considered dispassionately, looks absolutely weird.But Bi… Read More

Born 1925 in Ulm, German actress, singer, and writer Hildegard Knef appeared in several films before the fall of Nazi Germany, but most were released only afterward. Her two best known film… Read More

The Who’s career has been analyzed ad infinitum. However, one area remains obscure. Starting in 1969 (and a bit towards the end of 1968 as we see from Rock and Roll Circus), Pete Towns… Read More

The Autobianchi Bianchina was first unveiled in 1957 at the Milan Motor Show in Italy. The Bianchina was based on the Fiat 500 and was produced from 1957 to 1970 in various body styles, incl… Read More

In 1995, Janet joined forces with mega-popstar and brother Michael Jackson. The much-anticipated collab resulted in hit single “Scream”, of Michael’s ninth album HIStory, a… Read More

Winchester cigars were first manufactured in 1972 in USA and since then it has maintained the tradition of quality and freshness in each product. These machine-made cigars are sold in packs… Read More

Victorian fashion consists of the various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and developed in the United Kingdom and the British Empire throughout the Victorian era, roughly… Read More

Polo games in which the players were mounted on bikes instead of ponies was the latest sport devised for amusement of Hollywood movie stars in 1931. A unique feature of the bike mount was th… Read More

Gilda is a 1946 American film noir directed by Charles Vidor and starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. The film is known for cinematographer Rudolph Maté’s lush photography, co… Read More

Kids in the 1950s got all the breaks. In 1953, they’ve even got a lending library in Sacramento, California, where Junior can borrow almost anything from a snake to a skunk (deodorized… Read More

Instead of hitching up a horse or tractor, one farmer harnessed his automobile to the plow in 1939. One man drove the sedan, keeping the car wheels on one side in the previous cut of the plo… Read More

B.F. Skinner was a renowned behavioral psychologist who began his career in the 1930s and is best known for his development of the Skinner box, a laboratory apparatus used to conduct and rec… Read More

Born 1941 in Blackpool, English actress and model Tania Mallet appeared twice on the cover of Vogue in 1961, and in Michael Winner’s short film Girls Girls Girls released the same year… Read More

Plymouth was a brand of automobiles produced by Chrysler Corporation and its successor DaimlerChrysler. The brand was launched in 1928 to compete in what was then described as the “low… Read More

Janet Jackson was known before the 1980s, but it was this era that she really made a name for herself outside of the Jackson family. Along with her many hit singles from the decade, she quic… Read More

Before the digital camera and social media, drive-thru Fotomat booths provided the best way to print memories on a 4x6 piece of glossy paper.Fotomat was an American retail chain of photo dev… Read More

A long plank shoved across the hole in the ice has always been the favorite method of rescuing a skater who has broken through, but up-to-date skating rinks are now equipped with a special n… Read More

Born 1921 in Chicago, Illinois, American actress and singer Gale Robbins signed a contract with 20th Century Fox late in 1942 and made her film debut in In the Meantime, Darling in 1944. She… Read More

Julius Forstmann founded the Forstmann & Huffmann Company in Passaic, New Jersey in the early 1900s. By 1931, the company's name was changed to the Forstmann Woolen Company. Forstmann de… Read More

Things changed for airlines in the 1930s with a woman named Ellen Church. On May 15, 1930, Church became the first airline stewardess, now more commonly titled flight attendant, on a Boeing… Read More

Jane Avril was a French can-can dancer made famous by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec through his paintings. Extremely thin, “given to jerky movements and sudden contortions,” she was… Read More

The 1940s and 1950s were a dark period in Spanish history, where the country was still recovering from the effects of the Spanish Civil War, where the economy was poor and people suffered a… Read More

Knapsack Bike folds up easily and can be tucked away in a zipper bag. Invented by Johan Kaiser, 97 Allacher Strasse, Munich, Germany in 1950, the cycle looked like any other bike.The bolt wh… Read More

The most important parts of Edwardian wedding were the bride’s gown and trousseau. The traditional attire for a bride was a gown of soft, rich cream-white satin, trimmed simply or elab… Read More

There are number of dads balancing babies on the palms of their hands. Sure, most dads play it safe and keep their children over a soft surface. But, as with anything on the internet, others… Read More

Born 1921 as Ivo Livi in Tuscany, Italy, Italian-born French actor and singer Yves Montand achieved international recognition as a singer and actor, starring in many films. His recognizably… Read More

Born 1926 as Norma Jeane Mortenson and raised in Los Angeles, Marilyn Monroe spent most of her childhood in a total of 12 foster homes and an orphanage before marrying James Dougherty in 19… Read More

SS Autoliner may some day cross oceans, according to Karle Moench of Berlin, Germany in 1950. This was a small version of a sea-going car which operated on the road, or in the water with equ… Read More

Goodfellas is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of th… Read More

Little John Gray Jr., three months old when these pictures were taken in 1947, has seldom been outside of this glass house in which he lives. His showcase home was temperature and humidity c… Read More

Born 1935 as Ruta Mary Kilmonis in Montreal, Quebec, Canadian-American actress and dancer Ruta Lee appeared as one of the brides in the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. She had roles… Read More

Autocycle was a motorcycle that worked its way up. Cyclist August Paul got tired of shouting to his wife in the open sidecar every time he had something to say. So, being a mechanic, he went… Read More

The Riviera was radically redesigned under Bill Mitchells’s direction for the 1971 model year with flowing and dramatic “boat-tail” styling. Bill Mitchell was GM’s ch… Read More

Harry S. Truman had been Vice President of the United States for only a few weeks when he showed up on February 10, 1945, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. He had agreed to take… Read More

Woman’s Home Companion was an American monthly magazine, published from 1873 to 1957. It was highly successful, climbing to a circulation peak of more than four million during the 1930… Read More

Born 1901 in Macon, Georgia, American actor Melvyn Douglas came to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the romantic comedy Ninotchka (… Read More

Growing up the small Swedish town of Jönköping, Agnetha Fältskog must’ve thought her chances of becoming a world-renowned star were slim. But before joining ABBA and mar… Read More

Born in Italy, Iris Bianchi began modeling in America around 1953. Her career spanned approximately 15 years. She appeared on covers of many magazines, including Mademoiselle, McCall’s… Read More

In 1931, designed to ford streams and rivers on a 12,000 mile jaunt of exploration around the world, a new amphibian automobile has been constructed by Capt. Geoffrey Malin, British explorer… Read More

Born 1962 as Ivor Neville Kamen in Harlow, Essex, English singer-songwriter, musician and model Nick Kamen first came to the public’s attention in 1984 when Ray Petri featured him on t… Read More

Joan Newton Cuneo (1876 – 1934) was an American racing driver. Between 1905 and 1912 Cuneo was successful in races against both male and female racers until the racing associations res… Read More

These vintage photographs were found by Vintage Cars & People that were taken on a flying holiday to Mallorca by a German middle-class family in 1957.The German holidaymakers enjoying th… Read More

Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest cit… Read More

Among the models seen in the great automobile show at Olympia, England in 1929, was a Jowett fabric sedan. This car, as seen in the photo, was completely covered with Jowett fabric.Instead o… Read More

Edsel B. Ford, President of Ford Motor Company of Dearborn, Michigan, asked his styling chief, Eugene T. “Bob” Gregorie, to build a “continental” roadster that could… Read More

Here we see the interior of the Southern Pacific service originally called the “Daylight Limited” and later the “Coast Daylight.” It was the Southern Pacific’s… Read More

Photographed by Brian Ward, Bowie’s classic 1971 Hunky Dory album cover was a colorized version of the black and white photograph below.In the early 1970s, illustrator Terry Pastor was… Read More

Born 1929 in Shanghai, Chinese-American fashion model China Machado worked for Givenchy for three years and during this time, she became the highest-paid runway model in Europe, earning $1,0… Read More

Barbara Stanwyck (born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year profe… Read More

The flagship train of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was the service between Chicago and Los Angeles, called the Super Chief. They called it “The Train of the Stars” b… Read More

Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodists with its original campus in Newbury, Vermont, before… Read More

Horses is the debut studio album by Patti Smith, it was released on November 10, 1975. A fixture of the mid-1970s underground rock music scene in New York City, Smith signed to Arista in 197… Read More

Countess Marie Anatole Louise Élisabeth Greffulhe (July 11, 1860 – August 21, 1952) was a French socialite, known as a renowned beauty and queen of the salons of the Faubourg Sa… Read More

Born 1919 on Long Island, American actress, model, dancer, pin-up girl and television host Ramsay Ames had her movie debut in Two Señoritas from Chicago (1943). She moved to Universal… Read More

Alberta is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the wes… Read More

A young beauty climbs a ladder that was resting against a giant snowman, decked with a giant top hat and giant pipe, 1929. Although this famously cold character was ringing in the winter sea… Read More

Unique Road Sign is probably a forerunner of many other similar ones to come. Here, it keeps -the road clear as a Navy transport helicopter comes in for a landing at the Piasecki Heliport at… Read More

A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by strik… Read More

Dinosaur statue parks were all the rage at one point. In 1851, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins’ dinosaur sculptures at London’s Crystal Palace exhibition drew crowds in the thousands… Read More

“Paul Newman was very fatherly. He knew we weren’t actors and had to help us a lot. He had a lot of patience. He also didn’t wear any shoes!” – Bethel, Danbury… Read More

Jan de Bont’s Speed came out in 1994 and immediately established Keanu Reeves as one of the biggest action stars of the 1990s. While it wasn’t his first action flick (that honor… Read More

The cast and crew of Jurassic Park pose for a photo on Warner Bros. Studios’ Stage 16 with the T-Rex model (the largest sculpture ever made by Stan Winston Studio), circa 1992 Read More

Here’s a beautiful set of photos the great dancer/choreographer, Helen Tamiris, taken by Man Ray from ca. 1930:Helen Tamiris (1905–1966), trained in ballet, created dances that e… Read More