1. The 1912 Olympics, held in Sweden, were the first to allow women to compete in swimming events. Here are some of the British swimmers looking extremely tough:
This is the energy I want from the USA team this year.
2. And this is Greta Johansson, the first woman to ever win an Olympic gold medal in diving at the 1912 games:
She won it for her home country of Sweden. She also looks like she could absolutely whoop me in a fight.
3. This picture, taken in 1925, is the last known photo of a Barbary lion in the wild:
Once prevalent across Northern Africa, the lion went extinct because of, you guessed it, humans.
4. Speaking of extinct animals, this beautiful guy here is a Quagga, a subspecies of zebra that went extinct in the wild in the 1870s due to overhunting.
Once found in “immense” herds, the last Quagga died in a Dutch zoo in 1883.
5. During World War II, the “Mona Lisa” was packed away and removed from the Louvre to ensure its safety:
Hundreds of thousands of works of art were stolen throughout the war, with many of them lost forever.
6. The walls of the Louvre were marked with placeholder writing showing where the paintings were supposed to be put back after the war:
That’s one way to do it.
7. Speaking of which, this is what Germany’s Reichstag building, first built to house Germany’s parliament, looked like in 1945 at the end of World War II:
8. And here’s what the Reichstag building looked like in 1925, well before World War II:
Nothing some Windex won’t buff out.
9. In 1953, there was a large-scale newspaper strike in New York City. Consequently, a whole bunch of people had nothing to read on the train. Check out these bored passengers below:
Anybody who has taken public transportation and not looked at their phone for 0.7 seconds can relate.
10. This is Mary Sanderson, often believed to be the earliest-born woman to have had her picture taken. She was born in 1748, and this photograph was apparently taken in 1852:
She doesn’t look at a day over 101.
11. This is American swimmer Gertrude Ederle, who became the first woman to swim across the English Channel in 1926. She did it in 14.5 hours, beating the men’s record by 2 hours:
Well done, Gertie.
12. Here are some of the family members of the Apollo 11 astronauts, gathered in a living room as they watched their loved ones become the first people to land on the Moon:
Okay, sure, that’s sounds stressful… but have you ever watched a Knicks playoff game?
13. Speaking of Apollo 11, here are the astronauts quarantining back on Earth and sharing a brief chat with Richard Nixon:
I, personally, would have loved to be exposed to Moon germs.
14. This is the agreement that allowed the USA to buy the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917. As part of the deal, the USA acknowledged Danish rule over Greenland, declaring, “America will not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland“:
Something to think about!
15. Here’s a scene from the streets of Istanbul (then Constantinople) captured in 1912:
I just think it’s neat!
16. For hundreds of years, Stonehenge was “incomplete.” In the 1950s, work was done at Stonehenge to lift a stone back into place that had fallen in 1797:
17. And here’s what Stonehenge looks like today, all lined up perfectly:
Well, you know. As perfect as can be.
18. This, in all its glory, is the 1917 Chapman High School Canning Club standing tall and proud in Kansas:
Ah, to be a fly on the wall at a 1917 Chapman High School Canning Club meeting.
19. This is what the Hoover Dam looked like when it was completed, but before the Colorado River was released:
20. And this is what it looked like at the dam when the river was finally released:
Hope they moved those trucks out of the way.
21. This is what an experimental television set from 1928, made by GE, looked like:
Imagine watching The Sopranos on this thing.
22. In the mid-80s, the Statue of Liberty was completely covered in scafolding while being renovated:
A pigeon’s dream.
23. Here’s another view of the Statue of Liberty getting a little touch-up:
24. Here’s a whole bunch of Elvis Presley fans watching the man himself and going absolutely cuckoo bananas over him:
This is me when I see a dog wearing shoes.
25. Masks were widely used during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. According to this picture, even some cats wore masks:
Well, at least one did.
26. This is the note former president George H.W. Bush left for incoming president Bill Clinton in the White House after Clinton defeated him in the 1992 presidential election:
It reads:
“Dear Bill,
When I walked into this office just now I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago. I know you will feel that, too.
I wish you great happiness here. I never felt the loneliness some Presidents have described.
There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I’m not a very good one to give advice; but just don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.
You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well.
Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you.
Good luck — George”
27. This is Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls while inside a barrel:
She was 62 years old at the time. People going over waterfalls in a barrel fell off real hard. We should bring it back.
28. Here’s Annie being retrieved after completing her historic feat, still inside her world-famous barrel:
I would never leave my barrel.
29. This 2,000-year-old Roman shoe looks like it could’ve been made today:
Air Cicero? Air Crassus? Air Caligula? Yeah, Air Caligula.
30. And this is what the bottom of that shoe just might look like:
Extreme grip.
31. This is Frederico Caprilli demonstrating his extreme prowess on horseback for some reason:
Thanks Fred!
32. This is what Broadway in New York City, specifically at 10th Street, looked like in 1911:
33. And here’s what that same stretch of street looks like today:
34. This postcard was sent to households across the country in order to introduce them to the zip code system, implemented in 1963:
Would love to grab a cold one with Mr. Zip some day.
35. Finally, here’s a picture of Ronald Reagan in sweatpants and a tie on Air Force One. I saw it, so now you have to:
Good Lord.
Dave Stopera