Vintage

Vintage: Street Scenes of São Paulo, Brazil (1862 -1887)

Vintage: Street Scenes of São Paulo, Brazil (1862 -1887)

After Brazil became independent from Portugal in 1822, as declared by Emperor Pedro I where the Monument of Ipiranga is located, he named São Paulo as an Imperial City. In 1827, a law school was founded at the Convent of São Francisco, these days a part of the University of São Paulo. The influx of students and teachers gave a…
Vintage: Boston Showgirls in the 1940s

Vintage: Boston Showgirls in the 1940s

A showgirl is a female dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show intended to showcase the performer’s physical attributes, typically by way of revealing clothing or even toplessness or nudity. Showgirls are often associated with Latin music and dance, particularly samba. via Boston Public Library
Vintage: Street Shots of Oslo by Carl Størmer (1890s)

Vintage: Street Shots of Oslo by Carl Størmer (1890s)

Carl Størmer (1874-1957) is one of Norway’s pioneer photographers. He is known as an astronomer and mathematician. In history books Størmer is referred to as “The Northern Lights photographer”: he will go down in history as the first person to construct a camera that could capture the Northern Lights. From 1893 to 1897 he took everyday pictures of people.
Vintage: Everyday Life of People during Edwardian Era

Vintage: Everyday Life of People during Edwardian Era

The upper-classes embraced leisure sports, which resulted in rapid developments in fashion, as more mobile and flexible clothing styles were needed. During the Edwardian era, women wore a very tight corset, or bodice, and dressed in long skirts. The Edwardian era was the last time women wore corsets in everyday life. According to Arthur Marwick, the most striking change of…
Vintage: Everyday Life of Norwegians (late 19th Century)

Vintage: Everyday Life of Norwegians (late 19th Century)

In 1886 20-year-old Ellisif R. Müller (1866-1949) married her cousin, regional doctor Andreas Wessel. The marriage led her to Kirkenes, where they lived out their lives. It was there, in her new home, that she made her debut as a photographer. In Finnmark Wessel encountered a reality which stood in stark contrast to that of her protected bourgeois youth. She…
Vintage: The Earliest Known Photographs of White House (1846)

Vintage: The Earliest Known Photographs of White House (1846)

A Welsh immigrant named John Plumbe, Jr., who was one of the country’s first prominent professional photographers, took the daguerreotype in January 1846. The White House as it stands today is a very different building than when it was first constructed. While its essential features—the classically inspired columns, large, airy windows, and rooftop railings—have stayed the same, it has gone…
Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Carole Lombard (1930s)

Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Carole Lombard (1930s)

Carole Lombard (1908 – 1942) was born into a wealthy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but was raised in Los Angeles by her single mother. At 12, she was recruited by the film director Allan Dwan and made her screen debut in A Perfect Crime (1921). Eager to become an actress, she signed a contract with the Fox Film Corporation…
Vintage: Ottoman Clothing (19th Century)

Vintage: Ottoman Clothing (19th Century)

Ottoman clothing is the style and design of clothing worn by the Ottoman Turks. While the Palace and its court dressed lavishly, the common people were only concerned with covering themselves. Starting in the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, administrators enacted sumptuary laws upon clothing. The clothing of Muslims, Christians, Jewish communities, clergy, tradesmen, and state and military officials were…
Vintage: Portraits of Girls in Their First Communion (Edwardian era)

Vintage: Portraits of Girls in Their First Communion (Edwardian era)

The sacrament of First Communion is an important tradition for Catholic families and individuals. For Catholics, Holy Communion is the third of seven sacraments received. It occurs only after receiving Baptism, and once the person has reached the age of reason (usually, around the second grade). First confession (the first sacrament of penance) must precede the reception of the Eucharist.…
Vintage: Paris in the Belle Époque (1871 to 1914)

Vintage: Paris in the Belle Époque (1871 to 1914)

The population of Paris was 1,851,792 in 1872, at the beginning the Belle Époque. By 1911, it reached 2,888,107, higher than the population today. Three major new French industries were born in and around Paris at about the turn of the 20th century, taking advantage of the abundance of skilled engineers and technicians and financing from Paris banks. They produced…
Vintage: American West During the American Frontier Days

Vintage: American West During the American Frontier Days

By 1848 the United States had acquired official title to the contiguous land stretching westward to the Pacific, south to the Rio Grande, and north to the 49th parallel. Americans had long since explored and settled in many of these areas, but legitimate possession created an impetus for development that began to crystallize as other timely occurrences brought a greater…
Vintage: The Ovitz Family – Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz (1940s)

Vintage: The Ovitz Family – Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz (1940s)

The Ovitz family originated from Maramureş County, Romania. They were descended from Shimson Eizik Ovitz (1868–1923), a badchen entertainer, itinerant rabbi and himself a dwarf. He fathered ten children in total, seven of them dwarfs (afflicted with pseudoachondroplasia), from two marriages. The children founded their own ensemble, the Lilliput Troupe. They sang and played music using small instruments and performed…
Vintage: Portraits of Auschwitz Guards During World War II (1940s)

Vintage: Portraits of Auschwitz Guards During World War II (1940s)

In January 2017, Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance published a massive online record of the Auschwitz staff. The searchable database of the 8,502 overwhelmingly German personnel was created in part to dispel claims that the camp was staffed by many Polish guards. The list shows that most names are predominantly German. Guards and SS Commanders’ pre-conflict occupations are also listed,…
Vintage: 19th Century Sexual Revolution by Sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing

Vintage: 19th Century Sexual Revolution by Sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing

Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s (1840 – 1902) principal work is Psychopathia Sexualis: eine Klinisch-Forensische Studie (Sexual Psychopathy: A Clinical-Forensic Study), which was first published in 1886 and expanded in subsequent editions. The last edition from the hand of the author (the twelfth) contained a total of 238 case histories of human sexual behaviour. This book popularized the terms sadism (derived from…
Vintage: Boston Public Schools (late 19th Century)

Vintage: Boston Public Schools (late 19th Century)

The Boston Pictorial Archive holds photographs documenting Boston-area adult and evening classes in the 19th century, with the bulk of the material covering the years between 1890 and 1893. These images offer interior views as well as adult students engaged in classroom work or other educational endeavors.
Vintage: Trench Rats Killed by Terriers During World War I

Vintage: Trench Rats Killed by Terriers During World War I

The trench soldier of World War I had to cope with millions of rats. The omnipresent rats were attracted by the human waste of war – not simply sewage waste but also the bodies of men long forgotten who had been buried in the trenches and often reappeared after heavy rain or shelling. Two or three rats would always be…
Vintage: Daily Life of Ringling Bros. Circus (1910s)

Vintage: Daily Life of Ringling Bros. Circus (1910s)

Harry A. Atwell (1879-1957) was an American photographer. He was hired for his first circus assignment in 1910 to travel with the Ringling Bros. Circus. Over the next forty years he documented the roustabouts, big top crowds, sideshow performers and center-ring stars of the circus during a time when shops, schools, and even factories closed when the circus came to…