36 Incredibly Rare And Fascinating Photos Of The United States That Are Old, Old, OLD

Posted 3 hours ago

For better or worse, in 2026 we have the ability to photograph every single second of our lives from a million different angles. There's pretty much nothing you can't find a photo of. One hundred years ago, however, photography was still establishing itself as a medium, and photos were few and far between. That, along with other factors, means that photos of daily life are increasingly rare and unbelievably cool. Here are 36 photos of life in the United States that are over 100 years old:

1. A student's dorm room at Harvard University. 1870s:

2. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, making the first long-distance phone call between New York and Chicago. Oct. 18, 1892:

3. A New Orleans sex worker posing for a portrait. March 14, 1871:

4. A horse-drawn firewagon rushing toward a fire in Chicago. 1909:

5. Ticket takers and promoters posing outside of a nickelodeon. 1905:

A nickelodeon was an early movie theater that cost five cents ( a "nickel") per show.

6. A teacher and her students, many of whom are barefoot, in a schoolhouse in Marey, West Virginia. Oct. 7, 1921:

7. Pioneers traveling across the Great Plains. June 14, 1903:

8. A young miner at Brown Mine in West Virginia. Sept. 1, 1908:

9. Four members of the Ute tribe standing outside a tipi in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. 1873:

10. Young Miss Oregon posing as Lady Liberty. 1890:

11. World-famous escape artist Harry Houdini preparing to jump into Boston's Charles River, arms chained behind his back. April 30, 1908:

12. A Black soldier sitting for a portrait in a Union Army uniform. 1860:

13. Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, with the White House visible in the background. Taken some time between 1913 and 1918:

14. A nun playing baseball with schoolchildren. 1900:

15. Nurses and soldiers standing outside a field hospital during the Civil War. 1860:

16. Four generations of an enslaved family standing for a photo on the plantation of J.J. Smith in South Carolina. 1890:

17. Women buying hot dogs at a garden party to benefit war relief agencies in New York City. June 1917:

18. Italian fish vendors working at the T Wharf in Boston. 1909:

19. A Jewish immigrant in New York City preparing his table for Shabbat. 1890:

20. Medical students dissecting cadavers at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. 1900:

21. A family setting off on a boat ride in Boynton Beach, Florida. 1890:

22. Socialites relaxing at the Philadelphia Country Club in Pennsylvania. Sept. 17, 1916:

23. Two children standing in front of the church of Mission Dolores in San Francisco. 1900:

24. Passengers and employees boarding the train up Mount Washington in New Hampshire. 1856:

25. Two college students showing off the latest stocking trend — decorative patches — in New York City. June 3, 1926:

26. Gold prospectors preparing for work in the Northwestern United States. 1867:

27. Travelers and locals standing outside a stagecoach stop in Echo, Utah. 1869:

28. Children buying ice cream from a street peddler in New York City. 1895:

29. President William Howard Taft throwing the first ball to open the baseball season in Washington, DC. April, 1910:

30. People land sailing in the Mojave Desert. July 11, 1903:

31. Two Dachshund puppies sharing a beer. 1890:

32. A mother and father riding an unusual tandem bike, with their baby in an attached bassinet. 1890s:

33. Pedestrians strolling along the Newport Beach boardwalk in California. 1912:

34. Coca-Cola delivery men posing in front of one of the bottling plants. 1912:

35. Physicians performing eye exams on immigrants arriving at Ellis Island. Late 1800s:

36. And lastly, WWI troops standing at attention in a California training camp. 1918:

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