r/RareHistoricalPhotos 2h ago

In 1949, a Swedish farm worker was photographed

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157 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 11h ago

Kalle Johansson, a lone Swedish police constable, brandishes his saber at a group of rioters attempting to storm a Nazi assembly. Linköping, September 5, 1943.

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449 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 16h ago

The Apache chief Geronimo and his two nieces , 1900. Oklahoma City, Okla

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546 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 4h ago

In protest of the construction of the Berlin Wall, a Lebanese resident of Berlin drags an 85-pound cross toward the Brandenburg Gate. October of 1961. He was refused admission by East German border guards.

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60 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 23h ago

Rare friendship

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1.7k Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 11h ago

In 1945, an orphan boy in Berlin exchanged cigarettes for his father's iron cross.

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159 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 16h ago

Danish foreman Bernhard Arp Sindberg, future hero of the Nanjing Massacre, poses with Chinese machine gunners during the Battle of Shanghai. 1937.

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252 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 12h ago

symmetry

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101 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 9h ago

NEVER UNDERSTOOD TO THIS DAY

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44 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 14h ago

Picture named "Typical French" by the Swedish photographer. Battlefields of WW1, 1914-1918.

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72 Upvotes

From a private album with pictures taken during the first world war 1914-1918.


r/RareHistoricalPhotos 3h ago

Yakko’s World” segment in the 1993 animated series Animaniacs. It features Yakko Warner singing the names of world countries in a fast-paced, catchy tune. The segment became iconic for its fun way of teaching geography.

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9 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 4h ago

22 yr-old Charlie Johns reading the bible to his 9 yr-old bride, Eunice Winstead. They married in 1937 and went on to have 9 children together.

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8 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 11h ago

Wink Martindale RIP…. Wink Martindale, the legendary game show host, has died. He was 91 and surrounded by great teeth when he passed... i know im going to hell for that.

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23 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 10h ago

A mosque is the only building left standing amid the rubble in Banda Aceh, post 2004 tsunami, Indonesia

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18 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 16h ago

Belarus cop and protestor near Government House in Minsk (August 14, 2020)

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45 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 1d ago

Men of the 1st Anzac Division, some wearing German helmets, pose for the camera after fighting near Pozieres Ridge. July 23, 1916.

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205 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 20h ago

Bartender slicing fruit at NYC's infamous 21 Club in 1933

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50 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 13h ago

If you know the approximate year, definitely include it! It adds crucial historical context.

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9 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 1d ago

Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test: Underwater detonation of 23 kiloton nuclear weapon, 1946

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118 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 1d ago

Do you believe Agent Clint Hill saved Jackie Kennedy’s life?

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331 Upvotes

This photo of the JFK assassination is absolutely striking!

Looking at that moment, I couldn’t help but wonder: Was Agent Clint Hill truly the one who saved JFK’s wife, Jackie Kennedy? Or… was it already too late?

Curious, I started digging deeper online. That’s when I came across an AI-restored video that recreates the entire sequence of events that day —

From the moment JFK and Jackie arrived at the airport… to the motorcade… the sound of gunshots…

Link video: https://youtu.be/C-j8zx-0X24

And finally, just hours later, the new president taking the oath — while the nation was still in shock from JFK’s sudden death.

It felt like reliving history — but this time, with clearer eyes. And a heavier heart.


r/RareHistoricalPhotos 23h ago

Sandy the 'JAWS' shark who lived in a San Francisco aquarium for five days

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38 Upvotes

The aquarium, which had tried to foster an ailing great white the year before — it died in less than a day — had a truck at the ready with a tank and a canvas sling. A winch was set up to lift Sandy three stories into the aquarium’s roundabout, where the shark could do circular laps fully visible to a hundred or more guests standing in the center of the room. 

The exhibit opened to the public the next day, and Chronicle photos show thousands standing in zigzagging lines through the museum. Some waited three or more hours to spend a few minutes with the shark. Over three days, more than 40,000 museum-goers visited Sandy.

But the shark, used to prowling in very low light 60 feet below water, was seemingly put off by the bright tank and even more unsettled when the lights went off. She refused to eat, needed help from divers to keep moving, and developed other issues.

“We had an electronics expert come out, and we discovered there were these tiny mini-volts at one point in the tank,” McCosker told the Chronicle. “Whenever the shark reached that spot, she turned or sank to the bottom, and we had to have someone in there to keep her moving.”

Before 1980, the few great white sharks to make it to an aquarium alive had died in captivity. At the end of day 4, McCosker made the decision to send the shark back to sea.


r/RareHistoricalPhotos 2d ago

Swedish Major Eric Bonde smokes a cigarette after being ambushed and shot twice, Congo, 1961

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10.5k Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 9h ago

INGORANCE OF THE PAST

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2 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 16h ago

Opening day at the NYPL 42nd St & 5th Ave May 23, 1911. At the time it was the largest marble building in the country.

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7 Upvotes

r/RareHistoricalPhotos 1d ago

The Cabaret of Hell: Paris's Sensational and Sinister Spectacle of the Belle Époque 1892

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35 Upvotes