The World War I Christmas Truce

On December 25, 1914 in what was referred to as no man's land, British and German troops fighting WWI held an impromptu truce and celebrated the holiday between their trenches. They sang carols, exchanged gifts, and even had Christmas dinner together.

A Different Style Snowman

At Muir Glacier Glacier Bay, up in Alaska in 1902, while the majority were skiing, those who didn't built this gigantic snowman. Not your typical snowman, even looking rather real from the distance.

Old Fashioned Thanksgiving

This 1940 picture shows the reflection of a family eating Thanksgiving dinner in the mirror, while deserts await close by.

Fill'er Up!

This photo shows the first drive-in filling station, which opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1913.

State Game Lodge

The State Game Lodge, located in Custer State Park, South Dakota in the Black Hills, was built between 1919 - 1922. It served as the summer White House for President Calvin Coolidge in 1927. The entrance to the lodge is shown in this undated photo.

Elftreth's Alley

Built in 1702, Philadelphia's Elfreth's Alley, pictured above, is America's oldest street. As the first capital of the United States, Philadelphia is the site of the most historic square mile in all America. Between 1713 and 1811, homes were built along the street, and remain privately owned and occupied today, with one of the structures housing the Elfreth's Alley Museum.

Elfreth's Alley pictured in 1910

The School Bus

The first school bus was horse drawn and was introduced in 1827 by George Shillibeer in London, England. A 1912 Studebaker School Bus is shown in the above commercial photo published circa 1912.

Together Forever

In 79 AD the Italian city of Pompeii was buried in a flow of ash from Mt Vesuvius, which is located five miles away. With no possible means of escape, thousands of people were killed instantly, and the city remained lost for 17oo years. In 1748, Pompeii was rediscovered and, to this day, continues to be unearthed by archaeologists. Hundreds of skeletons have been discovered in the actual positions they were in the moment they died. The picture above shows what archaeologists have referred to as the 'embracing skeletons'.

Gettysburg Address

Page 1 of the Gettysburg Address is pictured in Lincoln's own handwriting. He delivered the famous speech on November 19, 1863 at the dedication of the Battlefield as a National Cemetery.

Old San Francisco

Gas lights line Montgomery Street in San Francisco in this 1895 photo.

'Tank Man'

On June 5, 1989, students staged a peaceful demonstration for democracy in Beijing's Tienanmen Square. The army, in an effort to break up the gathering, brought in troops and tanks. Teri Jones of the Associated Press, photographed the top picture of a lone individual who stood in the way of the approaching tanks in an effort to stop them. This picture, which was distributed to news outlets worldwide, became the identifying symbol of the Tienamen Massacre.

Recently, the individual known to the world as 'Tank Man' can be seen in the lower picture between two trees on the left side just above the pedestrian's left shoulder. Taken from street level, the picture shows him poised in the middle of the street as he awaits to confront the approaching tanks from the distance. This street level shot was taken by AP's Jeff Widener, and was only recently published.

Beach Beauty

A bathing beauty poses on the beach in this 1922 photograph.

Christmas at The Rock

Two Rockefeller Center trees are pictured in December 1938.

William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers

Will Rogers was a Cherokee-American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, and vaudeville actor. Born in Oologah, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) on November 4, 1879, he will always be remembered for his famous quotation "I never yet met a man that I dident[sic] like" The sentence was part of an original quote published in the November 6, 1926 edition of the Saturday Evening Post.

Wild Bill Hickok's Grave

This photograph of "Wild Bill's" Monument and Grave in Deadwood, South Dakota was taken in 1891. Born May 27, 1837, he was killed by Jack McCall on August 2, 1876 at this very spot.

'The British Are Coming!'

Old unused real photo postcard showing Christ Church in Boston, built in 1723. It is more famously known as The Old North Church, from where the lanterns were hung on the night of Paul Revere's historic ride.

Birth of The Kodak Camera

In 1888, George Eastman developed the 'Kodak' camera. It came preloaded with Eastman Celluloid film, capable of taking 100 pictures. Once the film was completely exposed, the camera itself was returned in order to have the pictures developed. The entire package sold for $25.

Thanksgiving Preparation

This photo, taken in 1900, shows a woman plucking a turkey on her front porch in preparation for Thanksgiving.

Roosevelt Visits Denver

President Teddy Roosevelt is seen riding in an open car during a visit to Denver in this undated photograph.

Tombstone, Arizona

Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp are pictured in Tombstone, Arizona in 1880.

The ENIAC Computer

In 1946, John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert invented the ENIAC I computer (Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator), a project that was sponsored by the American military. Replacing a bad tube in the computer meant checking its' 19,000 possibilities, as pictured above.

Eve Arden

This picture was autographed by the late actress Eve Arden in 1936 with a note of thanks to Bob Hope. Some of you may remember her popular television sitcom "Our Miss Brooks", where she starred as a high school teacher.

The 1919 Black Sox Scandal

In 1919, the Chicago White Sox were involved in what has been said to be one of the worst sports scandals in history, when they threw their World Series. The scandal inspired such movies as "Eight Men Out", and novels like "Shoeless Joe".

1954 Wheels

The 1954 Nash Metropolitan Hardtop 542

The Black Dahlia

Elizabeth Short is pictured after her arrest in Santa Monica on September 23, 1943 for underage drinking. She was 19 at the time.

On the morning of January 15, 1947, on a vacant lot in Los Angeles, the nude severed body of Elizabeth Short was found. A product of a broken home, the 23 year old woman had relocated to California from the East Coast in hopes of discovering fame and fortune. She led a somewhat troubled, sometimes mysterious life, culminating in her murder, which to this day, remains unsolved. The Black Dahlia nickname is believed to have originated from her hairstyle and black attire, others believe the media created it in order to sensationalize the murder case.

The Mother Road

A lonely stretch of old Route 66 winds through Arizona just south of Las Vegas. Route 66, built in 1926, stretches 2448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles and was the major cross country route at the time.

"We Will Bury You!"

With the Cold War in full swing, Soviet leader Nikita Krushshev is pictured during his 1960 speech to the United Nations, banging his shoe on the table while threatening to bury us.

Sigmund Freud

One of the last pictures of Sigmund Freud taken in London in 1938, the year prior to his death. Freud had several procedures to repair his jaw as a result of his heavy smoking, but despite all the treatments, he smoked until he eventually succumbed of oral cancer at the age of 83.

Inauguration Weather

In this Inauguration Day 1889 photo, President Benjamin Harrison is being sworn in under an umbrella, as rain continued to fall the entire day. Click the link below for the National Weather Service's detailed records of Inauguration Day forecasts in the past.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/er/lwx/Historic_Events/Inauguration/Inauguration.html

Falkland Islands War

After being bombed by Argentine aircraft, the British destroyer HMS Coventry is pictured sinking on May 25, 1982 during the Falkland Islands War.


http://jove.prohosting.com/~sinking/falklands.shtml

Tom Mix

Cowboy star and movie executive Tom Mix is pictured in Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1915.

13 Star Flag

The 13 Star Flag, delivered in 1804c., was the first American flag flown over California when the region was Spanish Territory. This picture was taken outside the Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1939. The flag's whereabouts today remain unknown.

Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty

President Jimmy Carter is pictured shaking hands with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Manachem Begin on the White House lawn after the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty on March 26, 1979.

Andrews Sisters

The Andrews Sisters, Maxene, Patty, and LaVerne are pictured circa 1920.

After The Rescue

A Coast Guard crew with their lifeboat on the beach at Barnegat City, New Jersey. c.1907

Haverhill, Massachusetts

Here we see a photograph of downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts taken around the turn of the century. Haverhill is located in the northeastern part of Massachusetts along the Merrimack River, and is one of the oldest historic communities in the state.

Buffalo Bill Cody (1846 - 1917)

William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill Cody is pictured above in this original photo taken on December 10, 1881.

New York vs Philadelphia

With the arrival of this year's World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees, I found the above image rather appropriate for the occasion. The scene is the Polo Grounds in New York on October 9, 1913 after game 3 of the World Series where the Philadelphia A's defeated the New York Giants by a score of 8-2.

Historical Postcard

The above undated postcard shows a Red Cross ambulance convoy. My guess would be the first World War, judging by the uniform and vehicle styles seen in the picture.

Corsetry

The corset, once referred to as "the garment of great antiquity", was worn as early as the 2nd Millenium BC. It was originally worn as an outer garment by both men and women during the Minoan Bronze Age.

Len Bias

Len Bias was considered one of the best college basketball players of his era at the University of Maryland. He became the number 2 overall pick in the NBA draft, however he never did get to play for the team that drafted him, the Boston Celtics, because he died shortly after signing of a cocaine overdose at the age of 22.

1903 Pandemic Flu

Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore, MD, pictured in 1903, when it lost many of its' own nurses to the pandemic flu.

Grace Annie Lockhart (1855-1916)

Grace Annie Lockhart was the first woman to earn a university degree in the British Empire. Her Bachelor of Science and English Literature degree was awarded on May 25, 1875.

Western Union

Western Union boy on a bicycle - 1925

The California Gold Rush

In 1848 along the American River in California, James Wilson Marshall, a carpenter from New Jersey, picked up some gold nuggets from the river near where he was building a saw mill. Scenes similar to the image above soon became symbolic of the California Gold Rush.

Ogunquit Maine

The Ogunquit School of Painting and Sculpture is pictured on July 11, 1937. Photographed by G. Herbert Whitney, the school opened in 1935 in this scenic coastal village.

Bethel, Maine

The junction of Broad, Church, and Main streets, known as "Honest Corner", is pictured in 1885. These nineteenth century commercial structures in the heart of Bethel remain standing today.

Dow Jones

Journalist Charles Dow is pictured in 1896, the year the Dow Jones Industrial Average was introduced. The "Dow" gives investors a regular window into the stock market.