The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” was coined by American newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane in 1911. It’s a simple notion that applies to many aspects of our lives, but especially to historical photography. Sometimes, one simple picture can tell you more about history than any story you might read or any document you might analyze.

These photographs all tell stories about the historical figures or events that they represent. Once taken simply to document their present, they now help us witness the past. Many photographs only become iconic shots years later, once we understand their importance and historical context. From historical landmarks and famous people to the basic daily routines of the past, these pictures portray the past in a way that we can empathize with and understand more intimately.

Perhaps the wars, poverty, fights for freedom and little miracles of the past have lessons for us that we can use today?

(from: http://www.boredpanda.com/must-see-historic-moments / via sobadsogood)

Women With A Gas-Resistant Pram, England, 1938

Unpacking the head of the Statue of Liberty, 1885

Testing of new bulletproof vests, 1923

Charlie Chaplin at age 27, 1916

Annette Kellerman promotes women’s right to wear a fitted one-piece bathing suit, 1907. She was arrested for indecency

106-year-old Armenian Woman guards home, 1990

Baby cages used to ensure that children get enough sunlight and fresh air when living in an apartment building, ca. 1937

Construction of the Berlin wall, 1961

Suntan vending machine, 1949

Martin Luther King with his son removing a burnt cross from their front yard, 1960

Mother hides her face in shame after putting her children up for sale, Chicago, 1948

The real Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, ca. 1927

Last prisoners of Alcatraz leaving, 1963

Melted and damaged mannequins after a fire at Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London, 1930

A beautiful suicide – 23 year-old Evelyn McHale jumped from the 83rd floor of the Empire State Building and landed on a United Nations limousine, 1947

(from: http://www.boredpanda.com/must-see-historic-moments / via sobadsogood)