Many famous historical photographs focus on iconic celebrities or astonishing wartime images. But this collection of 20 seldom scene pics shows famous events and daily life alike through the lens of normal people.
For example, one photo shows two Canadian officers reading the news that the Korean War is coming to a close. The sheer joy on their faces expresses so much more than just the end of a war. Knowing that they will no longer have to put their own lives on the line while sending others to do the same must be a unique feeling. Speaking of unique feelings, a photo of an elderly Otto Frank attending the unveiling of the first statue of Anne Frank is equal parts heart-breaking and empowering. Otto was a German businessman and Anne's father. His wife Edith was the only member of his family to survive the war, as they lost both of their daughters.
On a different note, a group photo of incarcerated Mormons might seem surprising to those only familiar with America's treatment of Mormonism today. But back in the day, Mormons and their more extreme practices were shunned and illegal. There's a reason the majority of them fled to Utah.
1
Germany's 1936 Olympic boxing team.
2
Canadian liberal leader Pierre Trudeau with his press secretary Suzanne Perry, (Matthew Perry's mother), Ottawa, February 1980.
3
Canadian officers beam at the news of the signing of the Korean Armistices, July 1953.
4
The fuselage of the ‘Spruce Goose,’ Hughes H-4 Hercules, making its way to final assembly in California. 1947.
5
A canal in Venice being drained and cleaned using a Decauville railway and two camels, 1956.
6
Times Square, NYC, unlit during the northeast blackout of 2003.
7
Russian prisoner of war. Bjørnelva camp, Saltdal, Norway, 1945.
8
Portrait of Mormon polygamists in the Utah Penitentiary, 1889.
9
88-year-old Otto Frank, (1889-1980), inaugurating the Statue of Anne Frank, Amsterdam 1977.
10
Italian sculptors, including the young Angelo Zanelli standing beside completed statues that are about to be placed on the Vittoriano/Altare Della Patria monument in Rome, early 1900s.
11
"Power Telegraph." 600 hp, 400kw cable rope drive mechanical power transmission system at Moserdamm. Schaffhausen, Switzerland, 1865.
12
Museum of Science in Boston, Halloween Party, 1982. Kids dress up as E.T.
13
Joan Jett backstage, 1977.
14
A couple dancing during the Guelaguetza Festival celebrating "los lunes del cerro," (Mondays on the Hill), on the last two Mondays of July. Oaxaca, Mexico, 1985.
15
Sylvia Plath on the beach, June, 1954.
16
Local men standing near the larger "Salsal" Buddha statue, Afghanistan, 1940.
17
Tanks and mounted troops advance to break up a Bonus Marchers’ camp of veterans protesting lost wages in Washington D.C., July 28, 1932.
18
Jean Shepherd at NYC's Limelight in 1965.
19
Girl reads a comic at a newsstand in Pittsburgh, 1940 - 1945.
20
Local women make their own flour, Tehuantepec, Mexico 1952.
