Considered to be the first photograph of a woman smoking, this is Lola Montez’s portrait by Southworth & Hawes. A savvy self-promoter, Lola Montez is the first woman ever to be photographed smoking. She made sure the cigarette is the focus of the picture. (Metropolitan Museum of Art) This is Lola’s third and most provocativeContinue reading “The First Photograph of a Woman Smoking: Lola Montez 1852”
Category Archives: event & history
April 15, 1964: Gail Wise Was the First Person to Buy a Ford Mustang
On April 15, 1964, two days before the Ford Mustang was officially supposed to go on sale, one mistakenly left the dealership. The lucky new owner, the first person to buy a Mustang was Gail Wise, a 22 year old school teacher from Chicago. Her parents let her the money after she landed her newContinue reading “April 15, 1964: Gail Wise Was the First Person to Buy a Ford Mustang”
50 Amazing Vintage Photos From the 1970s Volume 2
Amazing Vintage Photographs of 1900 One Thousand Mile Trial
In 1900, automobiles weren’t much more impressive than the horse-drawn carriages they were meant to replace. Internal combustion engines offered about 12 horsepower, but they were also loud, dirty, and unreliable. In a public effort to dispel that image—or at least the unreliable part—the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland organized the 1,000 MileContinue reading “Amazing Vintage Photographs of 1900 One Thousand Mile Trial”
Vintage Photos of Women Workers in the Factories in London During World War II
These women were all training in various London polytechnics to work in munitions factories during the early 1940s. Women have always worked outside the home but never before in the numbers or with the same impact as they did in World War II. Prior to the war, most of the women that did work wereContinue reading “Vintage Photos of Women Workers in the Factories in London During World War II”
Abolitionist Button, ca. 1850s
Abolitionist Button is an early photography daguerreotype and gold photographic print created from between the 1840s to the 1850s. It lives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The image is in the public domain, and tagged jewelry and political work. This miniature daguerreotype shows two hands resting on a book. The photographContinue reading “Abolitionist Button, ca. 1850s”
Animals in Daguerreotypes in the Early Years of Photography
Daguerreotypes, the first commercial form of photography, appeared in America around the year 1839. These were produced by first sensitizing a polished silvered copper plate with iodine vapor, and then exposing the plate to light. The image was developed over hot mercury, fixed, and rinsed. This was a direct positive process, meaning that no negativesContinue reading “Animals in Daguerreotypes in the Early Years of Photography”
Calamity Jane Mugging at Wild Bill Hickok’s Grave, 1903
A historic photo of Martha Jane Cannary, better known as Calamity Jane, mugging at the grave of James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok in Mt. Moriah Cemetery, Deadwood, South Dakota, ca. 1903.
Street Life of Shanghai in 1947
“A great, wicked and quite extraordinary city” was how, in 1947, LIFE described Shanghai. In 1947, four million people had made the City their residence (today, that number is 26 million). It seemed that at any one time, a very substantial proportion of the population was on the Shanghai streets. “The traffic has become aContinue reading “Street Life of Shanghai in 1947”
Cool Photos Show What House Parties Looked Like in the 1960s
The 1960s were the time of the hippies, “Make love, not war”, The Beatles and Woodstock. It brings images of cultural revolution, peace symbols, flower power, beach culture, short skirts, flares and lots of hair. Girls looked like Twiggy or Lulu. The decade finishes with the opening of the musical Hair and its shocking (forContinue reading “Cool Photos Show What House Parties Looked Like in the 1960s”
