Pictures illuminate the shadows of history, revealing the forgotten people and places that otherwise may have faded into oblivion. They help us make sense of the past and, in turn, allow us to understand the present.

So we at Bored Panda decided it would be a nice idea to explore the subreddit ‘Rare Historical Photos‘ — it has 40,000 members constantly digging through the archives and sharing their best finds. Prepare to be transported through time!

#1 Renowned Photographer Walter Chandoha Created One Of His Most Famous Photographs Of His Daughter Paula And A Small Kitten Smiling At The Camera At The Same Time, 1955

Image credits: ua-stena

#2 A Seaman’s Request For An Extraordinary Leave Of Absence, 1967. Reason: “My Wife Is Planning To Get Pregnant This Weekend And I Would Like To Be Present.”

Image credits: ua-stena

#3 A Baby Lamb Snuggles Up To A Sleeping Boy, 1940

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#4 With Her Husband At War, Mom Works On The Car, 1944

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#5 Shy Young Woman Smiling For The Camera 143 Years Ago

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#6 A GI Shares His Rations With Two Italian Children, 1944

Image credits: Quick_Presentation11

#7 Abraham Lincoln In 1861 And 1865. A Noticeable Four-Year Contrast Against The Backdrop Of War

Image credits: ua-stena

#8 A Police Officer Playing Duck Duck Goose With Children In New York, 1970

Image credits: Quick_Presentation11

#9 New York, 1958. Dancers In A Nightclub Play Chess. Smartphones Haven’t Been Invented Yet

Image credits: ua-stena

#10 The Ship “Queen Elizabeth” Arrives At The Port Of New York. On Board Are Soldiers Returning From World War II, 1945

Image credits: ua-stena

#11 Photo Of Marilyn Monroe First Wedding, She Was 16 Years Old, 1942

Image credits: ua-stena

#12 Young Couple Standing At A Speed Limit Sign. Oklahoma, 1920s

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#13 A Dog Says Goodbye To His Fallen US Soldier Friend. Afghan War, 2004

Image credits: ua-stena

#14 The Oldest Indian, John Smith, Managed To Live In Three Centuries At Once, Being Born In The 18th Century, Living Throughout The 19th Century And Dying In The 20th Century. It Is Alleged That He Lived For About 137 Years

Image credits: ua-stena

#15 Girls Sent Home From Mckinley High School For Wearing Slacks And Blue Jeans, Chicago, 1946

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#16 Early Use Of A Selfie Stick In The 1940s

Image credits: Quick_Presentation11

#17 Man With Down’s Syndrome, 1890s

Image credits: World-Tight

#18 People Sit On A Curb Amid Confetti And Papers After Celebrating The End Of World War II In New York City On August 14, 1945

Image credits: ua-stena

#19 John D. Rockefeller Gifting A 5-Cent Coin To A Child, 1929

Image credits: senorphone1

#20 Queue For The Premiere Of The Star Wars Film. Vancouver, 1977

Image credits: ua-stena

#21 A Photo Before Going Off To War Of Three Friends – 1943

Image credits: OldSchoolScoundrel5

#22 Five-Year-Old Albert Einstein, 1884

Image credits: ua-stena

#23 Variant Of The Uniform For Flight Attendants On Scandinavian Airlines, Copenhagen, 1960s

Image credits: ua-stena

#24 A Typical American Family In 1950s, Detroit, Michigan

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#25 A Lady Walks Around Renting Out Books As A “Walking Library.”

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#26 A Victorian Home Being Moved Via Horse Power. San Francisco, California, USA. 1908

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#27 Drexel Institute Girls’ Rifle Team. Philadelphia, USA

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#28 A Rare Photo Of North Korean Leader Kim Il Sung, Showing A Tumor On His Neck. Photographers Were Prohibited From Photographing The Right Side Of His Face. Late 1980s

Image credits: ua-stena

#29 The Last Photo Of Nikola Tesla. 1942

Image credits: ua-stena

#30 American Soldier Returning Home From The Great War, Ca 1918-19

Image credits: Quick_Presentation11

#31 Pictured Is Paul Overby, One Of Two Drivers Trapped In The Cab Of The Truck. He Is Pulled By A Rope In The Pit River Bridge Over Lake Shasta Near Redding, California, May 3, 1953. Both Overby And His Partner Hank Baum Were Rescued Before The Car Plunged And Caught Fire

Image credits: ua-stena

#32 Soviet Basketball Player Arvydas Sabonis At The World Cup Final In Spain, 1986

Image credits: senorphone1

#33 Cab Drivers In Madison Square Garden, New York, 1900

Image credits: ua-stena

#34 A Fashionable Young Woman Exiting A NYC Streetcar In 1912

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#35 A Young Woman Photographed In The 1910s

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#36 Little Leonardo Dicaprio And His Parents George And Irmelin, 1976

Image credits: ua-stena

#37 Future Leader Of The Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro In Central Park In New York, USA, 1955

Image credits: ua-stena

#38 Powerful Baseball Player Weighing 204 Kg. Citizen Team Player. City Of Emporium, Pennsylvania, 1910s

Image credits: ua-stena

#39 Jackie Kennedy At Her Husband’s Funeral, 1963

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#40 Republican Party Supporters And Democratic Party Supporters Fight With Snowballs In Front Of The Capitol. January, 1921, Washington, USA

Image credits: ua-stena

#41 Goodyear Illuminated Tires, 1961

Image credits: ua-stena

#42 Ojibwe Woman, Ponemah, Minnesota, Photograph Taken By Roland W. Reed C.1908

Image credits: Quick_Presentation11

#43 Vancouver’s First Official Lifeguard, Joe Fortes, 1905. Fortes, Who Was Born In Trinidad And Tobago, Was Credited With Saving Dozens Of Lives And Was Known As “Old Black Joe”

Image credits: ua-stena

#44 Portrait Of A Family. Georgia, USA, Circa 1900

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#45 Polygamous Prisoners In Utah’s Sugar House Prison, 1889

Image credits: ua-stena

#46 Driver Of Combine Threshing Oats, 1940

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#47 Flatiron Building, New York, 1902

Image credits: ua-stena

#48 Pope John Paul II Talks With The Turkish Terrorist Who Shot Him (Wounded In The Arm And Stomach), Mehmet Ali Agca, 1983

Image credits: ua-stena

#49 A Family Of A Migratory Fruit Worker From Tennessee Camped In A Field Near The Packinghouse At Winter Haven, Florida, 1937

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#50 Service At The Track Restaurant In Los Angeles, 1950s. Food Was Delivered Via Conveyor Belt Directly To Cars

Image credits: ua-stena

#51 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, 1972

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#52 Downtown Boston, 1910

Image credits: ua-stena

#53 Orson Welles As Macbeth, 1947

Image credits: TheWallBreakers2017

#54 Crossing Over The Thames. Photo By René Groebli, 1949

Image credits: WistfulHush

#55 Workers Stand Atop Ladders Working On The Frame Of The Uss Macon Airship. May 1932. Goodyear Airdock, USA. It Launched In April 1933 And Crashed In 1935

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#56 A Mexican Baker, 1880-90s

Image credits: World-Tight

#57 A Cowboy, 1890s

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#58 Passengers Onboard The Staten Island Ferry. New York, USA. 1895

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#59 A Former Prisoner Points Out The Most Brutal Guard. Germany. 1945

Image credits: ua-stena

#60 A Gentleman Tips His Hat To A Group Of Ladies, 1920s

Image credits: Quick_Presentation11

#61 This Is What The Empire State Building Looked Like Against The Background Of Other Buildings, 1941

Image credits: ua-stena

#62 Abraham Lincoln With His Son, Thomas “Tad” Lincoln, The Fourth And Youngest Son Of The 16th President Of The United And His Wife Mary Todd Lincoln. Thomas Died At The Age Of 18

Image credits: senorphone1

#63 Christmas In Marion, Indiana, USA, 1958

Image credits: ua-stena

#64 Russia’s First President, Yeltsin, Leaves The Kremlin And Hands It Over To Putin. Russian Federation, December 31, 1999

Image credits: ua-stena

#65 A Youthful Marine, Da Nang, Vietnam, August 3, 1965

Image credits: Quick_Presentation11

#66 Evicted Sharecropper Family In Temporary Camp. Butler County, Missouri, 1939

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#67 Airmail Pilot, William “Wild Bill” Hopson Of The U.S. Mail Service In Omaha, Nebraska, 1926

Image credits: Quick_Presentation11

#68 Robert F. Kennedy Playing Football, December 1967

Image credits: owlpolka

#69 People Gathered In Front Of Stores In A Small Town. Eureka Springs, Arkansas, 1880

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#70 New York At Night, 1933

Image credits: ua-stena

#71 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau Carries The Country’s Future Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Under His Arm. Ottawa, 1973

Image credits: ua-stena

#72 A Unique Photo From 1938 – A House Made Of Redwood. Well, Who Could Build Such A Miracle? Of Course, He Was A Genius Or A Giant!

Image credits: ua-stena

#73 An Old Fisherman Photographed In Bergen, Norway In 1902 By Anders Beer Wilse

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#74 Farmers In Front Of The Post Office On Saturday Afternoon. Linwood, July, 1940

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#75 Times Square, NYC, Dec. 27, 1947

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered

#76 Fans At A Stadium In Chicago Await A Hockey Game. USA, 1930s

Image credits: ua-stena

#77 A Lady From High Society. Ottoman Empire, 1900s

Image credits: ua-stena

#78 Migrant Farm Worker With His Wife And Ten Children, 1936

Image credits: USHistoryUncovered