/r/TheWayWeWere
What was normal everyday life like for people living 50, 100, or more years ago? Featuring old photos, scanned documents, articles, and personal anecdotes that offer a glimpse into the past.
About TheWayWeWere
What was normal everyday life like for people living 50, 100, or more years ago? Featuring old photos, scanned documents, articles, and personal anecdotes that offer a glimpse into the past. This subreddit is focused on content at least 40 years old.
Please treat the comment section with kindness. Trolling, copypasta and unrelated arguments are against the rules of decorum.
Filter by decade:
Submission guidelines:
Content should be 40 years or older. Please put the approximate location and year in your title.
Especially appreciated are photos that show what people did and experienced, but posed photos are fine too.
If the source of your content is not given by your link, or if you have more information that would be helpful for people who want to learn more, please include it in a comment.
You do not need to put the dimensions of the image in the title of your post, e.g. [640 x 480].
Please do not submit or upvote content about historically notable people (politicians, celebrities, etc.) and events. Please post it to another subreddit.
Reposts are allowed as long as it has not been submitted within the last 3 months AND it does not already appear in the top 50 posts this year. This allows people new to the subreddit to get a chance to see quality previously-submitted content.
Find images to post by viewing our Resources Page. Please suggest additional resources by messaging the mods.
Related subreddits
For video, see /r/TheWayWeWereOnVideo
OldPhotos multireddit - contains 25 old photos subreddits, including many of the following:
Photos of major historical events and historically notable people: /r/HistoryPorn
Colorized photos (historically notable and otherwise): /r/ColorizedHistory and /r/Colorization
Early photography, with a focus on early camera technology: /r/earlyphotography
The suave and debonair ladies and gents of yesteryear: /r/oldschoolcool, /r/retroparents and /r/OldSchoolCelebs. For the more sultry side: /r/vgb (may be nsfw)
Modern photos overlaying historical photos: /r/OldPhotosInRealLife
The stranger side of life: /r/OldSchoolRidiculous
Black History: /r/BlackHistoryPhotos
Extant buildings during construction: /r/HalfbuiltHistory. Buildings lost to history: /r/Lost_Architecture
Time-specific pictures: /r/VictorianEra, /r/1920s, /r/1950s, /r/1960s, /r/1970s
Vintage advertising: /r/vintageads
Newsreel videos: /r/NewsReels
Classic and modern pinup art and photos: /r/pinup
Our more-recent past: /r/vintage and /r/vintageads
Past concepts of the future: /r/HowWeThoughtWeWouldBe and /r/VintageSciFi/
Old time radio programs: /r/OTR
/r/TheWayWeWere
1,527,004 Subscribers
My Grandmother and Dad walking in downtown Atlanta late 1940s
22:10 UTC
Amarillo Texas dust storm - 1936
22:10 UTC
A child heads out with their sled during the January 1922 Knickerbocker Storm in Washington, D.C.
22:00 UTC
The Amazing Basement Bar, circa 1956
21:19 UTC
ab. 1890. IMan in a satin-faced coat, holding a cane (photo by Alvan S. Harper)
(State Library and Archives of Florida)
20:25 UTC
My grandmother and her 4 daughters in 1942. My grandfather was a POW of the Japanese when this photo was taken, and he had never met the baby, my mother, b. May 1941.
Grampa came home from the war 2-1/2 years later and the family lore says that my mother recognized him amongst all of the returning soldiers and pointed to him and called out "that's my daddy."
Gramma was a formidable woman who kept everything afloat for 3-1/2 years while not hearing from her husband for months at a time and not knowing from day to day if he was even alive. I adored her.
Grampa was a chaplain and minister and lived until 1999. I was fortunate to have him perform my wedding ceremony. Possibly the greatest man I've ever known.
RIP Col Z
20:06 UTC
Swimming Party, ca. 1890
18:44 UTC
My great-grandmother's husband, Pauli Nikolai Heikki, fell during the Winter War in 1939, just two days before Christmas Eve. He had two children.
18:28 UTC
My parents (seated couple at left) at a fraternity party at Washington & Lee University in Virginia, in 1955.
18:00 UTC
Little girl with weird doll 1972
17:32 UTC
1974 - Family friends - Notice how that plaid punches even in black and white.
16:59 UTC
My 4 times great grandaunt Elsie. 1860s?
15:29 UTC
May 1900: My cleanshaven great-grandfather (left side of table, far end) and great-grandmother (plaid blouse, center) join friends in La Crosse WI for a Memorial Day picnic. His father, and probably the parents of others in this photo, had served in the American Civil War.
15:27 UTC
Iris Cummings in 1944. Swam for the U.S. in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and later became a WWII Army pilot in Women's Auxiliary. RIP today at 104 years old.
15:07 UTC
1920s. Flappers Heading for a day at the Shore
14:54 UTC
1960 my wife's grandfather (born around 1878) along with his 1958 Chevrolet
14:04 UTC
A young Finnish school teacher in the 1920s as photographed by her mother
13:34 UTC
My great grandmother Clara 28th September 1956 in St.Vincent and the Grenadines; dress made by her of course
13:08 UTC
Triumphal Arch of Titus, Rome, 1890. The woman is a burina, person living outside the city of Rome that came to town to sell fruit and vegetables.
12:17 UTC
Young married people at a get-together in 1960.
10:44 UTC
My family on their farm anywhere between 1914 and 1919.
08:12 UTC
Fun party game in Ohio 1950s
06:45 UTC
1974 - The result of my sister dressing me in her clothes and makeup. I made a pretty cute little girl. (I was not)
05:29 UTC
My great Aunt Minnie Bell in an old Timey swimsuit.
Does
05:20 UTC
Grandpa in WWII. fought on the soviet side.
02:05 UTC
Not my family, but I found this picture of a lady and her dog. Her name was Sarah, this was supposedly taken in 1935
00:41 UTC