/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
1,426,806 Subscribers
My grandparents Circa 1943
06:55 UTC
Inuit artist in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, c. 1968
01:57 UTC
decided to do a follow up pic where I am a tiny bit happier. still from 1983.
first one was here https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWayWeWere/s/vsCKEjTMrB
I know my clothes don’t look 1980s but I am in my long sleeve nightgown lol
23:10 UTC
Reno Nevada - Virginia Street - Club Casino - First National Bank Of Nevada - c. 1955 (Photo by Dave Gelinas)
22:23 UTC
Nymphas Hanks and Mary Una Elizabeth Pedigo at the time of their wedding in Utah, 1919. The groom was blind and had no hands (hence the glasses and the pose). He’d lost his hands and eyesight in a blasting accident age 21.
20:47 UTC
A nineteen-year-old housewife and her three kids, the first born when she was fourteen. Utah, circa 1925.
19:37 UTC
Etobicoke High School Track & Field Team, 1936
19:30 UTC
My parents celebrating Christmas, some time during WWII
18:56 UTC
A Victorian relative of mine with outstanding taste in headwear. (Victorian in both time and place.)
18:48 UTC
Little boy posing with style in 1904.
16:38 UTC
My mom, an engineer, in her office, one month before I was born. 1967, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
15:37 UTC
A mother and son pictured in Ireland in 1890
14:03 UTC
Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche (26 May 1886 – 15 April 1912) was a Haitian engineer. He was one of only three passengers of known Haitian ancestry (the other two being his children) on the ill-fated voyage of RMS Titanic.
13:36 UTC
A lesbian couple in semi-drag wedding attire. Kingdom of Hungary, Budapest, 1920
13:32 UTC
Helen Konek in her igloo in Arviat, Nunavut, c. 1949
13:19 UTC
Gates Avenue from the Myrtle Avenue Elevated platform in Bushwick. Brooklyn, New York City, 1980. Photo by Bruce Davidson / Magnum Photos
11:35 UTC
Fifth Avenue, NYC (1974) Photographer unknown. Original Kodachrome collection of Susan Fensten.
11:35 UTC
Broadway, Lower Manhattan. NYC. Pedestrians passing Teri Ann Dress Shop and Barton’s Chocolate Shop, with a man resting his hand on the street trash can. (1972) Walter Leporati, photographer.
11:34 UTC
My Pepere (grandfather), taken sometime in the late 40s or early 50s
11:09 UTC
Late 1800's, early 1900's; Gold Miners in Alaska
07:54 UTC
The Edward W. West family, Boone County, Missouri, 1919
06:48 UTC
Hermosillo, Sonora (Mexico) in the arly XX century (1,900s). Group of people harvesting oranges and packing them. I think 13 workers can be seen and 3 people on charge.
06:03 UTC
Two mexican tortilla sellers. One of the woman is carring considerable more than the other. Looks early XX century (1,900s), on Mexico country side.
05:58 UTC
Couple of firewood seller carring their product in their backs. One looks considerable older than the other, maybe father and son? Early XX century (1,900s) in Mexico.
05:49 UTC
Discover a delightful moment from my glass negative collection: women and children on a Wisconsin farm in the 1900s, posing with pitchforks, butter churns, and pails, all smiles amid their daily chores.
03:52 UTC