Recently Uncovered Photos of Historical Events We Never Knew Existed

We love this set of photographs from 1890, of a couple giggling between frames – mainly because of how rare it is to see ‘outtakes’ of historical photographs. Unlike today where advances in technology allow for tens of photos to be snapped in mere seconds (most of which are later deleted,), in the Victorian era and the dawn of portrait photography, each photo taken was precious. Not only are these photos incredibly rare, but just as rare is the Victorian portrait where someone is smiling at the camera! 

In 1944, Walter and Werner were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps during World War II, where over 1.1 million men, women, and children lost their lives. Auschwitz was the only camp to tattoo Jewish prisoners as they arrived. Incredibly, Walter and Werner arrived on the same day and were tattooed just ten numbers apart: A1828 and A1838, but despite being in the camp at the same time, they had never met until this reunion, seventy years later. 

Iran has had a history of forcing various laws on women that call Iran home. Though this photo is of a protest in Tehran in 1979, things haven’t changed very much. Even to this day, in 2022, the same demonstrations are happening around the country. However, Iran wasn’t always like this. There was a time when it was a modern world, and women could go to college, work, and not wear a hijab if they chose not to. 

The beautiful thing about this casual but stunning photo of David Bowie and Iman, is that it reflects one of the rarest things in the world of celebrity and fame: authenticity. The musician and model kept their relationship and marriage extremely private. “I fell in love with David Jones,” Iman told The Guardian newspaper in 2014, “I did not fall in love with David Bowie. Bowie is just a persona.”. 

Margaret Hamilton, featured in this rare historical photo from 1969, is the software engineer that history forgot to make into a household name, like Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin. Hamilton led the NASA software team that landed the Apollo astronauts on the moon. She was a ‘software engineer’ before anybody even knew of the term, and in the photo featured, is standing next to what is believed to be the code or program listings for the successful Apollo space mission. 

Sophia Loren, award-winning Italian actress of the 1950s-1970s, is as famous for her talent as her curves. Loren was hailed as an “Italian Marilyn Monroe” when she burst onto the Hollywood scene in 1957, famous for her quote “I’d rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0”. Her beauty and her famous silhouette may have overshadowed her talent, but her long career is a testament to her dedication to her career.

Snapped here at a protest in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, Bernie Sanders would go on to become a US senator and eventually run for the office of President of the United States. In this rarely seen photo a young Sanders is hauled off by policemen for taking part in a nonviolent protest; which began in Birmingham in the early 1960s backed by Dr. Martin Luther King, when the city was still largely racially divided. 

This genuinely rare photo appears in a book by Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell, published in 2020, entitled ‘A Photographic History of Men In Love, 1850s-1950s’. The book is a collection of moving photos – some taken secretly – of couples throughout that specific period in history, when male partnerships were illegal. The photos reflect men and couples from all walks of life, and are a rare glimpse into private worlds, kept secret and hidden from society. 

Punks are people too! Reminding us that the “hard-as-nails” reputation of punk rockers is just a front, a punk kneels down at the request of a little boy who just wanted to feel the spikes on his jacket! Snapped at a Pride event in 2009, we love this photo for all the obvious reasons – the little boy’s excited expression, and the look of amusement and ease on the seemingly tough man’s face. 

Ever heard of Dolly Parton’s husband? Neither had we! So rare is a photograph or sighting of them together, it used to have some believing he didn’t exist! But he does, and his name is Carl Dean. The couple is extremely private, which may just be the secret to their long-lasting marriage, currently going on 56 years. They met when Dolly was just 18, got married two years later. They have been together ever since! 

Seen here are sixty pairs of iron shoes line the banks of the Danube river, a memorial to the Jews of Budapest, Hungary, who were murdered during WWII. When the nationalist-socialist political party Arrow Cross took power in 1944, they aligned themselves with the Antisemitic stance of Hitler’s Nazi party, and began deporting thousands of Jews to concentration camps. Within days of them taking power, 600 Jews were murdered – with many rounded up and shot on the banks of the Danube.  

This moving, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo was taken by Héctor Rondón during a rebellion that took place over five days in 1962 in the South American country, Venezuela. In the photo, chaplain Luis María Padilla holds a wounded soldier who was seriously injured in the infamous El Porteñazo anti-government rebellion. He was among 700 people injured during the short-lived rebellion, which also left 400 people dead. The uprising was ultimately unsuccessful in overthrowing the government. 

When you learn about WWI, you don’t really see photos of the German nurses that were attending to wounded soldiers. This gives you an interesting look into their world. During such a difficult and devastating time in history, you catch a glimpse of humanity while these women nurse the soldiers back to health. This photo was taken around 1915, and during this time, those who were nurses mainly volunteered to do so.

Two sisters happily, innocently playing in the sand in 1940 in Zandvoort, a beach resort in the Netherlands. Horrifically, just two years later, the lives of these two Jewish girls in Holland would be drastically altered. In 1942, regulations regarding Jews came into place in Holland with the enforcement of the yellow star, restrictions on movement, Jews fired from public positions and places of employment, and Jewish children barred from public schools. To escape deportment, the Frank family went into hiding in a secret annex behind her father’s offices in Amsterdam. 

Two boys, one virus. The child on the left – unvaccinated, and the child on the right – received the vaccine. Before the smallpox virus was eradicated thanks to vaccines, as many as 9 in 10 babies died after contracting it. Smallpox was a life-threatening disease that involved pus-filled blisters all over your body. Smallpox survivors were often left blinded and terribly scarred. Although her name is not widely known, smallpox was eventually eradicated thanks to Lady Mary Montagu.   

This unbelievable photo is of the RMS Queen Elizabeth ship pulling into New York harbor in 1945, packed with US soldiers returning from Europe. The ship left Scotland on August 6th, 1945, and arrived in New York on August 11th, 1945. The ship looks absolutely packed which might be attributed to all of the soldiers coming up top for the arrival into NY, or it might be because Eisenhower opted to get more soldiers home all at once, rather than more ships with fewer soldiers on. 

After one look at this photo, the story just has to be told. This astonishing episode is not an urban legend or folk tale – a man really did perform an appendectomy on himself, in less than optimal conditions. While on a Soviet Antarctic expedition, surgeon Leonid Rogozov began to feel unwell and, as a doctor, understood his symptoms where those of acute appendicitis. With no hope of an airlift out of Antarctica, Rogozov decided to perform the surgery. On himself. Without general anesthetic.  

This photo of two sweet-looking children speaks to a dark and horrific period of American history. Following Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and suspecting an invasion, President Roosevelt ordered the internment of all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, regardless of whether they were US citizens or not. This photo; entitled ‘Lunch Hour’, was taken by Dorothea Lange at the Raphael Weill School in San Francisco – she captured the children together moments before the Japanese American population of the school was evacuated from the neighborhood.  

One can never know when those CPR skills will be needed! This incredible photo, entitled “Kiss of Life”, features two coworkers, Randall G. Champion and J.D. Thomspon, utility workers out performing maintenance on electricity lines in 1967. Champion accidentally brushed against a low voltage line and went unconscious. His harness kept him from falling off the pole, while his quick-thinking coworker below him climbed up and gave him mouth-to-mouth. It was the photographer, Rocco Marabito who had been driving past, who called for an ambulance! 

This is a serene and beautiful photograph of a Navajo mother and her children. Since, more often than not, the history of Native Americans was wiped away, witnessing a photo like this is a blessing. You can see the adobe dwelling they are sitting in front of, the print of the blanket she has on her lap, and their clothing which adds to the atmosphere. This was a great way to capture their life in the 1900s. 

This extremely rare photo captures a heartbreaking, exhilarating moment in history, as Allied forces began liberating concentration camps across Poland and Germany when WWII ended. The joy on their faces appears genuine, but survivors of the camps faced a long road of recovery and trauma ahead. Some tried to return home, to find their families, friends had been murdered and their communities wiped out, while their ‘neighbors’ had taken possession of the Jewish-owned houses. Reparations and recovery were a long, long way away. 

Kathrine Switzer had been training as a runner with men from her college’s cross-country team when they decided to run the Boston marathon together in 1967, when women were banned from participating in the 26 mile run. Switzer signed up and all went smoothly until a few miles into the race, when an organizer – furious that she was running – physically accosted her, trying to pull her number off and force her to drop out. Switzer completed the full marathon and went on to become an activist for women in sport.  

At the time of publishing this photo, the 95 year old woman featured in her hospital bed was the oldest person in Italy to have recovered from Covid-19. However, since then a 101 year old man from Rimini, Italy, has recovered from the virus. In France, the world’s second oldest person also survived contracting the coronavirus at an incredible 117 years old. A French nun by the name Sister Andre made a full recovery in 2021. 

Robotic milking machines are a game-changer for farmers, bringing higher milk yields and less workforce costs, but how did cows get milked before there were robotic or mechanical devices? Well, by hand of course! This photo demonstrates a unique part of history to modern audiences – a slower time, when cows were milked by hand, by farmers or traditionally by milkmaids – women who milked the cows and then also made butter and cheese – and other animals, like the cats pictured, interacted on the farm. 

Fortunately, most modern countries have come a long way since, but there was once a time when what this woman wore put her in prison. Her name is Annette Kellerman, and she was an Australian professional swimmer. However, she became infamous for her custom tight-fitted one-piece swimsuit. Around 1907 when she wore this, it was considered so scandalous she was arrested, and people were shocked at the controversy she stirred up.

Have you ever seen such strong and powerful women? These are the Russian all-female gang of pilots who would bomb nazis at night hence why they gained the name the “Night Witches.” It mainly consisted of super young volunteers- late teens or early twenties. However, their age meant nothing because they were courageous and fearless. They learned to fly old rickety planes and would swoop in and drop bombs on their targets.

Clearly posed for photographers; five gaunt, skeletal liberated Australian prisoners of war read the paper and drink cups of tea. This remarkable photo reflects the testimonies given later by surviving POW’s, of inhumane conditions and callous treatment – starvation, routine beatings, abuse and forced labor. Over 8,000 soldiers died at the hands of their Japanese captors while in captivity across southeast Asia. Mostly all captured Australian soldiers were sent to Changi, Singapore and from there onto other work camps. 

Vikki Dougan may not spring to mind when thinking of the 1950’s, Old Hollywood “bombshells” such as Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield, but Dougan had her 15 minutes of fame around 1956. An aspiring model and actress, after appearing on the cover of Life magazine she began to garner interest and in 1957, Ralph Crane snapped this iconic photograph of her in a backless dress – from then on she appeared everywhere in backless dresses and simply became known as The Back. But unlike other successful models of the period, her acting career never took off and she never made it ‘big’ in Hollywood. 

In the photo, a Catholic missionary holds the hand of a starving Ugandan child thought to be around four years old. 60% of children in the Karamoja region of Uganda died during the famine of 1980. Although Mike Wells won the World Press Photo of the Year award for the photo, he says he’s ashamed that he took it, and that a newspaper sat on it for five months without publishing it – eventually only submitting it for the award. 

Love is love! We love these rare photos from 1900 of a couple cosying up in front of the camera. It’s not clear which country the couple was living in, but lesbianism in the United Kingdom was never actually illegal, the law pertained only to male sexuality and homosexual activity.  In America, it took until 1973 for homosexulity to be removed from the list of mental health disorders by the American Psychiatric Association. 

Within the confines of the photobooth, this couple was free just to be, but it’s likely that outside of the booth they would not have dared. Sexual activity between men was only decriminalized in Canada in 1969, with many facets of the law around it remaining in place – including a difference in the age of consent for heterosexuals and homosexuals. This law was finally repealed in 2016, while same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada in 2005,  

‘Measuring the full value of a teacher goes well beyond their impact on test scores. Teachers who improve students’ noncognitive skills also improve long-term outcomes that include their odds of graduating from high school.’ – Edutopia. This teacher from 1970 clearly chose the right profession – just look at the passion he’s bringing to this class on the physics of surfing! Although there are no details on who this awesome teacher is or what was actually happening here, we can imagine the impact his classes had on his students – just look at their faces! 

A picture that says a thousand words. At a rally of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia in 1992, a policeman looked down to find a small child checking out their reflection in the policeman’s shield. The policeman was black, the child white, and dressed like a Klansman. The KKK is a hate organization established around 1915, dedicated to promoting white supremacy and white governance in the southern states of the USA.  

Lesser-known celebrity fact: the retired actress Cameron Diaz and the rapper Snoop Dogg went to the same high school, Long Beach Polytechnic High School in California, USA. While it’s not completely unusual that two kids from the same high school in California would end up in a Hollywood world of fame and celebrity, it’s pretty funny that Diaz revealed she once bought weed from Snoop Dogg when they were teens! 

Freddie Mercury is a legend in the rock music world, remembered forever as lead singer and songwriter for the band Queen and for his larger-than-life stage personality. Today, more than 30 years since his death; he is regarded as a gay icon, but prior to coming out Freddie Mercury was engaged to a woman, Mary Austin, pictured here. Despite their relationship ending in 1976, they remained close friends until Mercury’s death from AIDS in 1994.   

Amy Winehouse’s last concert in Belgrade, Serbia, was called her “worst ever” performance in 2011, but knowing what we know now, how soon she would die following this concert, it seems even more tragic. The musical force of nature that was Amy Winehouse burst onto the music scene in 2006, she won numerous awards and the press hounded her incessantly. She battled alcohol and drug addiction, eventually dying of alcohol poisoning in 2011.     

By now, we all know how Barack and Michelle Obama met and fell in love which appears in a chapter of Michelle’s book, Becoming. If that hasn’t reached your bedside table book pile yet, Michelle was Barack’s advisor when he joined her Chicago law firm as a summer associate. But photos of the actual wedding – now those we haven’t seen! Their first dance was to Stevie Wonder’s “You and I”. Swoon. 

Steve Irwin was an exceptional Australian zookeeper and conservationist, someone who was born into the world of animal care and rehabilitation and spent the rest of his life working with animals. Together with his wife Terri and children Bindi and Robert, the Irwins became renowned around the world for their work at the Australia Zoo. Pictured here are Steve and a very little Bindi, with a very little crocodile! A sweet moment caught on camera. 

In this rare family photo, a young Barack Obama plays with his grandfather on the beach in 1966. They look like they’re having a grand time, and the photo speaks mountains about their relationship. Former President of the United States Obama has often spoken of the fact that it was his grandparents who raised him in Hawaii from the age of 10, not his mother, who was studying in Indonesia. 

Sometimes a photo gives a glimpse into the past, while talking directly to us here in the future. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1959 was ten years into the civil rights movement in the USA. Desegregation of the US army had taken place in 1955, but Emmett Till was killed for whistling at a white woman that same year. These couples were photographed in a public place in Pittsburgh where they clearly felt safe – but in other parts of America, such as Mississipi, the retaliation against the civil rights was still raging.  

Two darlings of their day! Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly, both born in 1929, followed their rising stars to Hollywood where each pursued a very different but very successful acting career. A lot of people wonder if they ever crossed paths, as there are little to no photos of them together. They never starred in a film together, but given how famous they both were at their peak, they must have met – and here is the evidence!  

Yes, we’re also reaching for the tissues. This heart-wrenching photo of Major Terri Gurrola and her daughter Gaby became famous during the early years of the war in Iraq. This beautiful moment of reunion between Gurrola, a military doctor, and her toddler, was caught at Atlanta airport in 2007. Gurrola was arriving home for a two-week break from a seven month stint in Iraq, where she ended up being stationed for two years. 

Although he was, and still is, recognized the world over for his work in astrophysics and his struggle with Motor Neurone disease, Stephen Hawking’s primary caregiver, wife and mother to his children, Jane, i.e. the glue holding it all together, went largely unrecognized. The couple were married in 1965, very soon after receiving Hawking’s diagnosis, they had three children together and went on to have a thirty year marriage. “The truth was, there were four partners in our marriage… Stephen and me, motor neuron disease, and physics.” – Jane Hawking. 

From a slightly boring, very conventional ‘Davy Jones’, the name he was born with, to the legendary, innovative, creative enigmatic popstar: David Bowie. Why did Bowie change his name? It’s not unusual in the world of music to perform under another name, but the answer is clear to all of Bowie’s diehard fans – he loved theatrics! Bowie invented and reveled in his alter egos; Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke, and Aladdin Sane, and often presented in androgynous outfits.   

A rare glimpse into the private life of a very private person. He was a cat person! At one point in time, the world famous musician Freddie Mercury owned over ten cats. In one house he moved to, every cat – Tiffany, Dorothy, Delilah, Goliath, Lily, Miko, Oscar, and Romeo – had a bedroom, emphasizing how important they were to him, how they were like family. Mercury preferred to adopt from shelters, although he did own one thoroughbred cat, given to him by Mary Austin.