MAPCO's aim is to provide genealogists, students and historians with free access to high quality scans of rare and beautiful antique maps and views. The site displays a variety of highly collectable 18th and 19th century maps and plans of London and the British Isles... [more inside]
posted by slimepuppy on Sep 14, 2009 - 16 comments

An ever-growing treasure trove of magazine cover and advertising art from the Golden Age of American illustration. Check out wonderful covers from Theatre Magazine, Adventure Magazine, the Argosy, Photoplay, and Black Mask. Here's a scary cover from Laughter magazine, a strange and beautiful Life cover from 1887, and a copy of The Liberator that I dearly wish I could flip through. See also collections of great old ads for soap, cigarettes and books, among others. The intro page is here.
posted by CunningLinguist on Sep 9, 2009 - 9 comments

Old dog photos, lost and found. I’ve always loved and accumulated old photographs, but one day about 10 years ago I looked around my house and suddenly found all those long-dead babies and brides and wearers of extraordinary hats rather depressing. . . But I noticed that the dogs — frequent subjects of those black and white images, on purpose and not — seemed somehow to remain alive.
posted by _sirmissalot_ on Sep 6, 2009 - 10 comments

Old bowling alleys are often things of beauty. Some are (in)famous. The NYTimes just had a wonderful feature on a little-known bowling alley in the basement of the Frick collection, complete with pristine antique bowling balls and a gravity-driven return mechanism. [Previously] (mandatory Big Lebowski reference)
posted by ericbop on Jun 11, 2009 - 16 comments

This is what 300 baud looks like online today.
posted by loquacious on Jun 1, 2009 - 111 comments

Popcorn, getcha hot, fresh popcorn!
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Dec 31, 2008 - 43 comments

If you were around between the 1870s and the early 1900s, you were rocking out to the sweet tunes of the organette. Some were ornate wooden boxes played by turning a crank. Cool kids had tiny organette/harmonica hybrids called Rolmonicas that were played by mouth. Other variations included the Celestina, the Musical Casket, the Playasax, the PlaRola, and the Triola mechanical zither among others. Happen to have one? Pull it out of that yard sale! You can still find music for it.
posted by katillathehun on Mar 18, 2008 - 6 comments

BikeIcons isn't the best site, but it has the best bikes! [more inside]
posted by snsranch on Nov 27, 2007 - 17 comments

Do you know the way to San Jose? I found this googling for map images for an animated title sequence I am doing. Wow. A treasure trove of antique maps of every age, description and location.
posted by ranchocalamari on Oct 12, 2007 - 15 comments

A mainstay of the old-timey cinema era, the Photoplayer was a pump organ designed for player piano rolls, sound effects and a human composer. [Courtesy of Huell Howser]
posted by dhammond on Aug 1, 2007 - 11 comments

Things Gone By is an antique jewelry dealer specializing in the category of "mourning jewelry"; items worn in memory of the dead, usually involving locks of their hair & other materials. The mourning items are not limited to jewelry, as they also feature a gallery of mourning artwork, again made with the hair of the beloved deceased.
posted by jonson on Jul 9, 2007 - 10 comments

Find an old bottle? I've found them at garage sales, buried in the garden, in basements and attics. I always thought it would be cool to know what they contained and how old they were. Now I can.
posted by Tablecrumbs on Jun 17, 2007 - 14 comments

One day, a vintage motorcycle restorer gets an idea in his head to tackle a new project, restoring an old-timey "board-tracker" bike. In and of itself, that's not such a big deal; over the past century, vehicle restoration has become equal parts hobby, business, and spectator sport. The catch with this particular project, however, is that there are no existing examples of the bike he wants to rebuild, the last known extant part remaining is a corroded engine case, and there are only 5 known photographs - all of which happen to show just the right side of the bike. This is the story (so far) of Paul Brodie's Excelsior OHC. [via]
posted by the painkiller on Jan 26, 2007 - 14 comments

The Feather Book, digitized by and on display at McGill University: A seventeenth-century book containing illustrations of birds and men -- composed of real feathers, beaks, and claws. More information about the book and its contents and history can be read here.
posted by Gator on Jul 20, 2006 - 14 comments

The U.S. Naval Observatory Library features high-res scans of images from antique books dealing with astronomy and navigation. Wallpapers, ahoy!
posted by Gator on Jul 13, 2006 - 18 comments

Oooh, I want one. Or all of them. Vintage high-tech, from the good folks at Worth1000. (Great idea, but I feel like even more could be done with this meme. Pointers?) [Via BoingBoing.]
posted by digaman on Feb 22, 2006 - 21 comments

Ancient jades: Fascinating, beautiful, intricate carvings. Utilitarian, decorative, and of course historical.
posted by Gator on Jan 24, 2006 - 7 comments

Did you know there's a department of the Smithsonian dedicated to saving the sounds of the past? Old phone rings, coffee percolators, home movie projectors, and much more.
posted by braun_richard on Jan 11, 2005 - 20 comments

Illusions, Delusions, and Confusions: Mythical Geography in Antique Maps, courtesy the Philadelphia Print Shop. (via tui)
posted by Ufez Jones on Jul 30, 2004 - 7 comments

Getting back into the groove : In the corner of a California university laboratory, two men are battling against time to perfect a machine that will read old recordings - using special microscopes to scan the grooves - and software that can convert those shapes into sound. Their work could bring history to life.
posted by starscream on Jul 26, 2004 - 15 comments

Another Magnificent Obsession is born. The fiance of a friend just gave me her small collection of antique radios that they won't have room for in their new place. While looking for care instructions, I discovered a whole new subculture where art, science, design, and craftsmanship co-exist. They don't make 'em like this anymore, folks.
posted by keswick on Apr 4, 2004 - 13 comments

The Old Telephone Company, Essex, England
posted by hama7 on Mar 12, 2004 - 7 comments

Yin Yu Tang is a late Qing dynasty merchants' home that was transported from its original site in southeastern China and rebuilt at the Peabody Essex Museum It offers a glimpse into the daily life of the Huang family, residents for more than two centuries. The story of the dismantling, transport and reassembly is a fine example of an international preservation project. (flash alert)
posted by madamjujujive on Dec 10, 2003 - 4 comments

1930 Shanghai style advertising posters
posted by hama7 on Sep 5, 2003 - 6 comments

Health Physics Instrumentation Collection. A shoe-fitting fluoroscope, Geiger Mueller detectors, civil defence items, atomic movie posters, radioactive quack cures, radiation warning signs, etc.
Much more in the way of historical scientific instrumentation at the University of Toronto Museum of Scientific Instuments : exhibits on psychology, acoustics, and early electron microscopy; more in the collections.
American Artifacts has some interesting articles and illustrations on antique scientific and medical instruments, such as these quack eye massagers.
posted by plep on Aug 17, 2003 - 10 comments

Father's day is coming! What do you get for the dad who has everything? Well, you can't get him a Dayak poisoned dart blowpipe from Kenya, or a Lohar throwing sickle, or even a gorgeous domed shield from Persia, because they've all been sold. Better hurry, or it's another tie this year. Maybe you could get him something to poke his elephants with. And yes, I am just a shill for this company: for every 10 scary-looking shark's tooth swords I sell, I get a free decorative skull.
posted by Hildago on May 28, 2003 - 7 comments

Antique Botanical Prints from Panteek, and many more.
posted by hama7 on May 23, 2003 - 3 comments

Violet Books: Antiquarian Supernatural, Fantasy & Mysterious Literatures, including the Gallery of Rare Dustwrappers, the Golden Age of Illustration Index, or the Westerns Dustwrapper Galleries, and more.
posted by hama7 on Mar 22, 2003 - 6 comments

Kodak Girl - Martha Cooper began her love affair with photography when her dad gave her a Kodak Baby Brownie sometime around 1946. A professional photographer, for the last 25 years she's also been an avid collector of photographica. Her focus is on images of women with cameras. Browse through more than a century of historic photos, quirky memorabilia, advertising, toys, comics, movie stills and figurines - it's a fascinating site! In her own photos, Ms. Cooper favors art, anthropology, and urban folk culture. Her colorful work can be viewed at NYCity Snaps.
posted by madamjujujive on Sep 29, 2002 - 2 comments