What Was On: snapshots of vintage televisions playing broadcasts. 1957; 1963; 1968; In Space.
posted by jjray on Dec 19, 2009 - 10 comments

Ephemera Assemblyman a weblog. Personal favorites: Film Poster Paintings from Ghana :: Magician Souvenir Programs :: Abraham Lincoln Political Cartoons :: (The Art of) Spanish Rolling Papers :: Tickets from Political Conventions. Much more to be explored.
posted by Ufez Jones on Aug 28, 2009 - 18 comments

Hiking, biking, boating, fishing, shooting and more: "The Times of Our Lives." Wonderful scans of vintage photos of the 1950's and 1960's (uh, and 80's) from flickr user aroid. [via]
posted by dersins on Aug 11, 2009 - 7 comments

There's the fascinating autistic musical savant Blind Tom Wiggins. There are musical clowns and minstrels, and poignant images of child musicians. There are tantalizing and truly exotic images of musicians from far-flung corners of the world: India, Persia, China, Japan... all this and more at the Vintage Musicians Flickr group. Oh, and who's that critter with the banjo? Why, that may just be the ORIGINAL LOL CAT.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Feb 26, 2009 - 11 comments

You are interested in the unknown... the mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing to you, the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are bringing you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimony, of the miserable souls, who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places. My friend, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts of a flickr collection of old snapshots?
posted by gamera on Feb 14, 2009 - 18 comments

The beautiful vintage photos of three Belgian friends - a doctor, a painter, and accountant - who shared their experiments in color photography from 1907 to 1920. (via The Wonderland of Mia Mäkilä) [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive on Dec 26, 2008 - 17 comments

Vintage 3-D stereoviews of old Japan, Meiji and Taisho era swimsuit girls, working people, geisha, and kids, old Japan salt prints, dozens of T. Enami glass slides, and strange or offbeat images: all part of a vast and superb collection of Japanese photos from 1862 to 1930 by flickr user Okinawa Soba. [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive on Sep 9, 2008 - 17 comments

Arizona Then and Now -- When paired with vintage images of the 19th and 20th centuries, Arizona photographers Allen Dutton and Paul Scharbach's modern-day images reveal the changes that have shaped the state's landscape during the past 100-plus years. They searched the state to locate the precise spots from which to rephotograph the scenes captured by their predecessors, endeavoring to achieve the same angles, perspectives, and lighting as in the early photographs.
posted by netbros on Apr 28, 2008 - 17 comments

Two historic photography collections from Sydney's Powerhouse Museum: The Tyrell Collection - glass plate negatives from the Sydney studios of Charles Kerry and Henry King from 1884-1917 depicting a local record of the times; and the Hedda Morrison Collection - photographs from China, 1933-1946. The collection also includes personal papers and objects, such as Chinese papercuts, belt toggles, and photos from a 1930s-era folk festival in Germany.
posted by madamjujujive on Mar 16, 2008 - 4 comments

African-American Snapshots & Portraits (page is slow to load) (previously) (via).
posted by JPowers on Feb 4, 2008 - 6 comments

Changing Times: Los Angeles in Photographs, 1920-1990
posted by miss lynnster on Jan 13, 2008 - 15 comments

An excellent resource for connoisseurs of facial hair that is firmly above-the-lip. Also good for people interested in amusing blogs, vintage photography and glossaries. [more inside]
posted by MadamM on Oct 31, 2007 - 21 comments

It's only a paper moon - a charming vintage photo collection. (via recogedor)
posted by madamjujujive on Sep 21, 2007 - 31 comments

Diableries: bizarre tabletop dioramas of scenes from the life of Satan, made around 1870. [via the nonist] [more inside]
posted by mediareport on Sep 20, 2007 - 26 comments

Atomage Magazine, possibly the first fetish magazine, produced by clothing designer turned photographer John Sutcliffe, who clearly had a special place reserved in his heart for head-to-toe rubberwear.
posted by serazin on May 31, 2007 - 6 comments

The destruction of the Paris Commune. African-American photo postcards. War models. Luminous Lint offers pages and pages of exhibits of vintage and modern photography and all sorts of related stuff. [via the excellent Bouphonia]
posted by mediareport on Mar 20, 2007 - 6 comments

Photobooth.net is dedicated to the old-school "dip and dunk" four-pose photobooth. See also the Photobooth Pool on Flickr.
posted by kmel on Aug 4, 2005 - 4 comments

~Balnea~ Virtual Museum of Sea Bathing and Seaside Tourism
This beautiful and comprehensive Italian site records the development of human association with the sea from the 18th to the 20th century. Art works, posters and photographs display the evolving nature of seaside architecture, fashion, lifesaving, cafes/amusements, sun protection, pavillions and more. There are even vintage essays and partially digitized books (some are in english) as well as beach tunes (midi files) for those so-inclined. [site map] via
posted by peacay on Aug 4, 2005 - 3 comments

The world's first photograph was produced in France in about 1826. Joseph Nicéphore Niépce rendered a bitumen-on-pewter image of the view from his summer house in St-Loup de Varennes with an exposure time of ~8 hours. He dubbed the process, which used a camera obscura effect, heliography. Before he died in 1833 he worked for a few years with Louis Daguerre (yes, him) who incidentally invented the diorama, examples of which are among these other vintage optical toys.
posted by peacay on Jul 24, 2005 - 15 comments

"Square America is a site dedicated to preserving and displaying vintage snapshots from the first 3/4s of the 20th Century. Not only do these photographs contain a wealth of primary source information on how life was lived they also constitute a shadow history of photography, one too often ignored by museums and art galleries." via
posted by peacay on Jul 19, 2005 - 21 comments

Ivan Brunetti, in addition to drawing dirty little comics (nsfw) and illustrations, has a great collection of vintage photographs of models, both demure and not-so-demure (again, nsfw), Hollywood starlets, cats, and comics ephemera. Finally, he also has a blog featuring a Doodle-a-Day.
posted by Robot Johnny on Feb 28, 2005 - 7 comments

Big Hats and Eroticism is just one of the many features of Tallulahs.com, an excellent site dedicated to images of the vintage nude. There's also lots of wonderful trivia and commentary, such as a brief biography of the Mante sisters (immortalized in the brilliant ballerina images of painter Edgar Degas), and the story of Liane de Pougy, convent girl turned runaway wife, turned celebrated dancer of the French stage, turned Romanian Princess. Or you can read about the mystery of H. Traut, elusive photographer of "the gentle eroticism of fairyland" whose images graced hundreds of postcards for several years until he seemingly vanished from the scene some time before WWI. Interested in drawing or painting nudes yourself? Here's a page of classical nude poses - studies in various categories that you can work from, including "The beauty of butts" and "seductive smoking"! Plus, you can peruse Tallulah's own art nudes, and a fabulous links page. NSFW, obviously.
posted by taz on Aug 9, 2004 - 4 comments

Vintage Dog Photos & Postcards From the strange to the enigmatic, ominous to amusing, this collection puts a smile on my face.
posted by snez on Jan 6, 2003 - 10 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