I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into dresses

October 29, 2021 11:20 PM

The US Library of Congress hosts many images tagged, Animals in Human Situations. Similar, sometimes overlapping collections include those of the New York Public Library, Massachusetts' Digital Commonwealth, and Wikimedia Commons. [Includes as much old-timey racist imagery as you'd expect.]
posted by eotvos (7 comments total)

Glad this post is tagged correctly!
posted by Going To Maine at 11:36 PM on October 29, 2021

I did not realize until I saw this that I had assumed dressing pets up in doll clothes was a modern affectation! As though being silly was invented in 1960. I am shook. Thanks for this post.
posted by eirias at 5:01 AM on October 30, 2021

"Oakland barber gives a heifer a haircut to comply with new sanitary order." The cattle is in a barber chair, in a shop. How on earth does this enhance sanitation? Is this the easiest way to shear a cow? So many questions.
posted by cobaltnine at 5:34 AM on October 30, 2021

Kiowa girl with her cat in a cradleboard, circa 1890, is my favorite along these lines.
posted by gudrun at 11:37 AM on October 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

Animals in human clothes are as old as humans. The Egyptian god Bastet was represented as a domestic cat in clothes and the first true LOL Cat in the wild is from 1905.
posted by jmauro at 7:30 PM on October 30, 2021

This collection includes the Viking cat Brunnhilde, previously posted here on Metafilter, and which I love SO much I now have tattooed on my leg.
posted by gingerbeer at 5:56 PM on October 31, 2021 [1 favorite]

Some of these are by Harry Whittier Frees who had an interesting & sad life. A children's book with these photos is available on Archive.org.
posted by Ashwagandha at 5:22 AM on November 1, 2021 [2 favorites]