Old Portraits of Jews From the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Until the 1860s, all Jerusalem residents lived within the walls of the Old City. The walls were built in the 16th century by Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, secure in the knowledge that the city gates were locked from sunset to sunrise and that residents were protected from marauding Bedouins. But as Jerusalem's population grew from 9,000 to 18,000 in the first half of the 19th century, new houses spilled outside the walls, and the one-square- mile inside.

Here's a small collection of rare portraits of Jews from the 1870s to 1920s...

1870. Three elderly Jewish men, settlers in Jerusalem. (Photo by Felix Bonfils/Getty Images)

1880. Elderly Jews at the Western, or Wailing, Wall, Jerusalem. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Circa 1885. A group of Ashkenazi jews in Jerusalem. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

1887. A Jewish cobbler ready for Sabbath Eve in a coal cellar in New York, where he is living with his family. This photograph is one of a series taken of New Yorks slums, using the newly invented technique of flashlight photography. (Photo by Jacob A Riis/Getty Images)

Circa 1890. A middle-class Jew from Tangiers in traditional cloak and cummerbund. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

See more»

Pictures of the Fall of the Soviet Union, 1991

More than twenty years ago, on December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union, declaring the office extinct and dissolving the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a massive communist empire that had existed since 1922. The USSR had been in a long economic stagnation when Gorbachev came to power in 1985. In order to bring about change, he introduced several reforms, including perestroika (economic restructuring) and glasnost (openness). Glasnost opened the floodgates of protest and many republics made moves toward independence, threatening the continued existence of the USSR.

In August of 1991, a group of Communist Party hardliners frustrated by the separatist movement attempted to stage a coup. They quickly failed due to a massive show of civil resistance -- but the already-faltering government was destabilized even further by the attempt. By December of 1991, 16 Soviet republics had declared their independence, and Gorbachev handed over power to Russian president Boris Yeltsin, ending the USSR. Collected here are photos from those tumultuous months more than 20 years ago.

A woman reaches into her bag, which rests on a fallen Soviet hammer-and-sickle on a Moscow street in 1991. December 25, 2011 will mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)

Lithuanians carry Lithuanian flags in the center of Vilnius on January 10, 1990, during demonstration asking for the country's independence. In early 1990, Sajudis-Reform Movement of Lithuania backed candidates won the elections to the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet. On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Soviet proclaimed the re-establishment of Lithuanian independence. The Baltic republics were in forefront of the struggle for independence and Lithuania was the first of the Soviet republics to declare independence. (Vitaly Armand/AFP/Getty Images)

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, center, in animated conversation with residents of Vilnius, Lithuania, on Thursday, January 11, 1990. Gorbachev was in the Lithuanian capital to press for reversal of the local communist party's decision to split from Moscow and to slow the republic's drive for complete independence. (AP Photo/Victor Yurchenko)

A crowd blocks the passage of Soviet tanks on a road near Ganja, formerly Kirovabad, in Soviet Azerbaijan, on January 22, 1990. Troops sent into the area last week to quell ethnic violence met both armed and peaceful resistance. (AP Photo)

People buy teacups in the Vilnius downtown shop on Friday, April 27, 1990. Despite an economic blockade of Lithuania by Soviet forces, shops in Vilnius are well supplied with food and other goods as Lithuania entered the 10th day of a blockade. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)

See more»

An Aerial View of the Cologne Cathedral in Germany During World War II

An aerial view of the Cologne Cathedral in Germany during World War II. The cathedral withstood 70 hits by allied bombers. And stood as a beacon of hope in an otherwise flattened city.

Fashion Models and Styles From the 1930s

Model Jean Early poses on the staircase at a 1934 summer fashion show while completely decked out in an elegant suit with a fur cape and hat.

Model Mardee Hoff, selected for having the most perfect figure in America at the time, poses in short shorts in 1935.

There was no Victoria's Secret yet, but that didn't stop models from showing up half-naked at a Brassiere Fashion Show in 1933.

Apparently plunging necklines were always a staple in fashion! This model showcases an elegant evening dress with a Victoria Nyanza cape in 1938.

No skimpy two-pieces here! Models in 1939 show off the swimsuit style of the day (l.), while three models each display different looks in 1938 (r.).

See more»

Incredible Vintage Photos of the Old Stockholm Telephone Tower in Sweden From the Late 19th Century

Back in the day when the telephone was a fairly new technology, it was not uncommon for towns and cities to be engulfed in a wild mess of telephone lines. At the time, mankind had not yet learned that it was more efficient to bury telephone lines, resulting hundreds or thousands of lines stretching across a city. This practice led to an incredible feat of engineering called the Old Stockholm Telephone tower in Stockholm, Sweden.

Constructed in 1887, this 240 foot tall tower was the central hub of 5,500 telephone lines which snaked across Stockholm. The building dominated the city skyline, and the mass of lines leading to and from the tower made a very surreal and bizarre spectacle indeed.

Around the turn of the century towns and cities began burying their telephone lines. Stockholm did the same, and by 1913 the tower was made obsolete. From 1939 on it was used as an advertising board for the phone company. It was finally demolished in 1958 after being weakened by a fire.

In this amazing series of photos courtesy of Tekniska Museet, we get a glimpse at how the world was connected over a century ago.

See more»

45 Amazing Color Photos of the U.S. Home Front During World War II

In 1942, soon after the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Office of War Information (OWI). The new agency was tasked with releasing war news, promoting patriotic activities, and providing news outlets with audio, film, and photos of the government’s war efforts. Between 1939 and 1944, the OWI and the Farm Security Administration made thousands of photographs, approximately 1,600 of them in color.

OWI photographers Alfred Palmer and Howard Hollem produced some exceptional Kodachrome transparencies in the early war years depicting military preparedness, factory operations, and women in the work force. While most of the scenes were posed, the subjects were the real thing — soldiers and workers preparing for a long fight. Gathered here are some of these color images from Palmer and Hollem, complete with original captions from 1942.

This girl in a glass house is putting finishing touches on the bombardier nose section of a B-17F navy bomber in Long Beach, California, She’s one of many capable women workers in the Douglas Aircraft Company plant. Better known as the “Flying Fortress,” the B-17F is a later model of the B-17 which distinguished itself in action in the South Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a long range, high altitude heavy bomber, with a crew of seven to nine men, and with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions. Photo taken in October, 1942.(Alfred Palmer/OWI/LOC)

P-51 “Mustang” fighter in flight, Inglewood, California, The Mustang, built by North American Aviation, Incorporated, is the only American-built fighter used by the Royal Air Force of Great Britain. Photo taken in October, 1942. (Alfred Palmer/OWI/LOC)

Marine lieutenant, glider pilot in training, ready for take-off, at Page Field, Parris Island, South Carolina, in May, 1942.(Alfred Palmer/OWI/LOC)

Women are trained as engine mechanics in thorough Douglas training methods, at the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California, in October of 1942. (Alfred Palmer/OWI/LOC)

An American pineapple, of the kind the Axis finds hard to digest, is ready to leave the hand of an infantryman in training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. (Alfred Palmer/OWI/LOC)

See more»

A Girl on a Scooter, New York City, 1965

What a cool picture. It has the girl in a dress, a scooter and old cars. The photo was taken by Joel Meyerowitz in New York City, 1965.

She is going south on Central Park West at 72nd Street. That is the Dakota apartment building to her right which is where John Lennon was living when he was murdered but he didn’t move in until 1973 which was eight years after this photo was taken in 1965.

Nurses Take a Break, ca. 1970s

As caretakers of children, family and community, it was natural that women were the nurses, the caregivers, as human society evolved.

Nursing may be the oldest known profession, as some nurses were paid for their services from the beginning. This was especially true of wet nurses, who nursed a baby when the mother died or could not nurse her child. A woman whose infant did not survive birth, or who was ready to wean her child, or who was capable of nursing more than one baby, would accept employment as a wet nurse, usually going to live in the home of her employer.

These found vintage snapshots capture some nurses take a break circa the 1970s:

See more»

Pictures of Life in USSR in 1963

See more»

Dizzy Height: These 25 Death-Defying Photo-ops High in the Air From the Past Are Simply Terrifying!

These death-defying vintage photos show workers goofing around in the past. Some of them are just doing their jobs. Their scary, vertigo-inducing jobs.

Circa 1933. A workman takes a siesta on a girder during the building of Radio City, the city of New York spread out below. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

Two waiters serve two steel workers lunch, on a girder high above New York City, 14th November 1930. The building upon which they are perched is the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue, under construction by Thompson-Starrett. The building in the bottom left is the New York Central Building, later the Helmsley Building. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

1955. A scaffolder or [spider man] making his way across a steel girder 70 feet above the ground. (Photo by John Murray/Getty Images)

1964. A stonemason at work on the south face of Canterbury Cathedrals Bell Harry Tower. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

1955. A [spider man] or steel construction worker crosses a steel girder with a foothold of a mere 1.75 inches. (Photo by John Murray/Getty Images)

See more»

Marilyn Monroe on the Set of "The Seven Year Itch," 1954

Marilyn Monroe on the set of The Seven Year Itch. New York City, 1954. (Photo by Elliott Erwitt)

The Plague of Overweight: Vintage Photographs Illustrate the Obesity Crisis in the U.S. From the Early Days

In March 1954, LIFE magazine ran an article titled “The Plague of Overweight” which in part followed the weight loss challenges faced by 205-pound Dorothy Bradley, 31, originally from Tennessee, began with a sentence that would not have been out of place in a 2013 news report: “the most serious health problem in the U.S. today is obesity.”

The article chronicled Dorothy’s efforts to lose weight; her desire to work in medicine; her successes (losing 60 pounds) and her backsliding (gaining it all back, and then some); and ultimately, something of a happy ending, as she lost and, as of the article’s publication, had kept off close to 70 pounds and earned a job as head nurse at a hospital in Kentucky.

Here are some rare pictures from LIFE, many of which never ran in the magazine, made by photographer Martha Holmes to illustrate the March 1954 article.

Bulging at beach in 1949, 197-pound Dorothy [Bradley] self-consciously leaves locker room for swim. She covered up embarrassment by being jolly and gregarious.

Dorothy Bradley, photographed for LIFE magazine article on obesity, 1949.

Hungry at drugstore after a day's work earning money for nursing school, Dorothy envies slim girl's milkshake, orders lemonade without sugar for herself.

See more»

Incredible Pictures of People Flattened Golden Gate Bridge During the 50th Anniversary Celebration in 1987

On Sunday, May 24, 1987, it seemed that every person in San Francisco, Marin and throughout the Bay Area had awakened at dawn and left home to visit the Golden Gate Bridge.

The span’s 50th birthday was celebrated that day, and the masses came on trains, buses, taxis, boats, bicycles, skates, strollers, wheelchairs, and on foot. With the bridge closed to vehicles, a sea of thousands of walkers marched onto the bridge from both ends of the 1.7-mile span.

Officials expected that some 50,000 people would walk across the bridge and witness ceremonies at the middle of the roadbed. They missed badly on their projections. By 5:30 in the morning, hundreds of thousands already were pouring onto the roadway and the sidewalks from both ends.

Estimates of the size of the crowd ranged wildly — from 250,000 pedestrians to 800,000. No matter the actual number, the mass of humanity flattened out the arched roadbed. Meanwhile, winds of 30 to 35 miles per hour produced a sway on the bridge, unnerving the congested crowd.

“I’m grateful because if the others had gotten out there, maybe the bridge would have fallen down,” Gary Giacomini, then president of the bridge district's board, told The Associated Press at the time.

While the huge crowd was the enduring memory of the 50th birthday, other activities were under way — a parade of vintage cars from the 1937 festivities, fireworks over the bridge that evening, and Tony Bennett and Carol Channing entertained at an outdoor concert on Crissy Field in the Presidio.

See more»