Here's What School Classrooms Looked Like From the Late 19th Century

Take a peek into the classrooms of the Victorian age! All these photographs featuring children of varying ages were taken in Washington D.C. during the 1890s.

Anatomy class

Calisthenics at the desk

Studying birds at school

Atmospheric pressure experiments

Chemistry class

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The Amazing Story and Photos of KISS Played at Cadillac High School's Homecoming in 1975

In the fall of 1974, Cadillac High School's Viking football team was down in the dumps. The year before, it had gone undefeated and reached the state playoffs. Now, two games into the new season, the Vikings had suffered two straight losses. Figuring that their players simply needed to "loosen up," Viking coaches played music from the rock band KISS in the locker room. Their goal was to help the players blow off steam. It must have worked, because the team won the rest of its games---victories that it credited to the face-painted rock band.

The story could have ended there, but KISS members heard about the credit they received for Cadillac High's winning season, and decided to thank the players and the community in person. The next school year, in October 1975, the band arrived in Cadillac for a two-day celebration during the school's homecoming week. KISS members Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss first met with face-painted players and cheerleaders on the football field. Then they went into the high school for question-and-answer and photo sessions with students.

That night, in the school gymnasium, the band held a concert that was so loud, residents who lived two miles away could hear it.

The next morning, band members met for breakfast with Cadillac's mayor (whose face Simmons painted, KISS-style) and members of the city council, then appeared in the high school's homecoming parade. The band ended its visit by taking off in a helicopter that had landed on Cadillac High School's football field.

The event must have been a dream come true for Cadillac High students, but it also made an impression on the band. Simmons later said the visit "was like landing on planet KISS,” and remembered it as “a lifetime memory and a source of pride for us."

In the fall of 1975, the Vikings of Cadillac High School in Cadillac, Mich., were coming off an undefeated season and a third-place finish in the state of Michigan. With aspirations of having another great season, the team stumbled out of the gate with a 0-2 start. Head coach Dave Brines believed his team needed a jolt. "I've always felt that emotion, desire and those things are more important than athletic ability. It's what a kid thinks in his mind, and we always taught if you think you can do it, then you can." (Photo from Cadillac Yearbook, courtesy of Jim Neff)

Brines and assistant coach Jim Neff had a revolutionary idea about motivating the team. Neff recalled the conversation: "Brines said, 'We need to loosen these people up,' which was a startling statement to me because as an old Marine he was pretty straightforward and straitlaced. And I said, 'Well, let's play some rock and roll in the locker room, and that will loosen the kids up." (Photo from Cadillac Yearbook, courtesy of Jim Neff)

The plan worked. Cadillac went on to win the rest of its games that season. When KISS heard about the Vikings' use of its music as inspiration, the band made plans to visit the school during Homecoming the following year. On the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 4, 1975, KISS arrived at Cadillac High School. And the party was on. (Photo courtesy of Waring Abbott)

The band was brought out to the football field. Harry Hagstrom, a member of the 1976 team, was one of the players on the field that day. "The football team, the cheerleaders and some of the band people, we met them on the football field. The football team were all in our uniforms, and everybody had their face painted and they took a bunch of photos." (Photo courtesy of Cadillac News)

Neff remembered that the members of KISS wanted to do something "footbally" with the team. "Brines and I looked at each other and said, 'Footbally?' Well, Paul [Stanley] turned out to be a pretty good athlete. He could jump and run even in the big shoes, [and] throw the ball pretty well." (Photo courtesy of Waring Abbott)

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12 Incredible Color Photos That Capture Activities From an Elementary School in the 1950s

These color photos from Everyday Life In The Past were damaged, but incredibly amazing that captured activities of an elementary school in the 1950s.

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22 Interesting Photos of Baylor University Students, Texas From Between the 1940s and 1950s

Baylor University is a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas. Chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas, it is the oldest continuously-operating university in Texas and one of the first educational institutions west of the Mississippi River in the United States.

This set includes 22 interesting photographs from The Texas Collection, Baylor University that shows some activities of Baylor University students, Texas from between the 1940s and 1950s.

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“To Murder The Faculty” – These Crazy Yearbook Quotes From a Class of 1911 Prove Teenagers Have Always Been Weird

High-schoolers are always trying to get the best possible quote in their yearbook. These weird yearbook quotes were taken from Spokane High’s Class of 1911; and from “marrying a dwarf” to “murdering the whole faculty”, these students covered up a very wide and crazy range of things people don’t usually say.

Although in 1911, you couldn’t show up dressed the way you liked or have the weirdest haircut possible, respecting a very elegant and classic dress code still didn’t stop these youngsters to create weird yearbook quotes.

Students were always playing tricks, even before it was cool, and these weird yearbook quotes by crazy students from the class of 1911 just prove us right.

(Click on each image to enlarge it)

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37 Amazing Photos Show Students in Their Dorm Rooms From Between the 1900s and 1910s

What did a dorm room look like over 100 years ago? How about students in this era? Just check these amazing photos to see.

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Anna Mae Bullock: Yearbook Photo of Tina Turner From Sumner High School, 1958

Tina Turner, one of the greatest singers of all time is known to her teacher and classmates of Sumner High School in St. Louis, Missouri as Anna Mae Bullock. She graduated with the class of 1958.

By her senior year, she had already decided she would be an entertainer. Her vocal talents got the attention of the band members of the Kings of Rhythm when they heard her singing along while sitting at her table.

She is best known for her hit songs What’s Love Got to Do with It, Proud Mary, A Fool in Love, River Deep – Mountain High, and Private Dancer, and in films Tommy, Mad Max Thunderdome, What’s Love Got to Do with It, and Last Action Hero.

70 Rare Vintage Photographs Capture Everyday Life at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in the Early 1900s

"In Indian civilization, I am a Baptist, because I believe in immersing the Indians in our civilization and when we get them under, holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked" - Richard Henry Pratt, founder of the Carlisle School.

Carlisle Indian Industrial School was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. Founded in 1879 by Captain Richard Henry Pratt under authority of the US federal government, Carlisle was the first federally funded off-reservation Indian boarding school. It was founded on the principle that Native Americans were the equals of European-Americans, and that Native American children immersed in mainstream Euro-American culture would learn skills to advance in society. In this period, many people believed that Amerindians, a population that was numerically declining, were a vanishing race whose only hope for survival was rapid assimilation to American culture.

After witnessing the initial success of the Indian students at Hampton Normal and Agricultural School, General Richard Henry Pratt decided to establish the first all Indian school, Carlisle, in 1879. Carlisle was built out of a former military barracks. Like Hampton, upon arrival at Carlisle students’ hair were cut and names were changed. However, "[u]nlike Hampton, whose purpose was to return assimilated educated Indians to their people, Carlisle meant to turn the school into the ultimate Americanizer". At Carlisle, Pratt attempted to "Kill the Indian: Save the Man"  through any means necessary. Beyond a typical military regimen, Pratt was known to use corporal punishment on students who exhibited Native behaviors to help students become only dependent on themselves.

Carlisle became the model for 26 Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools in 15 states and territories, and hundreds of private boarding schools sponsored by religious denominations. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark. From 1879 until 1918, over 10,000 Native American children from 140 tribes attended Carlisle; however, according to one source, only 158 students graduated. Tribes with the largest number of students included the Lakota, Ojibwe, Seneca, Oneida, Cherokee, Apache, Cheyenne, and Alaska Native. The Carlisle Indian School exemplified Progressive Era values. Some Native Americans believed Carlisle provided an excellent education.

Carlisle and similar schools have been controversial because many Native Americans say that these forced children to leave their families at young ages, and to give up their own cultures, languages, religion and even their names, doing psychological damage to generations. Since the 1970s, Native American nations have taken back control of the education of their children and started their own schools and colleges.

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Historical Photos Show Harvard University in the Second Half of 19th Century

Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, established in 1636, whose history, influence, and wealth have made it one of the world's most prestigious universities.

The University is organized into eleven separate academic units—ten faculties and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study—with campuses throughout the Boston metropolitan area: its 209-acre (85 ha) main campus is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, approximately 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Boston; the business school and athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located across the Charles River in the Allston neighborhood of Boston and the medical, dental, and public health schools are in the Longwood Medical Area.

Here is a rare photo collection of Harvard University from Cambridge Historical Society that show Harvard University from between the 1850s to the 1880s.

Agassiz Museum, Oxford Street, 1855-65

 Boylston Hall, 1855-65

Buckingham House, 1855-65

Bylerly Hall from Cambridge Common, 1855-65

Class Day Tree, 1855-65

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Before and After Photos of American Indian Students at the Carlisle Indian School From the Late 19th Century

The Carlisle Indian School was founded in 1879 by Colonel Richard Henry Pratt under authority of the US federal government. While he championed racial equality (something he set out to showcase at the school), his idea of equality was a peculiarly 19th Century one. He aimed to prove that American Indians were the equals of whites by making them as white as possible. His slogan at Carlisle was “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.”

Students were forbidden from speaking their own languages. Their hair was cut, they were dressed in suits and ties and corseted dresses. They didn’t go home for years at a time. And they were taught trades, like baking and blacksmithing, which were meant to give them a foothold in the white world after graduation. Yet many students had good experiences, and remembered Pratt as a good man... the “father of Indian education,” as one student describes him in our story.

Since Pratt’s mission was to show that American Indians still had a place in a world that was destroying their homes and cultures, he was eager to hold up examples of students succeeding on his terms. Pratt commissioned these “Before and After” photos to demonstrate the transformations happening at Carlisle.

Let’s start with the Tom Torlino –– his portraits are two of the most striking (and best-known) “Before and After” images. Taken by photographer John Choate in his Carlisle studio in 1882, this “before” photo was taken when Tom arrived at school, just a few years after it opened in 1879:

Tom Torlino, a Navajo student at the Carlisle Indian School, 1882

Here he is three years later, in 1885. Notice how much lighter Tom’s skin appears in this photo. Barbara Landis and Richard Tritt from the Cumberland County Historical Society believe Choate manipulated the lighting to help make a point: with the proper education, Carlisle students could literally blend in with white society.

Tom Torlino, 1885

Here’s another early shot, also from 1882, of twelve Navajo Students –– including Tom Torlino, sitting in the front row, bottom left. And that’s RH Pratt looking on from the bandstand:

Navajo students who entered Carlisle October 21, 1882

Then we have “Navajo Group who entered Carlisle October 21, 1882 after some time at the school.” Once again, there's Tom Torlino –– sitting in the center row, third from left.

Navajo Group who entered Carlisle October 21, 1882 after some time at the school.

Here’s another studio shot, this time of three Sioux boys. Richard Tritt, the CCHS photo archivist, explained that during these studio photo shoots, Choate had props and costumes on hand. It’s not clear how much Choate controlled what the students wore, but it’s worth bearing in mind... even though the caption on this photo describes “Three Sioux students as they arrived at the Carlisle Indian School in 1883:”

Three Sioux students as they arrived at the Carlisle Indian School in 1883.

Here are the same three boys after three years at Carlisle, wearing cadet uniforms:

Three Sioux students after three years at the Carlisle Indian School.

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