Rare Vintage Photographs of President Warren G. Harding Auto-Camping With the "Vagabonds" in 1921

One summer weekend in 1921, President Warren G. Harding went car camping. He rode out to western Maryland, where a fleet of cars awaited: under a soaring white tent, the president dined in the wilderness with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and the other “Vagabonds,” who had spent every summer since 1914 exploring the country in a caravan of cars. Each year, their set-up grew more elaborate: in 1919, their camping trip required 50 cars, including one specially built to keep their food refrigerated.

They camped at a site about six miles east of Hancock in Washington County. The 200-acre farm where they made camp was located about one mile north of the National Turnpike along Licking Creek. Today, the campsite lies inside Camp Harding County Park. A plaque memorializes the gathering of these famous campers.

Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Warren Harding, Harvy Firestone and group near cabin, Firestone camp.

Thomas Edison, Warren Harding and others seated at table.

Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Warren Harding and Harvey Firestone near cabin.

Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Warren Harding, Harvey Firestone, and others.

Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Warren Harding, Harvey Firestone, and others.

See more»

20 Historical Photos of Jewish Prisoners Rescued From the “Death Train” at Dachau on Liberation Day, 1945

The “Death Train” was a transport train that arrived at Dachau on April 27, 1945 after a 20 day trip, bringing prisoners from the Buchenwald concentration camp. Most stories about the train do not mention that there were survivors who entered the Dachau camp and were liberated two days later by American soldiers.

Private John Lee, a 45th Division soldier who was one of the first men on the scene, was quoted by author Sam Dann in his book entitled Dachau 29 April 1945: The Rainbow Liberation Memoirs:

“These people were stuffed in these cars. The cars had bullet holes all over them, evidently from strafing on the way to Dachau. Most of the GIs just stood there in silence and disbelief. We had seen men in battle blown apart, burnt to death, and die many different ways, but we were never prepared for this. Several of the dead lay there with their eyes open, a picture I will never get out of my mind. It seems they were looking at us and saying, ‘What took you so long?'”

In a book entitled The Last Days of Dachau, written by Dr. Ali Kuci, a Dachau survivor from Albania, and Arthur Haulot, a Belgian political prisoner at Dachau, the authors wrote that the train had arrived at noon on April 27, 1945 with 1,600 survivors out of 2,400 prisoners who had started on the journey from Weimar. Marcus J. Smith wrote that these figures were changed, after the war ended, to 2,000 to 2,500 survivors out of 6,000 who had been put on the train. The change in the numbers was made because a typical transport of prisoners consisted of 60 cars with 100 prisoners in each car.

The strafing of the “Death Train” while the train was on its way from Buchenwald to Dachau was mentioned in the American Military Tribunal proceedings against Hans Merbach, the SS man in charge of the ill-fated train.

Hans Merbach was the 35-year-old SS man assigned to supervise the evacuation of Buchenwald prisoners to Dachau in an effort to prevent them from being released by the American liberators. The Nazis feared that the prisoners, if released, would go to the nearby city of Weimar and attack German civilians.

The “Death Train” left the Weimar train station on April 8, 1945 but didn’t arrive at Dachau until almost three weeks later because of delays caused by Allied bombing of the train tracks. By that time, many of the prisoners were dead.

Picture was taken by Major Clarence L. Benjamin at the instant a few of the train people saw the tanks and first realized they had been liberated.

On the hill to the left are people resting – some forever. Some sixteen died of starvation before food could be brought to the train.

This train which contained about 2,500 Jews, had a few days previously left the Bergen-Belsen death camp.

The little fellow was pleased at having his picture taken.

They were crammed into all available space and the freight cars were packed with about 60 – 70 people.

See more»

The Earliest Known Photograph of Men Drinking Beer, Edinburgh Ale, 1844

On the table we see a beer bottle and three 19th-century drinking glasses called “ale flutes”. One contemporary account describes a popular Edinburgh ale (Younger's) as "a potent fluid, which almost glued the lips of the drinker together, and of which few, therefore, could dispatch more than a bottle."

Edinburgh Ale: James Ballantine, Dr George Bell and David Octavius Hill (Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art)

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the photographers were David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson. The skills involved in producing calotypes were not only of a technical nature. Hill’s sociability, humor and his capacity to gauge the sitters’ characters all played a crucial part in his photography.

D.O. Hill is shown here on the right, apparently sharing a drink and a joke with James Ballantine and Dr George Bell. Bell, in the middle, was one of the commissioners of the Poor Law of 1845, which reformed poor relief in Scotland, and author of Day and night in the wynds of Edinburgh. Ballantine was a writer and stained-glass artist, and the son of an Edinburgh brewer.

22 Incredible Color Pictures of Everyday Life in Italy during the 1960s

This is what the daily life of Italy looked like in the 1960s.

Boat on canal, Venice, 1963

Bridge and boat in Venice, 1962

Canal in Venice with cargo barges, 1963

Fishing village in Venice, 1962

Lake Como, Bellagio, 1962

See more»

49 Interesting Yearbook Portrait Photos of American Female Students in the 1940s

A collection of glamor vintage photos of American female students shows their hairstyles and clothes that they wore during the 1940s.

See more»

Creepy Kids in Creepy Vintage Ads: The 37 Most Disturbing Adverts Featuring Children From the Past

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, kids were used to promote cigarettes, firearms, drugs and much more. Many of the ads — which feature things like cellophane-wrapped infants and gun-toting toddlers — seem irresponsible and creepy.

These ads of yesteryear have to be embarrassing for some of the big name companies that did it; they all had some strange ads with kids.

Girls Who Are a Weird Level of Hungry

Kids With Old Faces

See more»

A Native American Man Overlooking the Newly Completed Transcontinental Railroad in Nevada, ca. 1860s

In this photograph by Alfred Hart taken between 1865-69, a Native American looks down upon a newly completed section of the Transcontinental Railroad, 435 miles from Sacramento, California. The stark composition of both man and progress facing a distant haze conveys emotions as complex as the cultural impact behind America’s westward expansion. The railroad was a massive undertaking, with three companies building the 3,069 km (1,907 mi) line over six years. With the final “Golden Spike” driven into the ground in May 10, 1869, the revolution in transportation allowed a flood of people and goods to travel directly from Council Bluffs, Iowa all the way to Sacramento, California.

(Photo by Alfred Hart)

Although, by the 1860s, Native Americans had signed away the rights to much of their land in treaties with the federal government, they likely never imagined that a disruptive and massive system like the railroad would be constructed through their traditional hunting grounds. The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad had dire consequences for the native tribes, forever altering the landscape and causing the disappearance of once-reliable wild game. The railroad was probably the single biggest contributor to the loss of the bison, which was particularly traumatic to the native tribes who depended on it for everything from meat for food to skins and fur for clothing, and more.

Tribes increasingly came into conflict with the railroad as they attempted to defend their diminishing resources. The Native American tribes found themselves at cultural odds with the whites building the railroad and settlers claiming ownership over land that had previously never been owned. What had been a long and dangerous journey for a family heading west now was considerably easier and safer. Railroads encouraged immigration more directly. All but one transcontinental line had been financed through massive grants of public lands meant to be sold to help pay for construction. To unload these lands, railroads hired hundreds of promoters across the East and Europe, offered cheap fares, and even provided temporary housing for any who could come. New towns and spreading ranches and farms pressed against shrinking native homelands, disrupting economies and triggering disputes that almost invariably ended badly for Indians.

In response, Native Americans sabotaged the railroad and attacked white settlements supported by the line, in an attempt to reclaim the way of life that was being taken from them. If they were not taking aim at the railroad tracks and machinery, they would attack the workers and abscond with their livestock. Ultimately the tribes were unsuccessful in preventing the loss of their territory and hunting resources.

(Image: Library of Congress, via Rare Historical Photos).