Stereographs of Love: 22 Hilarious and Romantic Vintage Photos of Victorian Couples During Their Most Intimate Moments

The stereograph, otherwise known as the stereogram, stereoptican, or stereo view, was the nineteenth-century predecessor of the Polaroid, with an imaginative flair. Placed on cardboard were two almost identical photographs, side by side, to be viewed with a stereoscope. When viewed through a stereoscope, the photograph appeared three-dimensional, an awe-inspiring illusion for anyone during that time.

The author Oliver Wendell Holmes, who invented an affordable stereo viewer for the American market, wrote in the Atlantic Monthly of June 1859 that “the first effect of looking at a good photograph through the stereoscope is a surprise such as no painting ever produced. The mind feels its way into the very depths of the picture. The scraggy branches of a tree in the foreground run out at us as if they would scratch our eyes out. The elbow of a figure stands forth as to make us almost uncomfortable.”

These stereographs are highly posed, though even more sentimental. Some are rather cute and a couple are even quite risque for the time. Unfortunately these reproductions from the Library of Congress only show half of the stereograph, losing the effect. Nor are they the best quality, being fairly old, black and white copy negatives. Still, pretty fun!

"Sovereigns of Love's Domain."

"He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not."

"By the Old Tree."

"When Love is Young"

"It's Your Move."

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When 1920s Flappers' Stocking Postcards Were Considered "Naughty"

Before the First World War, postcards served as very important memorabilia. They were used to share personal news, arrange appointments, or pass on messages of love—though thankfully, there was very little of the trolling we all have to endure today.

The production of photographic erotic postcards boomed during the War years, and this was one of the government's ways to keep their men ‘happy’ or give them reasons for fighting -- some sexy young French women posed together with the Hun, or whatever. Most of them were produced in France, and once there was a moniker “French postcards” which applied to all erotic postcards, whether they were made in France or not.

After the War, these naughty French postcard were still popular. This popularity offered some young women some independence and an easy way to make a quick franc or three. There is a genuine innocence about these photographs of young women flashing a white thigh above stocking top, or posing nude like a Greek goddesses, or playacting as a saucy French maid, which make them far more erotic than the bare-all, gynecological pictures of today’s cynical world of porn.

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35 Color Pictures That Capture Street Scenes of Bucharest in the 1970s

Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 60 km (37.3 mi) north of the Danube River and the Bulgarian border.

Bucharest became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture, and art. Its architecture is a mix of historical (neo-classical), interbellum (Bauhaus and art deco), communist-era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the city's elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of "Little Paris" (Micul Paris).

Bucharest is also the most prosperous city in Romania and is one of the main industrial centres and transportation hubs of Eastern Europe. The city has big convention facilities, educational institutes, cultural venues, traditional "shopping arcades", and recreational areas.

Here is a fascinating photo collection that shows street scenes of Bucharest in the 1970s.

Great National Assembly, Bucharest, 1971

A group of children in Bucharest, 1971

Biserica Alba or 'White Church', Bucharest, 1971

Children play in a park in Bucharest, 1971

 Children play on the street in Bucharest, 1971

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45 Beautiful Photos of Young Shirley MacLaine in the 1950s and 1960s

Born 1934 in Richmond, Virginia, Shirley MacLaine is an American film, television and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author. A six-time Academy Award nominee, MacLaine received a nomination for Best Documentary Feature for The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir (1975), and Best Actress nominations for Some Came Running (1958), The Apartment (1960), Irma la Douce (1963), and The Turning Point (1977), before winning Best Actress for Terms of Endearment (1983).

MacLaine twice won the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress, for Ask Any Girl (1959), and The Apartment (1960); and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special for the 1976 TV special, Gypsy In My Soul. She has also won five competitive Golden Globe Awards and received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 1998 ceremony.

As an Academy Award winner, MacLaine received the 40th AFI Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 2012, and received the Kennedy Center Honors for her lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts in 2013. She is known for her New Age beliefs, and has an interest in spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a series of autobiographical works that describe these beliefs, document her world travels, and describe her Hollywood career.

These stunning photos that show the beauty of young Shirley MacLaine in the 1950s and 1960s.

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A Peek Into a 1920s Party of the 1950s

The 1920s, a time also known as the Roaring Twenties, was time post World War I where America was in one of its prime positions. America was seen as a world power and the lifestyle for men and women flourished. It was known as the Roaring Twenties because the nation was strong after the war and businesses were booming. It was a time of excitement and money for people, especially those on the social ladder. The night life in particular exploded with new fashions and ways for people to become more social.

Prohibition, or the outlawing of alcohol, passed during the 1920s and this lead to an outbreak of clubs known as speakeasies where people could go to buy liquor from bootleggers. This influenced the formation of gangs and gangsters who controlled the bootlegging operations and, in turn, controlled most of the social/party lives of the people in the major cities in America.

The look and popular culture of the era hold a strong appeal-- distant enough to romanticize but close enough to relate to. The idea of Prohibition is easily turned into pretend naughty fun. And who doesn't love sparkly dresses, stripey jackets, boater hats, and pearls?

In fact, the 1920s party potential was already being seen by the 1950s. In these photos from 1954, partygoers have gone all out in their costumes (which, considering the decade only ended 24 years ago, are more than likely actually from it). Drinks are being sipped from teacups (though eventually many of the people give up and turn to cans of beer), a bathtub is used as a decoration/liquor holder, the ladies roll down their stockings and the men wear spats. It's interesting to see that most of the people there were probably born in the 1920s, or slightly earlier... it's the equivalent of a 1980s or even '90s party today!

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24 Shocking Runaway Slave Ads From the 19th Century

Throughout the 250-year history of slavery in North America, enslaved people tried to escape. Once newspapers were common, enslavers posted “runaway ads” to try to locate these fugitives.

When fugitives escaped, enslavers often placed runaway notices in newspapers. Such ads included any kind of information that might help readers identify the fugitive: the name, height, build, appearance, clothing, literacy level, language, accent and so on of the runaway. Often the ads speculate on where the escapee might be headed and why, when they were most recently sold, and what kinds of scars and marks they had.

A $100 bounty for a runaway slave named Abram from Richards' Ferry, Culpeper County, Virginia. September 24, 18-.

A $300 bounty for three escaped slaves named Bob, Charles, and Alfred from Leesburg, Virginia. Bob and Charles were owned by Ish, while Hawling was the owner of Charles. 10 June 1839.

Runaway slave broadside from Fairfax, Virginia, 23 August 1839.

Block of advertisements announcing slave auction and rewards for run away slaves. The Daily Picayune newspaper, New Orleans, 20 March, 1852.

1853 advertisement offering reward for escaped slave boy, posted by P.G.T. Beauregard.

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Amazing Vintage Photographs of River Thames Floods From Between the 1910s and 1950s

The River Thames bursting its banks, rail lines being washed away, villages being turned into islands and soldiers out on the frontline filling sandbags – the Thames Valley has been deluged by the river many times over the past 100 years.

The most severe flooding incidents were in 1928 – when the river burst its banks, inundating parts of central London and drowning 14 people – and 1947, when a sudden thaw after a severe winter added to rivers already swollen by torrential rain.

These two events, plus the disastrous North Sea flooding of 1953 that devastated Canvey Island, killing 53 people, led to the construction of the Thames Flood Barrier at Woolwich, which protects central London.

Here are some historical photographs documented flooding on the Thames from between the 1910s and 1950s.

December 1915: A man with a wooden leg cycles down a flooded road in Berkshire.

December 1915: A man and a boy make a journey by pony and trap on the Staines to Windsor Road after flooding in the Thames Valley.

November 1926: A chivalrous grocer's boy gives a lift to a young damsel in distress during floods at Shepperton.

January 1926: Two women cross a flooded road near Staines, Middlesex, by means of a makeshift raft and a pole.

1926: Children sit on a park bench which has been flooded by the Thames at Windsor.

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