A LCVP landing craft from USS Samuel Chase (APA-26) approaches Omaha Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944. The boat is smoking from a fire that resulted when a German machine gun bullet hit a hand grenade.
This photograph shows a Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) filled with U.S. soldiers heading toward Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion. The smoke billowing from the craft was caused by a hit that ignited a hand grenade, an ominous preview of the intense combat awaiting them on the shore.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower speaks with U.S. Army paratroopers at Greenham Common airfield in England the day before D-Day
On June 5, 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower met with members of the 101st Airborne Division before their departure for the D-Day invasion. His visit was meant to inspire confidence among the troops about to parachute into Nazi-occupied France. This photograph captures a moment of leadership and humanity on the eve of one of the most significant operations of World War II.
A Crowded street in Nome, Alaska, in 1900 during the Alaskan Gold Rush. The Dexter tavern at left was owned by Wyatt Earp.
Nome, Alaska, became a boomtown almost overnight after the discovery of gold in 1899. Thousands of prospectors flooded the town seeking fortune, and businesses sprang up to cater to them. Wyatt Earp, the famed lawman of the American Old West, owned the Dexter Saloon visible on the left side of the photo.
Buena Vista, Colorado ca. 1879
Founded in 1879, Buena Vista was one of many small towns that emerged during Colorado’s mining boom. Its name, meaning “beautiful view,” reflected the surrounding mountain scenery that drew settlers to the Arkansas River Valley. Early wooden buildings and dirt roads characterize the rugged frontier life of the period.
Stacks of shells in the National Shell Filling Factory in Chilwell, UK | World War I, 1917
Pasta shop with drying racks, Palermo, Italy, 1865
Adolf Hitler with a group of brown shirts in Berlin, 1933
This photograph, taken shortly after Hitler’s rise to power, shows him surrounded by members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), or “brown shirts.” The paramilitary organization played a crucial role in intimidating political opponents during the Nazi Party’s early years, before being sidelined after the Night of the Long Knives in 1934.
A few weeks after the outbreak of the Civil War, United States union soldiers begin guarding Washington D.C. from rebel attacks as construction of the Capitol Building continues on around them, May 1861
Vladimir Lenin speech in Moscow on May 5, 1920
Lenin addresses Soviet troops on Moscow’s Sverdlov Square in 1920, during the Russian Civil War. The speech came as the Red Army was preparing to confront Polish forces. The photo is one of the most recognizable images of Lenin, capturing his role as both revolutionary leader and propagandist.
Exhausted French troops rest inside Fort Vaux during the Battle of Verdun 1916
This haunting photograph shows French soldiers taking brief rest inside Fort Vaux during the Battle of Verdun, one of the longest and bloodiest engagements of World War I. The men endured relentless bombardment and close-quarters combat in conditions of extreme exhaustion and deprivation.
Pinkerton Detective With Lead Gloves circa 1875
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency was one of America’s earliest private security firms. This photograph from around 1875 shows a detective wearing lead-lined gloves—used as both protection and a weapon during arrests. Pinkertons were often employed to guard trains, hunt fugitives, and break strikes.
This is a photograph of Maud Wagner in 1907, who was allegedly the first known female tattooist in the United States.
Maud Wagner, a circus performer turned tattoo artist, became the first documented female tattooist in America. She learned the trade from her husband and worked primarily by hand, using traditional tattooing methods before the widespread use of machines.
The last Civil War veteran (Union), Albert Henry Woolson, died in 1956. That means he saw the world go from gas lights and candles, horse and buggy, cavalry, and muskets, to widespread electricity, high speed cars, tanks, and nuclear weapons in one lifetime.
Albert Henry Woolson, who served as a drummer boy for the Union Army, lived to the age of 109. His long life bridged the 19th and 20th centuries, a living link between the age of Lincoln and the dawn of the nuclear era. His death marked the symbolic end of the Civil War generation.
Fake trees were used in WW1 as observation posts
During World War I, both sides employed deception to gather intelligence safely. Artificial trees like the one pictured were hollowed-out steel observation posts disguised to resemble shattered trunks. Hidden observers could monitor enemy movements while remaining concealed in no-man’s land.
First Class Cabin aboard the Titanic
The luxury of Titanic’s first-class accommodations reflected the opulence of early 20th-century travel. Cabins featured private bathrooms, elegant furnishings, and fine wood paneling. Many of the ship’s wealthiest passengers stayed in suites similar to this one when the ship sank on April 15, 1912.
In August of 1867 Union Pacific railroad worker William Thompson was attacked by a band of Cheyenne Indians, scalped, and left for dead.
William Thompson survived a violent encounter during the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, part of the transcontinental line linking America’s coasts. His story was widely circulated in 19th-century newspapers as an example of frontier danger and perseverance during westward expansion.
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