These individuals embarked on a crucial mission to deliver blocks of ice, playing an indispensable role in a time before the widespread availability of refrigeration These captivating images offer a glimpse into a past era when the clinking of ice blocks reverberated through the streets, immortalizing the legacy of the icemen and their commitment to providing relief from scorching summers. The origins of the ice delivery trade can be traced back to the early 19th century when ice harvesting became a viable industry....

In 1961, Rogozov was stationed at a newly constructed Russian base in Antarctica. The 12 men inside were cut off from the outside world by the polar winter by March of that year. On the morning of 29 April 1961, Rogozov experienced general weakness, nausea, and moderate fever, and later pain in the lower right portion of the abdomen. His symptoms were classic: he had acute appendicitis. “He knew that if he was to survive he had to undergo an operation”, the British Medical Journal recounted....

Dr. Religa was a pioneer of heart transplantation in Poland, and even though the surgery was considered borderline impossible at the time, he took the chance, and the operation was entirely successful. The patient was Tadeusz Żytkiewicz, who died in 2017 – 30 years since the operation, outliving the man who gave him a new heart. James Stanfield took this photo in 1987 while covering Poland’s failing and outdated free healthcare system that was reaching a state of national crisis in the 1980s....

These postcards were a unique form of visual humor and satire, using manipulated photography to depict ordinary scenes or subjects in an exaggerated, comical, or absurd manner. The postcards would feature impossibly large animals and crops, often shown being carried by train or wagon, and would usually have some sort of caption to go along with them. Common themes of these postcards included giant fish being caught and massive crops being shown off, less common themes included mythical creatures such as the fur-bearing trout, and people riding oversized animals....

France became dominant in the high fashion (couture or haute couture) industry by the end of the 19th century through the establishment of the great couturier houses. The technology started to redefine Western society in many ways and this continued into the next decades as well. New inventions, the car, eased the lives of people. Activities such as sports, dance, and tea parties were growing bigger in the last decade....

This article takes you on a captivating journey into the life of Sharon Tate, offering an intimate glimpse through a collection of vintage photographs, including the haunting final images captured before her tragic and untimely murder by members of the Manson Family. Sharon Marie Tate was born on January 24, 1943, in Dallas, Texas. Raised in a military family, Tate’s early years were marked by frequent relocations, which exposed her to various cultures and nurtured her adaptable nature....

The Blitz refers to the strategic bombing campaign conducted by the Germans against London and other cities in England from September of 1940 through May of 1941, targeting populated areas, factories, and dockyards. More than 40,000 civilians were killed by Luftwaffe bombing during the war, almost half of them in the capital, where more than a million houses were destroyed or damaged. The most important existing communal shelters were the London Underground stations....

They would be paid a few pence a week to make the rounds and rouse workers, banging on their doors with a short stick or rapping on upper windows with a long pole. The knocker-up would not move on until he received confirmation that his drowsy client was up and moving. There were large numbers of people carrying out the job, especially in larger industrial towns such as Manchester. Generally, the job was done by elderly men and women but sometimes police constables supplemented their pay by performing the task during early morning patrols....

The training was divided into three phases. Firstly, trainers provided lectures and briefings in survival techniques for each type of environment. These were followed by demonstrations of survival methods, which were at first explained and then practiced. Finally, a field exercise was conducted, for the group to apply both the academic and practical training in a simulated survival situation. Apart from basic technical training, astronauts had to learn to survive in the wilderness should their reentry craft land off target....

When the photograph is taken, light passes through these color filters to the photographic emulsion. The plate is processed to produce positive transparency. Light, passing through the colored starch grains, combines to recreate a full-color image of the original subject. Born in 1863 outside Paris, Jules Gervais-Courtellemont spent twenty years in Algeria where he developed a passion for the pre-colonial Orient and devoted most of his professional career in search of the exotic....

The term “Eskimo” is used in Alaska to refer to arctic Alaskans including Inupiaq, Yupik, and Alutiiq people. Linguists now believe that “Eskimo” is derived from an Ojibwa word meaning “to net snowshoes.” In Canada the term “Inuit” is used rather than “Eskimo,” but most Alaskans use the name “Eskimo,” particularly because “Inuit” refers only to the Inupiat of northern Alaska, the Inuit of Canada, and the Kalaallit of Greenland, and it is not a word in the Yupik languages of Alaska and Siberia....

The 1930s was a defining decade for automotive design, during which time the car evolved from its horse-drawn ancestry into an integrally engineered, aerodynamic, desirable product to meet the demands of the public. This was true nowhere more than in Germany, where the first autobahns were being opened. The Schlörwagen (nicknamed “Göttinger Egg” or “Pillbug”) was a prototype aerodynamic rear-engine passenger vehicle developed by Karl Schlör (1911–1997) and presented to the public at the 1939 Berlin Auto Show....

Among the noteworthy and renowned features of their trucks lies the concept of removable engines, which aimed to streamline maintenance processes for technicians and mechanics. The idea behind this innovation was to offer a solution that allowed the engines of their trucks and buses to be completely taken out. By adopting a “drawer-like” style engine bay, DAF Trucks intended to facilitate seamless access for mechanics during maintenance and repair operations....

Son of Louis Adolphe Bertillon, a well-known anthropometrician who used statistics to describe humans, Alphonse Bertillon developed a verbal and visual system to describe criminals. His main interest was to identify recidivists – that is, repeat offenders. Called “speaking likeness,” Bertillon’s invention was what is known today as the mugshot. In 1888 Bertillon became Director of the Identification Bureau due to his invention of anthropometry – the first scientific system of criminal identification....

Shopping for groceries, heading to work, or entering an empty stretch of highway, they were suddenly confronted by a giant tableau of a cheerful American family picnicking, greeting Dad at the end of workday, or taking a Sunday drive with the family dog. The foursome’s bright smiles, comfortable car, and trellis-adorned home indicated that they had few material or psychological worries, an impression that bold lettering on the top of each sign underscored....

A survey of the isthmus was ordered and subsequently, a working plan for a canal was drawn up in 1529. The wars in Europe and the thirst for the control of kingdoms in the Mediterranean Sea put the project on permanent hold. Various surveys were made between 1850 and 1875 showed that only two routes were practical, one across Panama and another across Nicaragua. Inspired by the 10-year build of the Suez Canal, La Société Internationale du Canal Interocéanique obtained the rights in 1878 to build a version in Panama....

According to Owen Davies in The Haunted: A Social History of Ghosts, ghost photography started with photographic experimentation using people standing in front of and behind glass windows or noting that the long exposures required at the time would often result in transparent images when people or animals left the frame during the exposure. Sir David Brewster, in 1856, recognized that these effects could be used to deliberately create ghostly pictures....

In 1864, he secured employment with the Russian–American Telegraph Company to survey a route for a proposed overland telegraph line through Siberia and across the Bering Strait. Having spent two years in the wilds of Kamchatka, he soon became well-known for his lectures, articles, and a book about his travels. In May 1885, Kennan began another voyage in Russia, this time across Siberia from Europe. He had been very publicly positive about the Tsarist Russian government and its policies and his journey was approved by the Russian government....

Johnston, a World War I veteran, was raised on the Navajo reservation as the son of a missionary to the Navajo and was one of the small number of non-Navajo who spoke the language fluently. This idea was not without precedent. Cherokee and Choctaw soldiers had both effectively used their native languages to send coded messages on the Western Front during the final months of World War I. The Corps accepted Johnston’s proposal, and recommended the immediate recruitment of 200 Navajos to develop a code....

The Supreme Court of the United States does not allow cameras in the courtroom when the court is in session, a policy which is the subject of much debate. Although the Court has never allowed cameras in its courtroom, it does allow audio recordings of oral arguments and opinions. The first photo was taken in 1932 by a German photographer named Erich Salomon. He decided to sneak a camera into the Supreme Court by faking that he had a broken arm so that he could hide his camera inside his sling....