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The Dallas State Fair & Exposition, to which the present State Fair of Texas traces its origin, was chartered as a private corporation on Jan. 30, 1886, by a group of Dallas businessmen. The goal was to create an annual occasion for the farmers, ranchers, and business owners of the state to gather and show off their products, and for visitors to enjoy a wide selection of entertainment. The finest racing stock, cattle sales, concerts, balloon ascents, displays of farm machinery, contests for the ladies, and appearances by such notables as John Philip Sousa, William Jennings Bryan, Carrie Nation, and Booker T....

Four years earlier, Britain and Argentina had fought a bitter conflict in the South Atlantic over the Falkland Islands, which ended in defeat for the South American nation’s military junta. Diego Armando Maradona, Argentina’s greatest-ever player, scored both his side’s goals in the 2-1 victory. Six minutes into the second half, Maradona cut inside from the left and played a diagonal low pass to the edge of the area to team-mate Jorge Valdano and continued his run in the hope of a one-two movement....

Not just from a historical point of view, but also photographically very strong, you can almost feel the tension. The guy on the left looks like he’s not overly happy to be present, whereas the guys in the middle and rightfully believe they’re in the right. In 1961, Elijah Muhammad, founder of the black supremacist Nation of Islam, met with Ku Klux Klan leaders at the Magnolia Hall in Atlanta....

An intelligence officer, Onoda had been on Lubang since 1944, a few months before the Americans invaded and retook the Philippines. The last instructions he had received from his immediate superior ordered him to retreat to the interior of the island – which was small and in truth of minimal importance – and harass the Allied occupying forces until the Imperial Japanese Army eventually returned. “You are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand”, he was told....

In this photograph, opium smokers in Singapore relax in a sparsely furnished opium den, suggesting that the clientele were mostly working class. It was a place where you do opium and hang out, then do more opium. The social impact was huge and damaging, with addicts prone to sell all their possessions to feed their habit. Many men ended up homeless doing nothing but smoking opium. An opium den was an establishment where opium was sold and smoked....

Picasso’s self-portraits are important because they span his entire career, and we can trace how his manner of self-depiction changed over time. It’s interesting to compare the self-portraits from, for instance, the Blue Period to those done when he was working in a Cubist mode only a few years later. In a way, his self-portraits reflect different periods of his artistic maturity and art career. Pablo Picasso didn’t see the changing methods as an evolution, but simply as different expressions at that moment in time....

Victory Way was set up on Park Avenue to raise money for the 5th War Loan, and a pyramid of 12,000 helmets was erected at each end, along with other German war equipment. There is a hollow supporting structure underneath the helmets. While many of the image’s details have been confirmed, the figure that was placed at the top of the pyramid is still subject to speculation. Some sources believe that it’s Nike, the Goddess of Victory....

Following a newspaper casting call, 152 black cats are waiting for the audition for a low-budget horror movie adaptation of ‘Tales of Terror’ by Edgar Allan Poe. Those with white noses or paws wereimmediately disqualified. “Tales of Terror,” an adaptation of three short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, starred Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Basil Rathbone, and was directed Roger Corman. In the film Montresor Herringbone hates his wife Annabelle and her black cat....

African Americans of all classes built a community on the South Side of Chicago for decades before the Civil Rights Movement, as well as on the West Side of Chicago. In the spring of 1941, Farm Security Administration photographer Edwin Rosskam visited the Black Belt, wandering the streets and photographing generations of black Chicagoans. Residing in segregated communities, almost regardless of income, the Black residents of Chicago aimed to create communities where they could survive, sustain themselves, and have the ability to determine for themselves their own course in the History of Chicago....

This exhibit was a collaborative effort between the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and Whirlpool Corporation and was designed to showcase the latest advancements in American consumer technology and the American way of life. “In this kitchen, you can bake a cake in three minutes. And in this kitchen, the dishes are scraped washed, and dried electronically. They even put themselves away. Even the floor is cleaned electronically. So welcome to this new wonderful world of pushbutton cooking, cleaning, and homemaking....

Seen here is an aerial black and white photo of the famous Cologne Cathedral during World War II. The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during the war. It did not collapse but stood tall in an otherwise flattened city. The twin spires are said to have been used as an easily recognizable navigational landmark by Allied aircraft raiding deeper into Germany in the later years of the war, which may be a reason that the cathedral was not destroyed....

The very first mobile phones were not really mobile phones at all. They were two-way radios that allowed people like taxi drivers and emergency services to communicate. All that changed on April 3rd of 1973, when Martin Cooper, a Motorola executive, made the first handheld cell phone call. The guy he rang was his rival at Bell Labs. Cooper’s phone weighed in at just below 2.5 lbs (1.1 kg). Its battery allowed a half-hour of use, and then, 10 hours of recharging later, it would be ready for a chat again....

Boasting sleek lines, cutting-edge features, and an unmistakable rebellious aesthetic, the 300ZX redefined automotive innovation during this era. Stepping into the Nissan 300ZX was akin to entering a realm where futuristic elements seamlessly merged with driver-centric ergonomics. The interior design was a testament to the car’s visionary approach, with every detail meticulously crafted. From the strategically placed controls to the supportive sport seats, the cabin exuded a sense of purpose and connectivity....

When the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, its destruction was nearly as instantaneous as its creation. For 28 years, the Berlin Wall had been a symbol of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain between Soviet-led Communism and the democracies of the West. When it fell, it was celebrated around the world. At the end of World War II, the Allied powers divided conquered Germany into four zones....

In these poignant photos, the FSA photographers Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, and Russell Lee capture the acute anxiety and stasis of impoverished agricultural laborers as they wait in line for the emergency aids that will keep their families fed for another few days. The Farm Security Administration (FSA), created in 1937 under the Department of Agriculture, helped with rural rehabilitation, farm loans, and subsistence homestead programs. The FSA was not a relief agency, but instead, it relied on a network of cooperation between states and county offices to determine which clients needed loans that could not get this credit somewhere else....

With Earhart’s death in 1937, women aviators became less prominent but continued to contribute greatly to aviation, especially as auxiliary pilots during the Second World War. In 1784, Elisabeth Thible became the first woman to fly, as a passenger in a hot air balloon. Over a century later, in 1909, women again took to the air, this time in a heavier-than-air craft. Another French woman, Elise Deroche (1889-1919), who referred to herself as a baroness although the legitimacy of the title was doubtful, became the world’s first licensed woman pilot in 1910....

NYPD criminologist Roy Post invented his own version of a lie detector machine. Called the Postometer, the test theoretically detected not only criminal suspects, but also discovered the truth, or otherwise, of people’s reactions to emotional stimulus. The subjects of Post’s experiments placed their hands on a pair of metal plates. Their blood pressure and temperature generated a small electrical current, indicating an emotional change had occurred. The Postometer amplified these currents and displayed their levels on its needle and dial....

The Luftwaffe squadron (wing) that fought during the Northern Africa campaign was Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG 27). Synonymous with the Afrika Korps and the campaign in North Africa, JG 27 provided Rommel’s army with fighter protection for virtually the whole ‘roller coaster ride that was the war in the Western Desert from 1941-43. Formed in Germany on 1 October 1939 (with Adolf Galland as CO of I.Gruppe), JG 27 saw considerable action both during the Battles of France and Britain, downing 146 aircraft in the latter campaign alone....

This picture was the 1966 World Press Photo of the Year. After he won the prize, photographer Kyoichi Sawada searched and located the two families in the picture and gave them all the prize money, and each a copy of the photograph. Four years later in Cambodia, 1970, photographer Kyoichi Sawada died in the field, doing what he loved most. The American base was under constant attack from Viet Cong snipers, hiding in the surrounding villages....

Despite the garment’s initial success in France, worldwide women still stuck to traditional one-piece swimsuits, and, his sales stalling, Réard went back to designing and selling orthodox knickers. Réard himself would later describe the bikini as a “two-piece bathing suit which reveals everything about a girl except for her mother’s maiden name”. Fashion magazine Modern Girl Magazine in 1957 stated that “it is hardly necessary to waste words over the so-called bikini since it is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear such a thing”....