Fashion Ads from Ebony Magazine 1970-76.




Celestial Atlas (1826).

19th century map of the heavens.




John Speed's 1611 Map of the British Isles.




London: A Life in Maps.




Fast Food Signs.

'I've been interested in the history of fast food in America for some time and have identified some of the classic signs that remain in the American landscape. '




Neon Signs in Baltimore.




Vietnam 1967-68.

'A selection of images as scanned from a batch of slides I've lucked into. The photographer, unknown...until now.'




Our Man in Hanoi.

'Pictures taken between September 2004 and March 2007 while I was doing volunteer work with KOTO (www.koto.com.au)'




Vietnam on Wheels.




Undark and the Radium Girls.

'In 1922, a bank teller named Grace Fryer became concerned when her teeth began to loosen and fall out for no discernible reason. Her troubles were compounded when her jaw became swollen and inflamed, so she sought the assistance of a doctor in diagnosing the inexplicable symptoms...'




Moon over Pigeon Point Lighthouse.




Space Station over the Ionian Sea.




Handpainted Chinese New Year Poetry.




Headdress of the Longhorn Miao.




Historical Maps of the United States.




19th Century Schoolbooks.




'Eternity' and Arthur Stace.

'Arthur Malcolm Stace (1884 - 30 July 1967), otherwise known as Mr. Eternity, was a homeless Australian man who converted to Christianity and spread his form of gospel by writing the word "Eternity" on sidewalks in Sydney, Australia, using chalk.'



Weeky Puzzle.

A family party included the following people: one grandfather, one grandmother, two fathers, two mothers, four children, three grandchildren, one brother, two sisters, two sons, two daughters, one father-in-law, one mother-in-law, and one daughter-in-law. But there were not as many people in attendance as it sounds. How many were there, and who were they?




The Holy Men of India.




Tombs of the Grand Masters of the Knights of Malta.

Straw Bale House.




Chinese Propaganda Posters.




The American Roadside.

'The American Roadside in all is splendor...and decadence, from classic diners to decrepit signs and urban landscapes, from beautifully perserved movie threatre marquees to struggling cafes.'




Diner City.

'Your online guide to Classic Diners and the American Roadside'.




Vintage Christmas Recipes.




Ethiopian Manuscripts.

"Christianity took root slowly in Ethiopia from the third decade of the 4th century. Some 150 years later, missionaries from Syria translated the Bible into Ethiopic. The Islamic conquest of neighbouring Egypt in 640-641 isolated Ethiopia from other Christian countries for the best part of a millennium. The Ethiopic Church was able to maintain only tenuous links with the rest of Christianity through the Coptic Church in Egypt, which managed to survive under its country’s Islamic rulers..."




Religious Hats of the Himalayas.




A History of the Pregnancy Test Kit.




Gallery of Medical Instruments.




Pulp Gallery.

The Pulp Gallery is a visual reference guide to the wonderful cover art of pulp and pin-up magazines. Primarily the Gallery focuses on pulp cover art from the 1920's through the 1950's and includes some magazines from beyond those date ranges. On display are thousands of magazines covers for those seeking collecting, reference or pure entertainment value. I hope you enjoy! '




British Museum Prints.

'One of the most significant cultural collections of 2-dimensional art (prints, drawings and paintings) in the world made its relatively silent debut online recently. The British Museum has spent more than 15 years gearing up for this moment...'




Ballet Sketches.

'Joseph Paget-Fredericks (1905-1963) inherited his parents love for collecting theatre memorabilia and studied art at the University of California and in Europe. His family had close ties to the elite ballet companies and he was appointed Artistic Director for Anna Pavlova's world tours in the early 1930s...'




Weekly Puzzle.

1/ Make 33 out of 1,2,6 and 7.

2/ Make 34 out of 1,2,6 and 7.




Soviet Matchboxes.

Depicting the Soviet space programme.




Tokyo Street Style.

Street fashion.




Vintage Memorabilia.

'Here you will find vintage advertising items, displays, and packaging!'




Woman's Mysteries of a Primitive People.

'This is an ethnography of the Iboibo, a Nigerian tribe. Written by a pioneering English woman in the early 20th Century, this book focuses on the ritual life of women. Despite the naïve colonialist attitude, it presents a female perspective which was seldom seen in the ethnographic literature of the period. '

China Stories.

Vignettes of life in China.




Historic Maps of Paris.




Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

'Joshua Abraham Norton (c. 1819 – January 8, 1880), also known as His Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, was a celebrated citizen of San Francisco, California who proclaimed himself "Emperor of these United States" and later "Protector of Mexico" in 1859. Born in London, Norton spent most of his early life in South Africa; he emigrated to San Francisco in 1849 after receiving a bequest of $40,000 from his father's estate. Norton initially made a living as a businessman, but he lost his fortune investing in Peruvian rice...'

More here :- http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/norton.html




Vintage Kimono.




The Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942.

'On the night and early morning of February 24 and 25, 1942, a singular event unfolded in the skies over Southern California – the continental United States was attacked by an enemy... or was it? The reports of this vary, from a squadron of Japanese bombers, a weather balloon, and even alien spacecraft, and the subsequent government conspiracies that followed. We do know that something happened; too many people witnessed the event to dispute that fact, but what really happened?'




Abandoned Swimming Pools.




Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus.

'Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge...'

More :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus '“Is There a Santa Claus?” was the headline that appeared over an editorial in the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun. The editorial, which included the response of “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” has become an indelible part of popular Christmas lore in the United States.'




Strike It Lucky.

'A 1929 advertisement for Lucky Strike cigarettes, from The 100 Greatest Advertisements 1852–1958, by Julian Lewis Watkins, p. 66.'




Cigarette Cards: Cricket.




Cigarette Cards: Beauties.

Includes a 1928 series for Sarony Cigarettes on 'national types of beauty'.




Moon and Stars.




Phobos: Doomed Moon of Mars.



Drums and Shadows.

'This collection of oral folklore from coastal Georgia was assembled during the 1930s as part of a WPA writers' program, under the supervision of Mary Granger. The accounts in this book, framed by colorful descriptions of the rural locales where they were collected, were principally from elderly African-Americans, some of them centarians. Most had been slaves. In some cases they had known first generation slaves who had been born in Africa. '




Jamaica Anansi Stories.

Jamaican folklore.




The Kumulipo: A Hawaiian Creation Chant.




Vintage Halloween Cards.




Unfortunate Valentine's Cards.

'"If I had my choice you'd be first," but look at me. Am I ever really likely to have my choice? It doesn't seem likely. My giant hideous eyes are set really far apart, my head is as big and round as a elementary school gym class kickball, I have two nostrils but no nose, and my knees have strange lines on them. I'll be lucky to find any valentine, let alone my first choice. It's a tough life for a pseudo Campbell's soup kid. A tough life indeed. '




Socialist Posters of India.

'This online exhibition features a rarely studied and documented topic on the Socialist Movements in India, during the British rule and subsequent to India's freedom.'




Weekly Puzzle.

1/ Make 17 out of 1,2,6 and 7.

2/ Make 32 out of 1,2,6 and 7.

Wharram Percy.

A lost medieval village in Yorkshire.




Yale University Library: The Map Collection.

Including historical maps of the world - http://www.library.yale.edu/mapcoll/print_online_world.html




Vietnamese Propaganda Artist.

'Mr Dung started his career during the war and has charted Vietnam's transition to the outward-looking nation it is today. His latest assignment was a poster for this year's Apec summit. '




Flight Attendant Uniform Collection.

'Sometime in 1980 I was given my first uniform by one of my mother's friends. I was so excited and I wanted to have more uniforms. In 1982 I heard that two charter airlines were introducing new uniforms. I wasted no time, I called these airlines and as a result I was invited to pick up a set of old uniforms. Between 1982 and 1993 I didn't do much to obtain any more uniforms, something I really regret now as I could have had many many more! Most of my uniforms were obtained between 1993 and today. At the moment my collection contains almost 600 different uniforms from various airlines worldwide. '




License Plates of the US and Canada Used During 1976.




Photographs of Isolated Buildings.




Photographs of Vintage Actresses.




Selected American Civil War Photographs.

'The Selected Civil War Photographs Collection contains 1,118 photographs. Most of the images were made under the supervision of Mathew B. Brady, and include scenes of military personnel, preparations for battle, and battle after-effects. The collection also includes portraits of both Confederate and Union officers, and a selection of enlisted men. '




Neon Signs Photo Pool.




Danish Posters.

'1100 posters from the Danish Museum of Art & Design ranging from 1911 to 2002. '




The Decorated Letter.

'On the pages of medieval manuscripts, vines and luxuriant leaves twist together to create letter forms. Within the letters, fantastic figures of humans, animals, and mythological beasts clamber through the tangled foliage and occasionally transform into letters themselves. Other letters contain simple author portraits or serve as a frame for scenes of important events in a story. This exhibition examines these different letter types in medieval manuscripts and explores what they reveal about changes in manuscript illumination over the course of many centuries. '




The Russian Revolution: A Gallery of Photos.




Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans (1869).

'This is an anthology of English translations of Pushto poets from the 16th century on. Most, if not all, of these poets are Sufi. They utilize the poetic vocabulary of Sufiism: the tavern, the wine, the flowers, etc., all actually technical terms describing the soul's progression on the mystical path towards God. Raverty's introductory essay, "Remarks on the Mystic Doctrine and Poetry of the Sufis" provides a skeleton key to the symbology.'



Weekly Puzzle.

There are 3 bags. One contains 2 gold coins, another has 2 silver coins and the 3rd has one of each. You pick a bag at random, and without looking inside take out one coin. It's gold. What is the probability that the other coin in that bag is also gold?



Eye Candy.

The Grenville Diptych. 'The Grenville Diptych was produced for Richard Temple-Grenville, Marquess of Chandos the son of the first Duke of Buckingham and Chandos between 1822 and 1839. The diptych shows 719 quarterings of the family. The left hand panel of the diptych lists the quarterings. These include ten variations of the English Royal arms, the arms of Spencer, De Clare, Valence, Mowbray, Mortimer, and De Grey, among others. '

La Catrina. 'In Mexican folk culture, the Catrina, popularized by Jose Guadalupe Posada, is the skeleton of a high society woman and one of the most popular figures of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico.'

Etna eruption seen from the International Space Station.

Lost in Time: The Churches of the Norfolk Battle Training Area.
Norfolk villages evacuated and abandoned during World War II. Eerie.




The Underground Railroad.
'The Underground Railroad was neither "underground" nor a "railroad," but was a loose network of aid and assistance to fugitives from bondage. Perhaps as many as one hundred thousand enslaved persons may have escaped in the years between the american Revolution and the Civil War...'




Historic Route 40.
The United States' oldest transcontinental highway, running from Atlantic City, New Jersey to San Francisco.




The First Martian Landing Site in Grover's Mill, New Jersey.
'Located just off a lonely country road, a few miles from Princeton University, in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, a solitary marker on a field of dreams commemorates the first landing site of the Martian Invasion. What Martian Invasion? you might ask. Most people forget that Martian war machines did, in fact, invade our living rooms on October 30th, 1938, through the popular medium of radio, and a young Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre players were responsible.'




Ho Chi Minh Internet Archive.




Stamps Depicting Ethnic Groups of Vietnam.



Weekly Puzzle.
Combining the digits 1,2,7 and 8, form the integers from 1 to 10.
This is possible with the basic operations +, -, * and / .




Jupiter Portrait.




Cassini Approaches Saturn.




Inuit Religion.
'Inuit is the term preferred for speaking of the people commonly known as Eskimo—the word Eskimo being derived from a derogatory term (meaning "eaters of raw flesh") used by the Algonquin people of North America. The Inuit culture is possibly the most geographically extensive of all traditional lifeways, showing an astonishing homogeneity of language, beliefs, and technologies over more than 5000 miles of coastal territory extending from eastern Siberia to Greenland.'




Guide to Kamakura.
'The ancient capital of Japan replete with old temples and shrines accessible in one hour by train from Tokyo Station'




Duke Dress and Heraldry.
'This combined 'hofkleiderbuch' and 'wappenbuch' (Court dress and coats of arms book) was produced in 16th century Bavaria (sometime after 1588, judging by a date visible on one of the manuscript pages)...'




The Bishops.
Lives of the Bishops of Cracow.
'It was written by the Polish historian, Jan Długosz (who also produced the 'Banderia Prutenorum' flag book), in the 15th century. The exquisite illuminations for this version (1531-1535) were painted by Stanislaw Samostrzelnik. Not even such magnificent embellishment using medieval photoshoppery could endow this parade of Bishops with anything approaching a happy or friendly disposition however. Almost all of them appear to be sour old men, utterly without charm.'



Querying the Hive Mind.
'Is it dangerous to eat a jar of peanut butter?'
'What words do you know which have a strong dissonance between their form and meaning? '
'Fiction series spanning 30+ years?'
'As the title says, how do you find a new best friend?'