Back in the 19th century, Victorians thought nothing unusual about sending their loved ones bizarre and creepy images with the words “May yours be a joyful Christmas.” From frogs stabbing each other, and insects dancing in the moonlight, to Krampus (a half-goat, half-daemon) entertaining the ladies, this photo collection shows creepy Victorian Christmas cards. As you can see, the cards were not only overwhelmingly secular, but some were grimly non-festive....

The Anglo-French Concorde was co-developed by BAC, a forerunner of BAE Systems, and Aerospatiale, now a part of Airbus, and has a storied history. New technology was required throughout the plane. A distinctive design innovation was the plane’s droop nose, which was lowered during takeoff and landing to increase a pilot’s view of the runway. The steering and control systems used an electronic interface known as fly-by-wire. There was a minor argument over the spelling of the name....

With a smile that lit up screens and a hairstyle that became a national obsession, Farrah Fawcett emerged as one of the most iconic figures of the 1970s and 1980s. Her image was everywhere—from dorm room walls to magazine covers, and her presence marked a shift in how beauty, glamour, and strength were portrayed on television. More than just a pinup, Fawcett captivated the public with both her all-American charm and her quiet determination to be taken seriously as an actor....

Born in 1907, Frida Kahlo lived for just 47 years. Andre Breton summed up Kahlo as “a ribbon around a bomb.” Here are some facts about the woman remembered as one of Mexico’s greatest artists. Kahlo lived most of her life in pain, the effect of contracting polio as a child, then being involved in a devastating road accident at age 18. Attempts to repair the damage with surgery and bone grafts exacerbated the situation....

German soldiers in a dug out waiting for an enemy artillery barrage to lift, 1917. Fifteen pensive-looking faces, each man contemplating his fate as they await the enemy barrage to lift and prepare to repel an enemy assault. The original text on reverse: “Real photo taken of German infantry in a dug out. This is a typical dug out, and you will notice there isn’t room enough to lay full length....

From delicate snow showers to mighty blizzards, New Yorkers have danced with winter’s icy tunes for decades. These historical snapshots, capturing snowfalls and blizzards from the 1900s to the 1980s, offer a peek into the city’s frosty past. The images freeze moments when life in the Big Apple adapted to the cold. People bundled up, streets transformed by snow, and the city’s pulse continuing despite the chill. But there’s more than meets the eye....

The Cliff House in 1890. Local historians routinely disagree on how many Cliff Houses have been built in the wind-beaten northwestern edge of San Francisco. Three is the most common answer, some argue that four is correct, and even fice has its partisans. But everyone does agree that San Francisco wouldn’t be the same without its legendary Cliff House, a destination for the young and the old, the wealthy and the modest, presidents and plumbers, for a century and a half....

German internees playfully stage an “alligator attack” on the shore of the French Broad River. Once the United States abandoned neutrality and declared war on Germany in April 1917, thousands of German commercial sailors were unlucky enough to be docked at American ports, including the crew of the world’s largest passenger ship, the SS Vaterland , which had been stuck in Hoboken, New Jersey since the outbreak of hostilities three years earlier....

The Vespa scooter, an emblem of style, functionality, and an era marked by post-war revival, carries with it a legacy that extends far beyond mere mobility. Conceived in 1946, the Vespa was born out of a dire need for affordable, efficient transportation in post-war Italy. Piaggio, inspired by the aeronautical designs of Corradino D’Ascanio, aimed to create a comfortable and functional two-wheeled vehicle for the masses. The first Vespa, the Vespa 98, rolled off the assembly line and quickly captured attention with its unconventional yet striking design....

John F. Kennedy was born into a rich, politically connected Boston family of Irish-Catholics. He and his eight siblings enjoyed a privileged childhood of elite private schools, sailboats, servants, and summer homes. During his childhood and youth, “Jack” Kennedy suffered frequent serious illnesses. Nevertheless, he strove to make his own way, writing a best-selling book while still in college at Harvard and volunteering for hazardous combat duty in the Pacific during World War II....

These black and white photographs, taken by LIFE photographer Cornell Capa in 1947, beautifully capture the style of teenage girls from Highland Park High School during the mid to late 1940s. These images provide a glimpse into the fashion and elegance of the era, underlining the timeless appeal of youth. The concept of the “teenager” had only recently been introduced, with the term first coined in 1941. By 1944, Seventeen magazine had published its inaugural issue, catering specifically to this new demographic....

Annual midnight swearing-in of Nazi SS troops, Feldherrnhalle, Munich, 1938. The SS loyalty oath was as follows: “I vow to you, Adolf Hitler, as Führer and chancellor of the German Reich, loyalty and bravery. I vow to you and to the leaders that you set for me, absolute allegiance until death. So help me God” . The SS was different from the Wehrmacht (regular army) in several respects. Perhaps the most obvious was its fanatical loyalty to Hitler and to Nazi racial and political values....

In the history of the bicycle, the penny-farthing stands tall—or rather, stands tall and rides even taller. With its distinctive design, characterized by a comically large front wheel and a diminutive rear wheel, the penny-farthing catapults us back to the bygone era of the 19th century. But what compelled riders to perch atop these towering contraptions, navigating the cobbled streets with an air of audacious elegance? The penny-farthing, affectionately named for the British penny and farthing coins that bore a similar size resemblance, made its grand entrance onto the cycling stage in the 1870s....

Queen Elizabeth II as a mechanic. 1945. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, many close to the British royal family wanted the Queen Mother and her daughters, princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, then 13 and 9 years old respectively, to evacuate to Canada. But the Queen Mother refused. She rode out the war in Buckingham Palace, though it was bombed repeatedly, and shuffled the princesses around several palaces before settling them into Windsor Castle....

Yakov Dzhugashvili captured by the Germans, 1941. Yakov Dzhugashvili, Stalin’s elder son, served in the Red Army during the Second World War, and was captured, or surrendered, in the initial stages of the German invasion of the USSR. There are still many contradictory legends in circulation about the death of Yakov Dzhugashvili, as there are about all the important events in his life. Yakov, born in 1907, was the son of Stalin’s first wife, Ekaterina Svanidze....

A team of sixty porters carry an old German-made Mercedes en-route to India, 1948 Cars are supposed to carry people, but in Nepal people carried cars on the rocky, hilly trail from Kathmandu. Automobiles, stripped of wheels and bumpers, were shoulder-borne to and from the capital, the only Nepalese city with modern roads. This old German-made Mercedes was being transported to India as a trade-in on a shiny American model....

“Ruthenian woman.” Historically inhabiting the kingdom of the Rus ranging from parts of modern-day Slavic-speaking countries, this example of Ruthenian traditional dress consisted of a shirt and underskirt made from linen which was embroidered with traditional floral-based patterns. The sleeveless jacket is constructed from panels of sheepskin. 1906. Ellis Island served as the United State’s largest immigration station, processing up to 12 million people between 1892 and 1954. These historical photos were taken between 1906 and 1914 by amateur photographer Augustus Sherman....

Men’s hair in the seventies was a joy to behold. There was a little bit of variation throughout the decade, from long to short, blow-dried and bouffant to spiked and bleached, with “overgrown” being the look that most people associate with the decade. Hairstyling and grooming were no longer simply for women – hair products were now marketed to men, and many happily used them. Moustaches and mutton chops were in, even fake facial hair was worn and accepted....

Over a century ago, in the heart of bustling Hollywood Boulevard, a man with a dream and a passion for shoes opened a small, unassuming shop. Salvatore Ferragamo’s journey began here, but his story soon took on a legendary hue. Located just across from the iconic Egyptian Theater, Ferragamo’s store soon became synonymous with Hollywood glamor, earning him the prestigious title of the “shoemaker to the stars.” Ferragamo’s shoes weren’t just footwear; they were works of art that graced the feet of the silver screen’s finest....

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....