A rare color photo of Adolf Hitler which shows his true eye color. Although Adolf Hitler claimed the Germans were of a superior Aryan race of white, tall, blonde hair, blue-eyed individuals, he himself was of modest height, blue-eyed, and brown-haired. Traudl Junge, his last secretary often told in interviews, that people were amazed about Hitler’s blue eyes. Those who met Hitler, after the War often refer, in their reminiscences, to his remarkable pale, clear blue eyes, which many states, unequivocally, had a distinctly hypnotic quality....

Fires broke out in many parts of town, some initially fueled by natural gas mains broken by the quake. One of the most appalling disasters that have ever been recorded in American history befell San Francisco in 1906 when an earthquake struck the Californian city on the early morning of April 18th. Modern analysis estimates it registered 8.25 on the Richter scale. The events are remembered as one of the worst and deadliest natural disasters in the history of the United States....

The Grable test, with the Atomic Annie artillery piece used to fire the warhead. The development of nuclear artillery was part of a broad push by nuclear weapons countries to develop nuclear weapons which could be used tactically against enemy armies in the field (as opposed to strategic uses against cities, military bases, and heavy industry). Nuclear artillery was both developed and deployed by a small group of states, including the United States, USSR, and France....

In 1971, Chicago’s Tri-Taylor neighborhood stood on the brink of transformation. Nestled on the Near West Side, this once-thriving community was home to families, corner stores, and aging buildings that had weathered the passage of time. Yet, within just a few years, much of it would be lost to demolition, making way for the expansion of the Illinois Medical District. Capturing the neighborhood in its final years was Lou Fourcher , a graduate student at the University of Illinois-Chicago, who documented its streets and residents while participating in the school’s Valley Project....

Vispach Bridge and the Matterhorn, Valais. These color pictures of the vibrant landscapes and towns of Switzerland were created using the Photochrom process, a technique that colorizes monochrome images with precision. While the prints may deceptively look like color photographs, but in fact, artificial color has in fact been added to black-and-white images. The process was invented in the 1880s by Hans Jakob Schmid, an employee of Swiss printing company Orell Gessner Füssli....

Project engineers demonstrating the cantilever principles of the Forth Bridge in Scotland, 1887. A historical demonstration in 1887 showing the weight of the central span of a bridge being transmitted to the banks through diamond-shaped supports. The central “weight” is Kaichi Watanabe, one of the first Japanese engineers who came to study in the UK. Sir John Fowler and Benjamin Baker of Imperial College, who designed the Firth of Forth bridge, provide the supports....

In the early 1990s, Cuba entered a period of profound transformation and economic hardship, a chapter in its history remembered as The Special Period in Time of Peace. Triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Comecon trade alliance, the country was suddenly cut off from the vital subsidies and resources it had relied on for decades. The impact was immediate and devastating. Fuel became scarce, food supplies dwindled, and everyday life was reshaped by necessity and resilience....

Mata Hari was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy and executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I. Mata Hari, the archetype of the seductive female spy, was a professional dancer and mistress who became a spy for France during World War I. Suspected of being a double agent, she was executed in 1917 under charges of espionage for Germany....

From the early 1950s until the 1970s, sugar was marketed as a healthy substance that would help curb hunger and provide an energy boost. A “pro-sugar” ad that appeared in an August 1964 issue of Time gave a “note to mothers,” explaining that drinks without sugar wouldn’t provide children with the necessary energy to get through the day’s activities. In 1955, Sugar Association even won an award for “advertising in the public interest....

Adolf Hitler with other German officials walking in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, 1940. One day after France signed the armistice with Germany in June 1940, Adolf Hitler celebrated the German victory over France with a triumphant tour of Paris. Hitler surveying his conquest with his various companions and became one of the most iconic photos of the 1940s and World War 2. This was the first and the only time he visited Paris....

Moscow, 1987. Photo by Asa Kari Frank. The subcultures in the Soviet Union, a country cut off from the West by the infamous Iron Curtain, were a form of open youth rebellion against ideological and cultural stagnation. Stilyagi, goths, hippies, bikers, punks, rockers, and metalheads formed countercultures that often invited the wrath of the Soviet communist authorities. Their legacy is remembered by these pictures that show their radical self-expression, extravagant style, hairstyles, tattoos, and elaborate clothes....

The extraordinary early prostheses made by James Gillingham, 1900 James Gillingham lived in Chard, England, where he had a small shoe-making business called “Golden Boot”. His career in prosthetics began in 1865 when he produced an artificial arm for a local cannoneer who had been injured in an accident but was given up as a lost cause by London doctors. Gillingham’s great success in this case led him to found a new medical firm, J....

Every war combatant highly appreciated the need for an unbreakable code that would help them communicate while protecting their operational plans. The U.S. Army knew where to find one: the Navajo Nation. Philip Johnston, a civil engineer for the city of Los Angeles, proposed the use of the Navajo language to the United States Marine Corps at the beginning of World War II. 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....

Soldiers raising the Soviet flag over the Reichstag, 1945. The “Soviet flag over Reichstag” photograph is full of symbolism and represents a historic moment. Erected in 1894, the Reichstag’s architecture was magnificent for its time. The building contributed much to German history and was considered by the Red Army the symbol of their enemy. Soviets finally captured the Reichstag on 2 May 1945. Next to Joe Rosenthal’s photo of raising the flag on Iwo Jima, Yevgeny Khaldei’s photo of Soviet soldiers raising a flag on top of the Reichstag building in Berlin is perhaps the most famous photo of World War II....

The vulture and the little girl, 1993. Original title: Struggling Girl. The vulture is waiting for the girl to die and to eat her. The photograph was taken by South African photojournalist, Kevin Carter, while on assignment to Sudan. He took his own life a couple of months later due to depression. In March 1993 Kevin Carter made a trip to Sudan. Near the village of Ayod, Carter found a girl who had stopped to rest while struggling to a United Nations feeding center, whereupon a vulture had landed nearby....

Aircraft’s preparing for take off from U.S.S. Yorktown, ca. 1943. In 1942, shortly after the US entry into the war, the Navy established a special group called the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit to document and publicize its aviation activities. The main purpose of this photographic unit was to promote the recruitment of pilots specifically for the Navy. Radford, the head of the Navy, believed there was competition for a limited talent pool between the Navy and the Army Air Corps, and that attractive, top-rate photography in the press, posters, and leaflets would help the Navy reach its quota of 30,000 new pilots each year....

Over the years, men have sported an array of hairstyles that have stood the test of time. Hairstyles aren’t just about looks; they’re a part of a guy’s daily style and cleanliness routine. Let’s take a fun peek into old-school barbershops and hair salon guides to see how guys used to style their hair back in the day. A hairstyle guide from 1956. The 1940s brought about a distinct shift in men’s hairstyles influenced by the impact of World War II....

William Stanley Moore. 1926. Captioned: Opium dealer./ Operates with large quantities of faked opium and cocaine./ A wharf labourer; associates with water front thieves and drug traders Dressed in their finest suits and ties with their top hats cocked towards the camera, these men and women seem to be posing for expensive portraits. But behind their tidy appearances are guilty eyes that hide some of the most sinister crimes policemen of the day had dealt with....

Known as onna bugeisha , these female samurai who fought beside and against male samurais are an important part of Japan’s military history. They were members of the bushi (warrior) class in feudal Japan and were trained in the use of weapons to protect their household, family, and honor in times of war. They also have an important presence in Japanese literature, with Tomoe Gozen and Hangaku Gozen as famous and influential examples representing onna-musha ....

In 1935, Norwegian journalist Eirik Sundvor embarked on a journey to the Soviet Union, capturing striking photographs of everyday life in Moscow during a time of rapid industrialization and urbanization. Moscow in the 1930s was a city that was undergoing significant change and development. The Soviet government was pursuing an ambitious industrialization campaign aimed at catching up with the industrialized nations of the West. This was accompanied by a series of economic plans, including the first five-year plan, which focused on increasing the output of heavy industry such as steel and coal....