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A worker hangs pasta to dry in a factory in Italy. 1932. Nothing says Italian food like pasta. Pasta is an integral part of Italy’s food history. Wherever Italians immigrated they have brought their pasta along, so much so today it can be considered a staple of international cuisine. Many school children were taught that the Venetian merchant Marco Polo brought back pasta from his journeys to China. Some may have also learned that Polo’s was not a discovery, but rather a rediscovery of a product once popular in Italy among the Etruscans and the Romans....

Claude Joséphine Rose “Claudia” Cardinale (15 April 1938 – 25 September 2025) was an Italian film actress. She starred in several acclaimed European films of the 1960s and 1970s, acting in Italian, French, and English-language productions. Born and raised in La Goulette, a neighborhood of Tunis, Cardinale won the “Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia” competition in 1957, the prize being a trip to Italy, which quickly led to film contracts, due above all to the involvement of Franco Cristaldi, who acted as her mentor for a number of years and later married her....

Eight of the officers shown here accounted for a total of 1,486 aerial kills. Adolf Hitler chats with his flying aces from Luftwaffe after an awards ceremony (Eichenlaub and Schwertern) at Berghof Obersalzberg on April 1944. All these Luftwaffe officers aces received their Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross of Oak Leaves or Swords or Diamonds, the highest award made by Nazi Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or outstanding military leadership....

The enchanting world of the 1960s was marked by the irresistible allure of dapper, globetrotting spies, captivating the imagination of an entire generation. Mirroring this suave trend, the cologne industry of the decade ingeniously infused fragrances with exotic odors, while ad campaigns exuded sophistication and elegance. On the other hand, the 1970s emerged as a transformative era characterized by earthy fashion statements such as brown, denim, corduroy, and a celebration of natural masculinity, with body hair being embraced as a symbol of rugged appeal....

Imagine a city with a history as rich and complex as Jerusalem’s. This ancient city, revered by three major religions, has been at the center of countless wars and conquests throughout the centuries. Each new era brought new rulers, new cultures, and new conflicts, shaping the city into what it is today. One of the most significant changes in Jerusalem’s history occurred in 1948 with the establishment of Israel....

Polish pole vaulter Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz jubilates after setting a new world record in the Olympic pole vault final on 30 July 1980 in Moscow and winning the gold medal. By the late 1970s, it was clear that Russians were no longer particularly liked in Poland. The reverse was also probably true. Władysław Kozakiewicz felt this in person as he ran up to take his jump at the 1980 Summer Olympics....

The Great Kanto Earthquake, sometimes called the Great Tokyo Earthquake, rocked Japan on September 1, 1923. The city of Yokohama was hit even worse than Tokyo was, although both were devastated. It was the deadliest earthquake in Japanese history. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale with its focus deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay. The cause was a rupture of part of the convergent boundary where the Philippine Sea Plate is subducting beneath the Okhotsk Plate along the line of the Sagami Trough....

The history of the Vietnam War is one that has been complicated by politics, and it is a history that is still being written and rewritten. The war involved a fratricidal conflict between the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the non-communist Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), and extended to neighboring Laos and Cambodia; however, it was also a proxy war in a Cold War contest between the communist bloc and the western bloc....

The 1960s and 1970s were a time of significant change in the world, and the shopping and retail culture of these decades reflected this social transformation. In the 1960s, post-war consumerism was in full swing, and people were eager to embrace the new consumer culture that promised to bring them happiness and prosperity. The 1970s, on the other hand, saw the emergence of a more self-aware and socially conscious consumer culture that reflected the shifting political and cultural landscape of the time....

These spectacular postcards of France in the last years of the 19th century offer a rare glimpse of French cities in vibrant colors. They were created using the Photochrom process, a technique by which black-and-white photos were imbued with vibrant and lifelike color. The photochrom process was invented in the 1880s by Hans Jakob Schmid, an employee of the Swiss company Orell Gessner Füssli—a printing firm whose history began in the 16th century....

In 1937, the International Exposition in Paris dedicated to Art and Technology in Modern Life brought together 44 countries in the city of light, allies, and enemies alike. The Exposition Internationale would be the final European enactment of the ritual of Peace and Progress before the horrors of the Second World War. The Expo’s centerpiece was the appearance of two equally iconic structures, the German and Soviet Pavilions, facing off across a wide promenade....

Step back in time to the enchanting era of the 1950s, where dreams of rocket ships, outer space, and atomic energy fuelled the imaginations of youngsters across America. Amidst the fervor of the atomic age, a remarkable and audacious creation emerged, capturing the hearts and minds of children with its promise of scientific marvels. Enter the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab Kit, a truly extraordinary and daring educational toy that brought the wonders of nuclear science right into the hands of intrepid young explorers....

Photographer Nils Olsson Reppen was born in 1856 on the farm Reppen in Sogndal in western Norway. In 1882, he immigrated to America and worked as a photographer in Browns Valley and Morris in Minnesota. He returned to Norway in the late 1890s and continued to work as a photographer in Sogndal, the village where he was born. Sogndal is a village beautifully situated by the Sognefjord, Norway’s longest and deepest fjord....

Mummy portrait of a young woman, 3rd century, Louvre, Paris. Mummy portraits have been found across Egypt, but are most common in the Fayum Basin, particularly from Hawara in the Faiyum Basin and the Hadrianic Roman city Antinoopolis. “Fayum portraits” is generally used as a stylistic, rather than a geographic, description. While painted cartonnage mummy cases date back to pharaonic times. These ancient Egyptian-Roman “death masks” are far more naturalistic than anything seen in the western hemisphere for at least the next 600 years....

Transporting us through time on the wings of nostalgia, a collection of stunning photographs offers a captivating glimpse into the cherished ceremonies of weddings in the early 20th century. Each image becomes a window into an era defined by elegance, tradition, and evolving customs, painting a vivid portrait of the matrimonial celebrations that graced the bygone years. Brides commonly opted for long-sleeved gowns made from luxurious fabrics such as satin or silk....

These photos from the Gulbenkian Art Library capture the men and women of Lisbon and the nearby towns of Ericeira and Nazaré as they haul in their boats, mend their nets and sell their catch. A visual testimony of a vanished way of life on the Iberian coast. Fishing has been a major economic activity in Portugal since Roman times. Roman ruins of fish processing facilities were found across the Portuguese coast....

Edward Linley Sambourne was one of the first photographers to capture street fashion by using a hidden camera. He made his living as an artist and is most notably known for his drawings and cartoons in Punch magazine, where he eventually became a full-time artist. Although Sambourne had been using photography for his work since the 1880s, it is the candid 1906-1908 photographs that are important in documenting the history of street fashion....

Pigeons gather in Times Square on a rainy day in 1954 in front of the marquee for “A star is Born” starring Judy Garland. These vintage photographs capture a timeless energy and diversity that is characteristic of the sleepless streets of New York City. The recently discovered antique portraits showcase the city in the midst of the 1950s, as seen through the Rolleiflex lens of the undiscovered photographer Frank Larson....

The Brittany region of France is renowned for its picturesque countryside, stunning coastline, and rich history. Its unique blend of Celtic and Gallo-Roman cultures has been attracting visitors for centuries. These vintage photos from Claude Lacourarie ’s collection provide a fascinating glimpse into the everyday life of the people of Brittany’s countryside during the early 1900s. The vintage photos depict a world that is vastly different from our own, but at the same time, they reveal the timeless qualities of the region....

Two Maori girls with chin mokos in an ancient greeting, circa 1900. These late-19th and early-20th century photographs show some of the last Maori women to wear the traditional Tā moko face marking before it was outlawed by British colonialists. Ta moko is the name for the permanent body and face marking by Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. The tattoos depicted the story of the wearer’s family, their ancestral tribe, and their position within that group....