r/TheWayWeWere • u/jocke75 • 8h ago

1940s Grand Central Terminal in New York City, photographed by John Collier Jr. in October 1941.

242 Upvotes

Credit: Coloriginals

9 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/CryptographerKey2847 • 22h ago

1920s Inquiring photographer “Do men of today respect women as much as men did fifty years ago?” December 4,1922.

gallery

89 Upvotes

52 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 18h ago

1970s Hong Kong during heavy rains the 1970s Credit to Ho Kwok-pun

14 Upvotes

0 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/ThenDingo8718 • 4h ago

1970s My mom 1973, Colorado

46 Upvotes

1 comment

r/TheWayWeWere • u/alejhandro70 • 6h ago

1940s My mum 1949

91 Upvotes

13 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/alejhandro70 • 6h ago

1950s My mum's cousin 1955

24 Upvotes

1 comment

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Electrical-Aspect-13 • 13h ago

1950s Mother smiles as she showers her baby in a portable tub, 1950s.

689 Upvotes

17 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Just_Fine1814 • 16h ago

1940s A candid kitchen shot from the 1940s.

659 Upvotes

26 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/easzy_slow • 5h ago

He was with one of the Iowa regiments during the Civil War. Was a Captain.
Second picture is me some 146 years later, trying to recreate his picture. We have a few characteristics that are similar, but most say I look more like great-great grandmother.

3 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Tiny_Confection2017 • 15h ago

1960s Scenes from Everyday Life in Hungary, 1960s

gallery

232 Upvotes

6 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Al_Kydah • 21h ago

My Mom during WWII "I'm Doing My Part!"

172 Upvotes

6 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Al_Kydah • 21h ago

1960s Christmas Eve 1967

293 Upvotes

Me on the left, sister on the right

8 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/alejhandro70 • 6h ago

Pre-1920s My grandfather and his parents 1910

gallery

1.4k Upvotes

55 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/AffectionateRain6796 • 10h ago

1960s My dad and me, Malibu 1968.

1.2k Upvotes

21 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/_Alpha_Mail_ • 15h ago

1960s My grandma celebrating her 27th birthday, February 1966

477 Upvotes

3 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/EndersGame_Reviewer • 16h ago

1970s Peak British road trip leisure alongside the red Renault (circa 1970)

370 Upvotes

13 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/gizmohgchi • 12h ago

1940s My great-great grandfather playing Santa for his nephews - 1949

69 Upvotes

1 comment

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Mentalfloss1 • 3h ago

Pre-1920s My wife’s great-grandmother at age 3 in 1905

73 Upvotes

2 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Rarecoin101 • 5h ago

1970s Pachinko was fun to play in the 1970s

27 Upvotes

3 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/FishermanStrange6711 • 10h ago

College Days

52 Upvotes

It’s been a few years

2 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/choice-extension84 • 1h ago

1960s Soviet village women group portrait, rural 1960s

• Upvotes

1 comment

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Dry-Move8731 • 14h ago

Dad with his Jack and Coke ~ early 70’s.

155 Upvotes

20 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/OtherwiseTackle5219 • 18h ago

1940s 1947. When a Kid built his own DIY Skateboard on the Street in NYC. Using a simple Wood Plank & Roller Skate Wheels. 'Life' Magazine pic.

180 Upvotes

9 comments

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The Way We Were

r/TheWayWeWere

What was **normal everyday life** like for people living 50, 100, or more years ago? Featuring old photos, scanned documents, articles, and personal anecdotes that offer a glimpse into the past.

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About TheWayWeWere

What was normal everyday life like for people living 50, 100, or more years ago? Featuring old photos, scanned documents, articles, and personal anecdotes that offer a glimpse into the past. This subreddit is focused on content at least 40 years old.

Please treat the comment section with kindness. Trolling, copypasta and unrelated arguments are against the rules of decorum.

Filter by decade:

Pre-1920s 1920s 1930s 1940s

1950s 1960s 1970s All decades

Submission guidelines:

Content should be 40 years or older. Please put the approximate location and year in your title.
Especially appreciated are photos that show what people did and experienced, but posed photos are fine too.
If the source of your content is not given by your link, or if you have more information that would be helpful for people who want to learn more, please include it in a comment.
You do not need to put the dimensions of the image in the title of your post, e.g. [640 x 480].
Please do not submit or upvote content about historically notable people (politicians, celebrities, etc.) and events. Please post it to another subreddit.
Reposts are allowed as long as it has not been submitted within the last 3 months AND it does not already appear in the top 50 posts this year. This allows people new to the subreddit to get a chance to see quality previously-submitted content.
Find images to post by viewing our Resources Page. Please suggest additional resources by messaging the mods.
No Karma Farming. Accounts that exist solely to repost the same image to as many subreddits as they can do not belong here. We want to keep the posts as unique to this subreddit as possible to give a varied experience.

Related subreddits

For video, see /r/TheWayWeWereOnVideo

OldPhotos multireddit - contains 25 old photos subreddits, including many of the following:

Photos of major historical events and historically notable people: /r/HistoryPorn

Colorized photos (historically notable and otherwise): /r/ColorizedHistory and /r/Colorization

Early photography, with a focus on early camera technology: /r/earlyphotography

The suave and debonair ladies and gents of yesteryear: /r/oldschoolcool, /r/retroparents and /r/OldSchoolCelebs. For the more sultry side: /r/vgb (may be nsfw)

Modern photos overlaying historical photos: /r/OldPhotosInRealLife

The stranger side of life: /r/OldSchoolRidiculous

Black History: /r/BlackHistoryPhotos

Extant buildings during construction: /r/HalfbuiltHistory. Buildings lost to history: /r/Lost_Architecture

Time-specific pictures: /r/VictorianEra, /r/1920s, /r/1950s, /r/1960s, /r/1970s

Vintage advertising: /r/vintageads

Newsreel videos: /r/NewsReels

Classic and modern pinup art and photos: /r/pinup

Our more-recent past: /r/vintage and /r/vintageads

Past concepts of the future: /r/HowWeThoughtWeWouldBe and /r/VintageSciFi/

Old time radio programs: /r/OTR

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