r/TheWayWeWere • u/HutchinsonGM3 • 2h ago

1940s My Grandfather in the US Navy in 1942 at the age of 18

147 Upvotes

4 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/delphicginger • 1d ago

My nan with her husband and friends in 1984. Second photo is today (Aged 99)

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8.6k Upvotes

My wonderful nan - somewhat convinced she may be a vampire as she never ages!☺️

228 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/CryptographerKey2847 • 6h ago

1940s Inquiring Photographer"What do you think of the practical working, arrangements of bringing a Chinese child into an American home?"June 29,1949.

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143 Upvotes

I’m had to delete the first post because I messed it up so please post the info found about this little girl and her case again. Sorry!

25 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/UrbanAchievers6371 • 2h ago

1960s Billy and Bobby Summersett waiting for the school bus, 1960s

65 Upvotes

5 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Mentalfloss1 • 17h ago

1970s Me as hippie about 1975

703 Upvotes

In the Everglades

38 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/KatyaRomici00 • 20h ago

Pre-1920s Photograph of a little girl, Montreal, Quebec, 1896-1898

941 Upvotes

https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/419498/portrait-dune-fille-non-identifiee-montreal-quebec-1896?

16 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Mentalfloss1 • 14h ago

1950s My cousin Jonny and me in 1952

292 Upvotes

Jonny is the girl, btw.

2 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/dittidot • 22h ago

1960s My dad making us laugh while taking a family photo, 1961

1.2k Upvotes

11 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/SOMOEAGLE • 10h ago

1940s My grandpa and his 1941 Buick

74 Upvotes

Photo was taken in 1948

0 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/zxcvbn113 • 4h ago

1940s Family portrait c. 1943. My father, grandfather and great-grandfather

22 Upvotes

2 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 1h ago

1950s Two women posing on a carousel at Rockaway Playland in Queens, NYC in 1950

• Upvotes

0 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Electrical-Aspect-13 • 17h ago

1940s Group of friends at the beach in Florida, 1940s.

176 Upvotes

1 comment

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Electrical-Aspect-13 • 20h ago

1940s Young war couple poses for their photo, Pennsylvania, 1940s.

212 Upvotes

5 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Zocimir • 15h ago

1970s My grandmother's uncle Jovan-Jovo Bilić with his gusle (Serbian traditional instrument) (1977). He won the national festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina that year.

75 Upvotes

6 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Bloodhoundforthewin • 8h ago

My paternal grandfather (on the right), who fought for France in the cavalry during the WWII.

19 Upvotes

1 comment

r/TheWayWeWere • u/MrAllard8431 • 2h ago

1940s My great-grandfather golfing, 1940

6 Upvotes

0 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/the_dumbblonde • 14h ago

1940s My great-grandmother and friends in the 1940 Atlanta snow-storm

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27 Upvotes

1 comment

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Mentalfloss1 • 14h ago

1970s On top of Eagle Cap in NE Oregon in 1979

33 Upvotes

I found the new 10 Commandments

6 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/StunGod • 1d ago

1960s My parents brought me to visit my grandparents, 1 month old. (1968)

866 Upvotes

20 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 1d ago

1970s High school in 1979

122 Upvotes

10 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/CryptographerKey2847 • 1d ago

1930s Inquiring Photographer “A man states that his wife concealed the fact that she could not bear children until he had been married to her for a year. Do you think he is entitled to a divorce?”April 11,1936.

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161 Upvotes

87 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Troutshout • 12h ago

1960s Despite this having happened in 1960, my big brother’s a swell guy

9 Upvotes

2 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/Electrical-Aspect-13 • 1d ago

Pre-1920s Girl in wheel chair hugs her baby brother to pose him for their photo together, 1890s.

1.5k Upvotes

12 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/OtherwiseTackle5219 • 2h ago

1920s 1929. Enjoying a day at the Sea Shore at Bognor Regis Beach UK

1 Upvotes

0 comments

r/TheWayWeWere • u/OtherwiseTackle5219 • 1d ago

Pre-1920s 1900. Enjoying a nice day at the Beach in Blackpool England.

68 Upvotes

0 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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