22 Beautiful Kodachrome Photos That Capture American Life in the 1950s

A beautiful collection of Kodachrome photos from Bousquairol's Gallery that shows what American life looked like in the 1950s.

Beauty contest at Jantzen beach, Portland, Oregon, circa 1950

 Curtis Municipal Airport, Nebraska, September 9th, 1951

A beautiful 1952 rodeo queen, Nebraska, 1952

A Nash Ambassador car in Curtis, Nebraska, 1952

 Grocery store in Rosamond, California, July 1952

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These Amazing Self-Portraits by Joseph Byron May Be the First Selfies Ever Made

Selfies are a 21st-century thing, right? Well, they certainly got popular in the 2000s, but the first selfies were taken way back. Before it was cool. Photographer Joseph Byron may be responsible for the first selfies ever taken, both individual and group.

One picture, conveniently titled “self portrait,” was taken in 1909, reportedly on the roof of the Marceau Studio on Fifth Avenue by the company’s founder Joseph Byron. Since cameras were still pretty big at the time, Byron needed both his arms in order to take the picture.

Joseph Byron, Self Portrait, 1909. (Joseph Byron/Byron Company/Museum of the City of New York)

Eleven years later, in December 1920, Byron found himself on the same roof again, but this time he took a group selfie of himself and his colleagues Pirie MacDonald, Colonel Marceau, Pop Core and Benjamin Falk, as someone else takes a “behind the scenes” shot. Joseph Byron is seen holding the camera with his right hand, and performing arts photographer Ben Falk holds the other side with his right hand.

Side view of photographers posing together for a photograph on the roof of Marceau's Studio, while Joseph Byron holds one side of the camera with his right hand and Ben Falk holds the other side with his left hand. (Joseph Byron/Byron Company/Museum of the City of New York)

Uncle Joe Byron, Pirie MacDonald, Colonel Marceau, Pop Core, Benjamin Falk. (Joseph Byron/Byron Company/Museum of the City of New York)

So is this the first actual selfie? Some people argue that it was Robert Cornelius who took the first selfie ever. He produced a daguerreotype of himself in 1839, sitting outside the family store in Philadelphia. The back of the photo reads: “The first light picture ever taken”. He took the image by removing the lens cap, then running into frame where he sat for a minute before covering up the lens again. But unlike Byron, Cornelius wasn’t actually holding the camera—and isn’t that a vital selfie element?

Joseph Byron was an English photographer, coming from a family of photographers. He immigrated to the U.S in 1888 and opened his photo studio in Manhattan in 1892. The studio named Byron Company was specialized for photographing Broadway shows and other stage productions. And thanks to the 7^th and 8^th generation of photographers, Thomas and Mark Byron, the studio still operates under the name Byron Photography.

The Museum of the City of New York’s digital collection contains 23,000 Byron Company prints, and these selfies are only a small part of this collection.

(via Us Weekly)

The First Film Taken of Queen Victoria, 1896

Queen Victoria at Balmoral in September 1896, on the occasion of the achievement of the longest reign in British history.

The film shows Queen Victoria in dogcart and walking in grounds of castle. With her are Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (her third cousin twice removed) and his wife, the Tsarina; Princess Beatrice and Princess Ena, Duke of Connaught.

Beautiful Life of Italy in the 1950s Through Piergiorgio Branzi's Lens

Born in Signa in 1928, Italian photographer Piergiorgio Branzi was raised in Florence, a city that “looks stern”, in which “color is just a pleasant accessory, a filler, although it may appear splendid”. A city that was “born from two stone quarries: one for ‘pietra serena’, the color of gray graphite, and the other “pietra dura”, the listless ocher of Palazzo della Signoria”.

This is how the great Tuscan photographer and journalist explains how his preference for the essential nature of black and white began, and became the means for him to represent and express the reality around him.

Branzi took his first photos with a 1950s' Galileo Condor. His works have earned him great notoriety in Italy and abroad, traveling around the world: from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to the Guggenheim in New York, from the Fine Art Museum in Houston to the Biblioth癡que nationale de France in Paris, from the Tate Gallery in London to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid.

These fascinating photos were selected from his work that he documented everyday life if Italy in the 1950s.

White wall with small window, 1953

Cliff, Ischia, 1953

Boy of Ischia, 1953

Arena under the snow, Florence, 1954

Alley in Via del Corso, Florence, 1954

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31 Interesting Pictures of American People Posing With State Signs From Between the 1940s and 1960s

Here is a collection of  interesting snapshots that captured American people posing with state signs from between the 1940s and 1960s.

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A Stylish Anonymous Californian at Different Ages

Women's clothes of the 1940s were typically modeled after the utility clothes produced during war rationing. Squared shoulders, narrow hips, and skirts that ended just below the knee were the height of fashion. Tailored suits were also quite popular.

Below are some fascinating found photographs of an unknown woman in California at different ages from circa the 1940s.

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Portraits of Simone Segouin, the 18 Year Old French Resistance Fighter Who Captured 25 Nazis During the Fall of Chartres

Simone Segouin risked her life many times during the secret war against the Nazi occupiers, and became famous the world over when she was pictured wielding a gun in her distinctive shorts and cap. She helped de-rail a train and blow up bridges in and around the city of Chartres, 50 miles south of Paris and was present at the liberation of both cities in 1944, when aged only 18.

Simone Segouin, also known by her nom de guerre "Nicole Minet", was born in Thivars, France in 1925. During the German occupation of France, she was a member of the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans group. On 23 Aug 1944, she was credited with capturing 25 Germans and killing several more in the Chartres, France area. She was also present in Paris, France during the city's liberation. For her efforts during the war, she was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and was awarded the Croix de guerre.

“One of the best days was when we arrested 25 German soldiers towards the end of the war,” she told the Daily Express in an interview in 2016. “It felt good as we knew we would soon have our country back from occupation.”

“I was not the only woman who joined the Resistance,“ she added. “I am proud of what we all did as a team. But the proudest moment was probably going to Paris with General Charles de Gaulle. It was a wonderful feeling entering the city but my excitement was limited because it felt very dangerous.”

One of Simone’s first missions was to steal a bicycle from a German soldier which, after a respray, she rode, as her reconnaissance transport. Her MP-40 sub-machine gun was also taken from a German.

When the war was over, she was awarded the prestigious Croix de Guerre and she was promoted to lieutenant. Women made up just 10% of the Resistance, but their presence helped force a shift in the way their gender was treated.

Simone went on to become a paediatric nurse in Chartres, where her wartime exploits made her hugely popular. A street in Courville-sur-Eure was named for her.