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Picture of the Day

divorce by combat

Divorce by Combat

In medieval Germany, husbands and wives could fight in a marital duel in order to legally settle their disputes.

Interestingly, the man had to fight in a hole with one of his arms tied behind his back. The woman was allowed to move freely within the arena but had to wear cloth containing weights. As for her weapon, she was usually given a sack filled with rocks. The man was provided with three clubs. However, if he touched the side of the hole during combat, he had to forfeit one of his clubs.

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Picture of the Day

trench clubs

Maces and Clubs used by Austro-Hungarian Army during WW1, 1914-1918

During the grueling battles of World War I, ground troops relied on an array of weapons such as rifles, grenades, and bayonets while enduring the harsh conditions of the trenches. However, amidst these well-known tools of warfare, there existed a weapon that [Read more…] about Picture of the Day

Picture of the Day

first gym machines

The world’s first gym machines designed by Dr. Gustav Zander, 1892

The use of mechanical means for the application of exercise in therapeutics was first systematized and employed in a complete way by Dr, Gustav Zander, of Stockholm, about 1857. Zander’s vision of regular exertion using machines to honor health and well-being was certainly a novel idea in an age when the rising industrialization and mechanization moved millions of people into a more sedentary life.

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Picture of the Day

migrant mother dorthea lange

Migrant Mother, by Dorothea Lange – A 32-year-old mother of 7 children, Nipomo, California. February 1936.

Dorothea Lange took this photograph in 1936, while employed by the U.S. government’s Farm Security Administration (FSA) program, formed during the Great Depression to raise awareness of and provide aid to impoverished farmers. In Nipomo, California, Lange came across Florence Owens Thompson and her children in a camp filled with field workers whose livelihoods were devastated by the failure of the pea crops.

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Picture of the Day

Average American family, Detroit, Michigan, 1954

In 1956, new homes costing as little as $7,000 could still be found. Though the average new build family home in 1956 was a 3-bedroom rambler (ranch-style house) selling for $14,500. Most people were shopping for homes in the $12,000 to $15,000 sector

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Picture of the Day

richard pierce

Richard Pierce, Western Union Telegraph Co. Messenger No 2. 14 years of age. 9 months in service, works from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Smokes and visits houses of prostitution. Wilmington, Del. Photo by Lewis Hine, 1910.

In 1908 Hine became the photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), leaving his teaching position. Over the next decade, Hine documented child labor, with focus on the use of child labor in the Carolina Piedmont, to aid the NCLC’s lobbying efforts to end the practice. In 1913, he documented child laborers among cotton mill workers with a series of Francis Galton’s composite portraits.

Hine’s work for the NCLC was often dangerous. As a photographer, he was frequently threatened with violence or even death by factory police and foremen. At the time, the immorality of child labor was meant to be hidden from the public. Photography was not only prohibited but also posed a serious threat to the industry. To gain entry to the mills, mines and factories, Hine was forced to assume many guises. At times he was a fire inspector, postcard vendor, bible salesman, or even an industrial photographer making a record of factory machinery.

Picture of the Day

night soil man

A night soil man who used to take away human waste to be used in fertilizer. Dunston, Lincolnshire, England 1872

The bathroom was not always the clean welcoming place it is today. Before the time of sewers, flushing toilets and urinals was a simple hole dug deep into the ground.

People would do their business in them, and because there was no outlet, the holes would fill up.

Enter the “night soil men” or “gong farmers.”

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Picture of the Day

Rosemary Kennedy, sister of John F Kennedy, pictured in 1938. In 1941, aged 23, her father forced her to undergo a lobotomy, due to her mood swings, seizures and intellectual disability. This procedure rendered her permanently incapacitated and unable to speak, and the truth was kept secret for decades.

In her early young adult years, Rosemary Kennedy experienced seizures and violent mood swings. In response to these issues, her father arranged a prefrontal lobotomy for her in 1941 when she was 23 years of age; the procedure left her permanently incapacitated and rendered her unable to speak intelligibly.

Joseph Kennedy decided that Rosemary should have a lobotomy; however, he did not inform his wife of this decision until after the procedure was completed. The procedure took place in November 1941. James W. Watts, who carried out the procedure with Walter Freeman (both of George Washington University School of Medicine), described the procedure to author Ronald Kessler as follows:

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Picture of the Day

Geronimo and Lozen

Geronimo’s final band pictured in front of the train car taking them to prison in Florida. Geronimo is in the front row, third from the right. Immediately to his left is Chief Naiche. In the back row, third from the right is Lozen, the famous woman warrior. This is the only known photograph of her

Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Apache tribe. He was born in 1829 in what is now Arizona, USA, and he became one of the most renowned and fierce Apache warriors in history.

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