Amazing Things From The Past (23 pics)

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This letter confirming a soldier was missing in action during WWII is super sad but also interesting to see. Even more interesting? It turns out this man was a prisoner of war. He was released and lived until he was 83.

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Speaking of prisoners of war — this is a self-portrait a North Vietnamese war prisoner drew in 1969. He gave it to an American patrolling a prisoner of war hospital.

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In honor of the Olympics, here is the first Olympic torch. It's from the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where the first Olympic torch relay was held.

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These antique spice jars look a littleeeee weird now.

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These 1878 doodles are actually strangely comforting to me because they show that not much about human nature has changed in the last 146 years.

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These 1925 solar eclipse glasses also make me feel weirdly connected to the people of the past, especially because NYC saw a huge solar eclipse not too long ago.

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Here's a draft notice for the Vietnam War.

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And this is a booklet given to American soldiers during the Vietnam War.

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This person's grandpa kept a record of the places he lived, his salary and job, and the number of girls he dated, and it's a wild snapshot of the 20th century.

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Here's what an honorable discharge from the Civil War looks like.

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And here's what an undesirable discharge looks like from the Vietnam War.

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Here's an identity card from a war prisoner in Normandy during WWII.

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Here's a pocket knife from the Gulf War that warned owners against anthrax, as the US government feared anthrax would be used as a biological weapon against soldiers.

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Here's a flyer from 1851 warning formerly enslaved people about slave catchers.

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Did you know licenses used to be printed on cloth, at least in England? Here's one from Halifax from the 1920s.

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In case anyone thinks vaccine cards are a new thing, here's one from the 1940s.

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