Do You Like History?

I do. Not necessarily the “great men and great events” type of history that sometimes appears in textbooks, and not necessarily the lists of battles and treaties and laws. But I love to see places and things from the past. Things that remind me that history is the accumulation of many lives, and many stories, all of them full of hopes and dreams and plans.

For that kind of history, I like to look at old photos. It’s fun to study people’s faces and think about what they are doing or what their lives have in store for them. I like to look at the settings too; the houses and cars, signs in store windows or clothes on people across the street who don’t know they are being photographed.

Old photos are everywhere--your grandmother’s attic, your parents’ photo albums, books at the library, online.

Here are some great places online to find old photos:

The US National Archives
Denver Public LIbrary Western History Archive
Old Pictures

Here are some old photos that belonged to my grandmother. These are friends or relatives of hers, pictures of her teen years. There must be so many stories here. What stories do you think these pictures reveal?



On the back of this picture is written “House Party, Silver Plume, 1931.” Silver Plume is an old mining town in the mountains of Colorado, west of Denver. This crowd thinks their bottles, jugs, and barrels are pretty funny. That’s because alcohol was illegal in 1931, but not to worry, I think they were just clowning around. Then again...




The license plate on the car (by the legs of the girl in front) date this photo to 1929. What do you suppose these high school chums were getting up to? One thing’s for sure, they can’t get many more people ON that car. I wonder how many they can get in it--and where they will go once they do.

1929 was on the eve of the Great Depression. I wonder where all these people were three years later.



This fellow looks like the serious explorer type, on an expedition somewhere in the Rockies. I love that the corner of the picture is cracked--it enhances the rugged feeling of it all.



I LOVE this car! Obviously, so did she, or maybe it was her boyfriend’s car and he wanted both his loves in the same picture. What do you think?



This picture is one of a series from a photo booth, probably taken in the late 1920s. The woman is my grandmother, the man is a high school sweetheart. The expressions on their faces make me want to write dialogue. What do you think the conversation might have been between each click of the camera in that photo booth? Or if they weren’t talking, what were they thinking?

Now if you like to write, try using these photos as writing prompts. Here are some questions that might get you started:

What happened right after this photo was taken?
Right before?
What are the characters thinking or saying as the photo was snapped?
What grand moments were awaiting these people?
What unexpected tragedies?

Pick a scene, or a face, or an object and let your imagination run with it.

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