Listen to the Oldest Recording of a Human Voice

Phonautograph, circa 1857

Author Kristina Wright

November 19, 2025

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Whether you grew up with 8-tracks and cassette tapes or digital playlists and podcasts, recorded sound probably feels like an ordinary part of everyday life. Today, it’s possible to capture a voice, replay it instantly, and send it around the world in seconds. But before the mid-19th century, the concept of preserving words after they had been spoken was the stuff of science fiction, because the means to do it hadn’t yet been invented. Indeed, to pinpoint the oldest known recording of a human voice, we have to go back almost 170 years, to a time when sound could be seen, but not yet heard.

Thomas Edison’s Phonograph

For years, Thomas Edison was credited with the first recording of a human voice — and for good reason, even if it isn’t quite true. In 1877, he developed his famous phonograph, a device capable of both recording and replaying sound using tinfoil inside a cylinder to inscribe and then reproduce vibrations. Edison’s goal was to make improvements to Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, and his approach came from his experience with telegraphy and telephony.

Edison’s recording process involved sound waves entering a metal horn and causing a thin diaphragm to vibrate. Attached to the diaphragm was a needle that inscribed those vibrations onto a rotating cylinder covered in tinfoil. To hear the sound again, you simply reversed the process — the needle traced the grooves, the diaphragm vibrated, and the original voice reemerged from the machine.

Because Edison’s device produced immediate, audible results, history long placed him at the start of the sound-recording timeline. Yet as is the case with so many breakthroughs, this famous “first” was not the true beginning. Nearly 20 years earlier, another inventor had quietly laid the groundwork for recording sound.

Recording Sound on Paper

In 1857 — nearly two decades before Edison’s phonograph — Parisian printer and bookseller Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville patented a device he called the phonautograph. Scott de Martinville was a self-taught inventor who was fascinated by how the human ear and voice worked together. In the era of early photography, he wondered: What did sound look like?

The phonautograph was his answer. The machine consisted of a large horn that collected sound, a stretched membrane that vibrated with the air pressure, and a bristle or stylus attached to that membrane. When someone spoke or sang into the horn, the stylus etched those vibrations onto a sheet of paper or glass coated in soot from a lamp flame, preserving the pattern of the sound waves.

Scott de Martinville’s goal wasn’t to reproduce sound, because he had no means to play the recordings back. Instead, he wanted to make sound visible, by creating what he described as a visual record of the voice itself.

He imagined scientists studying the visual signatures of speech, singers analyzing their tones, and future generations reading the voices of the past like musical manuscripts. In his writings, he questioned whether one might “preserve for future generations some features of the diction of those eminent actors… who die without leaving behind the faintest trace of their genius?”

The First Voice Recording

In April 1860, Scott de Martinville used his phonautograph to capture a voice singing the French folk song “Au Clair de la Lune.” The following year, he submitted the resulting soot-covered tracing to the Académie des Sciences in Paris for preservation.

At the time, no one could hear it. The lines were a pattern of vibration, so their meaning was visible but inaudible. It wasn’t until 2008 that the phonautogram could finally be played. A team of audio historians from the First Sounds project and scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used high-resolution optical scanning of the soot-marked paper to convert the waveforms into audible sound. By scanning the lines in high resolution, they were able to translate the visual waveforms into digital audio.

What emerged was the faint but unmistakable sound of a human voice singing “Au Clair de la Lune.” The 20-second audio was marred by distortion and irregular tempo, so researchers at first thought the singer was a woman or a child. But further analysis revealed that it was likely Scott de Martinville himself singing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znKNQXo58pE

Because Scott de Martinville’s phonautograph produced the first known physical record of sound vibrations, which has since been converted into audible sound, it is recognized today as the earliest recording of the human voice ever made. The 2008 breakthrough effectively rewrote the first chapter of sound-recording history.

Scott de Martinville died in 1879, unaware that his sound tracings would one day be heard. Yet through the efforts of modern historians and engineers, his silent tracings finally became what he had imagined — a way to preserve sound for future generations.

Two decades after the phonautograph, another French inventor, Charles Cros, theorized a way to reproduce recorded sound. In April 1877 — months before Edison’s phonograph — he deposited a sealed letter with the Académie des Sciences describing his paleophone, a device that could both record and replay sound. Cros never built his invention, but his idea of capturing and reproducing the human voice became a reality with Edison’s phonograph in 1877.

Iconic Photo Booth Moments From the Last 100 Years

Friends in a photo booth, 1953

Author Timothy Ott

November 19, 2025

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Since the photo booth’s debut 100 years ago, countless miniature images have slid out of these machines to be glued to scrapbooks, pinned on refrigerators, stuffed in drawers, and passed down to children.

Although the technology for automated photographic machines dates back to the 1850s, the first fully functioning, customer-friendly photo booth arrived courtesy of Siberian immigrant Anatol Josepho in 1925. His “Photomaton” was an instant hit from its Times Square studio in New York City, drawing daily crowds of up to 7,500 people who handed over a quarter to receive a strip of eight freshly printed photographs.

Much has changed since the days when a team of attendants was required to guide amazed customers through the photo-taking process and the eight-minute wait for the finished product. Improved versions of the machine eventually delivered their wares far more rapidly, added color, and became a ubiquitous presence in arcades, amusement parks, and transit stations as they waxed and waned in popularity.

But what hasn’t changed is the photo booth’s function as a great social equalizer, which was apparent as soon as New York Governor Al Smith joined the rest of the locals and tourists who lined up to pose for this curious contraption at the height of the Roaring ’20s.

While many of the photo booth’s delicate relics have been lost in the century since its invention, here’s a look at seven survivors that encapsulate the eras in which they were taken.

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Unknown Couple, circa 1930

According to American Photobooth by Näkki Goranin, photo booths popped up across the country in the 1930s, offering a variety of experiences. Some studios provided distinct painted backgrounds, while others supplied props such as cardboard cutouts and hats. This unidentified couple from around 1930 seemingly enjoyed the latter option as they wielded a parasol and an assortment of Victorian headgear to enhance their Depression-era garb and spice up the shoot.

Salvador and Gala Dalí, 1930s

The avant-garde artists known as the surrealists were entranced when the Photomaton arrived in Paris in 1928. Several had pictures taken with their eyes closed, and artist Salvador Dalí was among the lineup featured in this fashion in an issue of La Révolution Surréaliste magazine the following year. Although Dalí was on the outs with the surrealists by the mid-1930s, he commandeered the photo booth for his own amusement and expression, as demonstrated here in a sitdown with his wife and muse, Gala Dalí. The famously eccentric artist was quite taken with the medium of photography, once referring to his paintings as “instantaneous color photography done by hand.”

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World War II Servicemen, circa 1943

Some of the most iconic photos of the 20th century stemmed from World War II, from Joe Rosenthal’s shot of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima to Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photograph of a sailor planting an impromptu kiss on a woman to celebrate V-J Day. Here, we see the more casual side of the war era: three servicemen crammed into a booth circa 1943. The number of photo booths in the United States reached a peak of 30,000 during the war, as enlisted personnel and their loved ones commonly exchanged these little portraits to serve as mementos during periods of separation.

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John and Jacqueline Kennedy, 1953

In 1953, John and Jacqueline Kennedy were not yet the United States president and first lady, but they were still well-known public figures. JFK was a young U.S. senator and scion of a Massachusetts political family, and Jackie was the daughter of wealthy New Yorkers and the “Inquiring Camera Girl” for the Washington Times-Herald. As such, the two relished the chance for a quiet moment together in a photo booth shortly after their high-profile wedding in Newport, Rhode Island, on September 12, 1953. Exactly where and when this photo was snapped is an open question; the newlyweds were said to have spent their honeymoon in Acapulco, Mexico, but they also reportedly stopped in the Southern California locales of Beverly Hills and Santa Barbara, and may have bunkered down at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

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Waylon Jennings and Buddy Holly, 1959

As told in Waylon: An Autobiography, up-and-coming musician Waylon Jennings arrived in New York City in January 1959 to crash at the Greenwich Village apartment of Buddy Holly before the pair headed to the Midwest for the Winter Dance Party tour. Sometime during that week, the two native Texans stopped by a photo booth at Grand Central Terminal, with Holly bumming a cigarette off his good friend for the occasion despite his attempts to quit. Less than a month later, Holly and musicians Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (but not Jennings) were on the ill-fated plane that crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, a tragedy memorialized in Don McLean’s hit song “American Pie” as “the day the music died.”

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Unknown Photographer, 1980s

Who’s photographing whom? By the 1980s, the public had far more options for snapshot keepsakes than they did when the photo booth debuted in 1925. Many professionals and serious hobbyists enjoyed the sharp images produced by one of the 35 mm single-lens reflex cameras on the market, while amateurs could appreciate the gratification provided by the instant Polaroid camera. It was another decade before the big industry sea change came with the arrival of digital photography in the mid-1990s, and with it, photo booth manufacturers largely began abandoning the old analog process and overhauled their technology to prepare for the 21st century.

50 Facts About the 1950s

Elizabeth II’s coronation, 1952

Author Bennett Kleinman

November 19, 2025

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The 1950s were among the most consequential decades in recent memory. The era introduced both revolutionary inventions such as color television and major milestones including the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II and the very first NASA astronauts. These years also saw unprecedented talents revolutionize the worlds of music, sports, and more.

Of course, not every aspect of the ’50s was quite so rosy. In the U.S., Cold War tensions and the threat of nuclear warfare loomed large over Americans, and the ongoing fight for equality and civil rights sought to dismantle the systemic discrimination that plagued society. Let’s take a look back at this pivotal era with 50 facts about the 1950s, covering everything from the end of World War II rations to the debut of Kermit the Frog.

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Around 4 million American babies were born every year.

Post-World War II America saw a rapid increase in birth rates lasting from 1946 through 1964. It became known as the “baby boom,” and the 1950s were smack dab in the middle of it. During the ’50s, around 4 million babies were born every year in America, a sharp increase from the previous average of around 2.7 million births annually between 1910 and 1945.

The term “rock ’n’ roll” was first used on a Cleveland radio station.

Why is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame located in Cleveland? Well, one reason is that a Cleveland DJ named Alan Freed coined the phrase “rock ’n’ roll” — at least publicly — on a 1951 radio broadcast. Freed hosted “The Moondog Rock & Roll House Party,” which popularized the name for the new up-tempo sound.

The Corvette muscle car made its debut.

On January 17, 1953, an iconic car made its debut: the Chevrolet Corvette. In a time when sports cars were designed and manufactured almost exclusively by European companies, this powerful and stylish all-American roadster quickly captured the hearts of car lovers around the country. Its sleek design, powerful engine, and storied history have solidified the Corvette’s reputation as an automotive legend and the coolest car in American pop culture.

Elizabeth II was crowned queen of England.

On February 6, 1952, following the death of her father, King George VI, the 27-year-old Princess Elizabeth was crowned queen of the United Kingdom. In the aftermath of World War II, her accession was depicted as the dawn of a “new Elizabethan age,” and she became a symbol for progress. In 2015, she became both the longest-reigning British monarch and the longest-reigning female monarch in history.

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Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state.

On August 21, 1959, nearly eight months after its predecessor Alaska, Hawaii was admitted into the U.S. as the 50th state. The Hawaii Admission Act was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who concurrently issued an order redesigning the American flag to feature a new 50-star pattern.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring was published.

On July 29, 1954, English author J.R.R. Tolkien revolutionized the literary world with the publication of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment in his Lord of the Rings trilogy. This seminal fantasy series redefined fiction, as Tolkien crafted an expansive world known as Middle-earth, filled with deeply complex characters, detailed maps, and completely original language families such as Elvish.

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School segregation was outlawed by the Supreme Court.

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of desegregating public schools in a landmark case that helped kick-start the civil rights movement, Brown v. Board of Education. The court ruled that “separate but equal” had no place in public education, and that school segregation violated the 14th Amendment.

Disneyland made its grand opening.

On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California, 25 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The 160-acre amusement park was the culmination of Walt Disney’s dream to bring his on-screen world of fun and magic to life. More than 60 million people watched ABC’s live broadcast of the ceremonies, while parkgoers were thrilled to visit the 15 original attractions, including Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

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At the start of the 1950s, gas cost $0.27 per gallon.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the national average for the cost of gasoline remained steady for the first three years of the 1950s at $0.27 per gallon, increasing as the decade pressed on. That low price might sound practically idyllic, but adjusted for inflation, it equates to about $3.52 per gallon in today’s dollars.

There was an onion craze on the stock market.

The humble onion was the subject of a stock market scam in 1955. Onion futures became the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s most traded commodity after two investors launched a get-rich-quick scheme and bought 30 million pounds of onions with a plan to short sell the vegetable. The fiasco led to the Onion Futures Act, which made it illegal to trade the pungent allium on the stock market.

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Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records in Detroit.

With only an $800 loan from his family’s savings, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Tamla Records in Detroit, Michigan, on January 12, 1959. Within a year, it was incorporated with another name: Motown. A portmanteau of “motor town” — a nickname for Detroit — the name was strangely fitting as Motown Records quickly became a hits factory, creating the R&B and soul soundtrack to 1960s America.

Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her bus seat in Alabama.

An act of dissent on December 1, 1955, elevated seamstress Rosa Parks to a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement. When a bus driver ordered the 42-year-old Parks and other Black riders to relinquish their seats to white riders, Parks declined and was arrested. After hearing about her case, Martin Luther King Jr. helped initiate the Montgomery bus boycott.

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Allen Ginsberg read “Howl” for the first time.

A counterculture icon of the 1950s and ’60s, Allen Ginsberg is perhaps best remembered for his confessional-style poem “Howl,” which he read for the first time on October 7, 1955. Nowadays, “Howl” is considered one of the most important works of American literature and stands out as a vivid depiction of life in the Beat Generation through the eyes of one of its most daring artists.

First Lady Mamie Eisenhower popularized the pink bathroom trend.

Mamie Eisenhower, who served as U.S. first lady from 1953 to 1961, was so tickled by the color pink that her favorite shade was nicknamed “Mamie Pink.” It wasn’t just her dresses that were rosy, however, as she adorned so much of the White House residence in the color that reporters called it “the Pink Palace.” That included the bathroom, beginning a trend that can still be seen in midcentury-era homes today.

The FBI debuted its “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list.

On March 14, 1950, the FBI unveiled its first “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list. Bank robber Thomas James Holden topped this inaugural list, leading to his eventual arrest after a Beaverton, Oregon, resident recognized Holden’s photo in the local paper.

Hurricanes were formally given names for the first time.

In an effort to help easily distinguish simultaneous hurricanes and tropical storms, the U.S. Weather Bureau adopted a naming convention on September 9, 1950. The first storm to be given an alias was Tropical Storm Fox, since “F” is the sixth letter in the alphabet and it was the sixth storm that season.

CBS broadcast the first color television program.

In June 1951, CBS broadcast the first-ever color television program — a special event titled “Premiere,” which featured a presentation of vibrant oil paintings, a ballet performance of Ravel’s “La Valse,” and puppeteer Bil Baird’s colorful marionettes. However, commercial production of color sets didn’t begin until September that year, so this initial broadcast was available only to prototype TV models.

President Harry S. Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur.

During the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur — a top commander during World War II — and President Harry S. Truman disagreed about how to handle the conflict. After MacArthur publicly challenged the president’s policy of limited war in Korea, Truman fired the general on April 11, 1951.

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The United Nations headquarters opened in New York City.

The United Nations opened its New York City headquarters on January 9, 1951, providing the global peacekeeping organization with a permanent headquarters six years after it was founded. Construction on the 39-story building began in 1949, and work continued into the following year.

Big Mama Thornton recorded “Hound Dog” — four years before Elvis Presley.

Four years before Elvis recorded his famous rendition of “Hound Dog,” the song was performed for the first time by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton in 1952. Her version of the song topped the Billboard R&B chart for seven weeks in 1953, selling nearly 2 million copies.

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The Academy Awards were broadcast on television for the first time.

The first 24 Oscar ceremonies were untelevised, but that changed on March 19, 1953, when the 25th Academy Awards were broadcast live on NBC television and radio. That year, The Greatest Show on Earth took home the Oscar for Best Motion Picture.

Watson and Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA.

Scientists James Watson and Francis Crick spent the early 1950s researching the structure of DNA, publishing their double helix theory in Nature on April 25, 1953. This discovery provided the scientific community with valuable insight into how genetic information is stored and replicated, leading to major breakthroughs in biogenetics. Their breakthrough was made possible by the work of English chemist Rosalind Franklin, whose X-ray photos of DNA provided crucial evidence of its helical structure.

Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary became the first people to summit Everest.

On May 29, 1953, Nepalese mountaineer Tenzing Norgay and New Zealand explorer Edmund Hillary became the first people to summit Mount Everest, Earth’s highest peak. It was later revealed in Norgay’s 1955 autobiography that Hillary technically took the first steps onto the summit.

Britain ended World War II-era food rationing after 14 years.

Britain’s wartime food rationing began on January 8, 1940, four months after the start of World War II. Despite the war ending in 1945, food rationing continued in Britain for nearly a decade, until July 4, 1954, when the final restrictions were lifted on purchasing meat and bacon. This extension helped the U.K. restore its economy, which was devastated in the wake of the conflict.

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Ellis Island closed its doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants.

On January 1, 1892, an Irish teenager named Annie Moore became the first U.S. immigrant to arrive at Ellis Island in New York City. The facility processed more than 12 million immigrants arriving at New York Harbor before finally closing its doors in November 1954.

The world’s first nuclear-powered submarine entered U.S. naval service.

The first nuclear-powered submarine in history was launched from Groton, Connecticut, in January 1954. The sub, called the U.S.S. Nautilus, later entered official naval service on September 30.

Kermit the Frog debuted on local television.

Long before he became a globally recognized character, Kermit the Frog made his debut on local television in Washington, D.C., in 1955. He appeared on creator Jim Henson’s Sam and Friends TV show, predating his appearances on Sesame Street by 14 years.

Sony began selling the first pocket-sized transistor radio.

Personal radios were once bulky devices, with early “portable” models weighing as much as 60 pounds. That all changed in 1955, when Sony began selling the TR-55 in Japan, which weighed a little more than 2 pounds and measured just 5.5 inches long. The pocket-sized device paved the way for the many smaller and more portable music players to come.

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Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s franchise.

Ray Kroc became president of McDonald’s in 1955, and soon took the fast-food chain to new, unprecedented heights. On April 15, 1955, Kroc opened his first McDonald’s franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois, six years before acquiring the entire company in 1961. By the time of his death in 1984, McDonald’s was the largest fast-food chain in the world.

The first modern indoor shopping mall opened its doors.

The Southdale Center is considered the first modern indoor shopping mall in the U.S. It revolutionized the way people shopped — instead of a stand-alone department store, the 80,000-square-foot complex featured a large central atrium with two floors of shops, massive department stores anchoring the complex at both ends, and thousands of surrounding parking spots. It opened in 1956 in the small Minneapolis suburb of Edina.

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An undefeated Rocky Marciano retired from boxing with a record of 49-0.

Rocky Marciano was the world heavyweight boxing champion from September 23, 1952, until his retirement on April 27, 1956. During his prolific career, Marciano racked up a perfect 49-0 record with 43 knockouts.

“In God We Trust” became the United States’ official motto.

On July 30, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed law P.L. 84-140, establishing “In God We Trust” as America’s official motto. The law also mandated that the phrase be printed on all paper U.S. currency.

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West Side Story opened on Broadway.

The original Broadway production of West Side Story opened on September 26, 1957, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. This initial run won two Tonys and featured 732 performances before closing on June 27, 1959.

Dalip Singh Saund was sworn in as the first Asian American in Congress.

Dalip Singh Saund was sworn into office on January 3, 1957, representing California’s 29th District. He was the first Asian American and first Indian American, as well as the first Sikh, to be elected to the United States Congress.

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Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first U.S. president to ride in a helicopter.

On July 12, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower took to the skies inside a Bell H-13J helicopter. The flight was meant to simulate the president’s evacuation during a nuclear event, and it also made Ike the first-ever POTUS to ride in a chopper.

Prince, Madonna, and Michael Jackson were born less than three months apart.

Three of the most prolific pop musicians of all time were born in 1958 over a three-month period. Prince was born on June 7, Madonna on August 16, and Michael Jackson on August 29 that year.

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The Hula Hoop debuted and sold 25 million units in just two months.

When Hula Hoops hit the market in 1958, they were an immediate sensation. The toy sold 25 million units over the first two months, and first-year sales reached $45 million (more than $500 million today).

The first Gold Record was awarded to Perry Como for “Catch a Falling Star.”

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded its first-ever Gold Record — marking 500,000 units sold — on March 14, 1958, to Perry Como for the tune “Catch a Falling Star.” In July that year, the cast album for Oklahoma!, starring Gordon Macrae, became the first Gold Album awarded by the RIAA.

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The Dalai Lama began his exile.

After meeting with the Nechung Oracle (the Dalai Lama’s personal spiritual adviser) on March 17, 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was advised to flee Tibet — which had been annexed by China in 1950 — and seek asylum. He escaped from the city of Lhasa in the middle of the night, and was granted asylum by the Indian government.

Nikita Khrushchev was barred from visiting Disneyland.

During a two-week tour of the United States in 1959, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev was barred from visiting California’s Disneyland. Authorities claimed they couldn’t guarantee the Soviet leader’s safety there, and so he wouldn’t be permitted to enter the park.

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NASA introduced its first seven astronauts.

On April 2, 1959, NASA unveiled its very first astronauts — a group called the Mercury Seven. This septet included future U.S. Senator John Glenn as well as Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space two years later.

The PGA allowed Black golfers to compete for the first time.

On January 19, 1952, the Professional Golfers Association voted to allow Black golfers to compete in professional events. The color barrier was finally broken at that year’s Phoenix Open, with pro golfers Joe Louis, Bill Spiller, Ted Rhodes, and Eural Clark participating.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of the Alan Freed Archives

The first recognized rock concert was held in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Moondog Coronation Ball took place on March 21, 1952, at the Cleveland Arena in Ohio. Nowadays, it’s considered the first rock ’n’ roll concert in history, though it was shut down by police less than an hour into the event due to the overflow crowd breaking through the gates.

Charles M. Schulz published the Peanuts comic strip.

Over the course of five decades, artist Charles M. Schulz drew 17,897 Peanuts comic strips — good grief! The debut installment was published on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers, including The Washington Post and Schulz’s hometown Minneapolis Tribune.

Millions of Americans watched Lucille Ball give birth on I Love Lucy.

Lucy Ricardo, one of the most beloved television characters of all time, became a mother on January 19, 1953, during season 2 of I Love Lucy. An estimated 17 million U.S. households had television sets at the time, and 72% of them were tuned to show the Ricardo family welcoming a new baby in the classic episode “Lucy Goes to the Hospital.”

The Chinchaga Firestorm caused the sun and moon to appear blue.

In 1950, a firestorm engulfed 3.5 million acres of Canadian forest — the biggest recorded fire in North American history. Thick smoke spread across more than half of the northern hemisphere, resulting in the sun and moon looking blue in parts of the U.S. and Europe.

The Guggenheim Museum opened in New York City.

On October 21, 1959, one of the most acclaimed art institutions in the world opened its doors to the public. An architectural marvel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Guggenheim invites art lovers to peruse the world-class collection while walking a six-story spiral ramp.

Barbie was introduced by Mattel.

Sporting a black-and-white swimsuit, high-heeled sandals, hoop earrings, and sunglasses, the first Barbie was unveiled on March 9, 1959, at the American Toy Fair in New York. Mattel sold 300,000 Barbies in the toy’s first year. The dolls became a global phenomenon, despite criticisms about their unrealistic physical proportions.

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Only 29% of women participated in the workforce in 1950.

In alignment with the nuclear family mindset, most ’50s households consisted of a married couple, and typically only one spouse worked (generally the man). In 1950, only 29% of working-age women living in the U.S. held a job. By 1960, the number of working women rose from 16.5 million to nearly 22.5 million, a 35% increase.

Yankee Don Larsen pitched the only World Series perfect game.

Major League Baseball pitcher Don Larsen accomplished an unmatched athletic feat on October 8, 1956: pitching a perfect game in the World Series. The Yankees won the championship in seven games, and Larsen was named World Series MVP.

What Ancient Egyptians Ate for Breakfast

Domestic life in ancient Egypt

Author Tony Dunnell

November 13, 2025

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Ancient Egypt was an industrious civilization, with extensive trade networks, a highly productive agricultural economy, and ambitious construction projects that ranged from ship building to monumental architecture. It existed for more than 3,000 years, expanding from a scattering of hunter-gatherer settlements to become one of the greatest empires in the world, famed for its hieroglyphic writing, advanced mummification, and, of course, the pyramids.

In order to fuel such industry, one thing was highly important: a solid breakfast. Luckily for the Egyptians, the fertile Nile River Valley provided abundant crops, helping transform Egypt into one of the most powerful agrarian civilizations of the ancient world. Annual flooding of the Nile created fields so fertile that in a good season, Egypt produced enough food to feed every person in the country with ease and still have a surplus.

So, there was little excuse for a laborer to skip breakfast, or for a pharaoh’s first meal of the day to be anything short of satisfactory. Here’s a look at what ancient Egyptians consumed in the morning before a long day in the Land of Ra.

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Bread

Bread was a fundamental staple of the ancient Egyptian diet. According to William Rubel in Bread: A Global History, more bread-related artifacts have been found from ancient Egypt than from any other period. The Egyptians made their bread from emmer wheat, one of the first crops domesticated in the region. Emmer is a hulled wheat, making it more difficult to turn into flour than other varieties. It was ground on flat stones called querns and then baked in ovens.

Despite the popularity of bread in ancient Egypt, archaeologists have discovered one notable drawback. During the bread-making process, airborne sand often got into the mix, resulting in widespread dental problems caused by the abrasive nature of sand and grit in this common breakfast food.

Beer

Bread for breakfast seems totally normal to our modern sensibilities — but beer for breakfast? Not so much. In ancient Egypt, though, beer was a primary source of nutrition, consumed daily by the working classes. (The upper class typically favored wine.) Unlike modern brews, the beer of ancient Egypt was often opaque, thick, and more like a soup or gruel.

Made from barley or emmer wheat, the beer was typically quite low in alcohol content, around 3% to 4% — but still enough to start the day with a spring in one’s step. (Beer prepared for religious festivals and celebrations was normally of better quality and had a higher alcohol content.) The beverage was also sometimes issued as payment, and laborers — including those who built the pyramids of Giza — were provided with a daily ration of about 10 pints.

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Green Onions

What goes well with bread and beer for breakfast? Green onions, of course. In ancient Egypt, a simple breakfast of bread, beer, and green onions was fairly typical, providing enough energy for a laborer to get through much of the day. Green onions, also called scallions, were among the most common vegetables in ancient Egypt, and were valued for more than just their flavor and nutritional value. The Egyptians believed that onions warded off evil spirits, protected against the evil eye, and also cured most ailments, making them a fine way to start the day.

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Garlic

As they did with green onions, the ancient Egyptians regarded garlic as having culinary, medicinal, and protective qualities. Garlic formed part of the daily diet of many Egyptians, and was considered a key food for maintaining and increasing strength. Because of this, it was given to workers involved in heavy labor, including those who built the pyramids. It’s uncertain whether the Egyptian elites consumed garlic with such frequency, but historians do know that it was used in rituals. Well-preserved garlic cloves were also discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

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Dates

Egypt is the world’s top producer of dates today, yielding around 1.7 million tons annually. And dates were just as popular back in ancient times. They could be eaten fresh or dried for preservation, and the fruit’s high sugar content made it an ideal sweetener. Dates were sometimes baked into bread, and may occasionally have been added as a flavoring agent in beer — providing some necessary sweetness to counteract the green onions and garlic. When dates weren’t available, figs could serve a similar role in any ancient Egyptian breakfast.

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Honey

While most ancient Egyptians used dates and figs as sweeteners, those who could afford it used honey. Ancient beekeepers collected honey by making cylindrical hives out of mud and clay, which they kept on rafts to allow for seasonal movement along the river. Wealthier Egyptians could afford this superior sweetener, which they would eat for breakfast with their bread, or use to sweeten beer and cakes. Honey nut cakes, made with tiger nuts (a type of tuber), were particularly popular among the aristocracy.

The ancient Egyptians also valued honey for its medicinal qualities, using it to treat wounds and soothe coughs. And, when mixed with garlic and the âfai plant, honey was considered highly effective at keeping ghosts at bay, making it the perfect breakfast ingredient for anyone looking for a little extra protection for the day.

What Did People Do Before Shampoo?

Washing lice out of hair, 1497

Author Nicole Villeneuve

November 13, 2025

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Shampoo as we know it today is less than a century old, but the act of hair-washing stretches back thousands of years. So what did people do before sudsing up in the shower?

A clue can be taken from the word “shampoo” itself. It comes from the Hindi champo, meaning “to massage, press, or knead” — indicative of some of the early hair-cleansing practices, even if it was just with plain old water. Only later did the term come to describe what we now think of as washing our hair. Here’s a look at how people kept their locks shiny before modern shampoo.

Credit: The History Collection/ Alamy Stock Photo

Ancient Cleansers

Around 4,000 years ago in the Indus Valley (modern-day Pakistan and northwest India), washes formulated specifically for hair began to emerge. Soapberries — fruit from the sapindus tree — were boiled with dried Indian gooseberries, also known as amla, to make a gentle cleansing solution. The soapberries produced a lather, while the amla’s fatty acids and vitamin C helped nourish tresses. Centuries later, the Yao people in southern China had a similar tradition, washing their famously long hair with rice water, a custom that continues today.

Rudimentary soaps made from animal fats and plant ashes were common in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, although it’s unclear if these harsh concoctions were used for personal hygiene or for other cleaning such as laundry. Indeed, Romans typically maintained their hair simply by combing it and applying oils. Hair-washing wasn’t a regular habit, but rather a ritual one: Plutarch described women washing their hair before accessorizing it with flowers for the festival of Nemoralia in honor of the Roman goddess Diana.

In Egypt, soapwort plants were used to wash hair. These plants contain natural compounds known as saponins that create a mild lather when crushed. Animal fats were added for conditioning, citrus juices helped clean, and fragrant oils made it all smell good. Across the Atlantic, many Indigenous peoples in North America also used plants with saponins, such as yucca. The roots were peeled and ground into a sudsy pulp, then mixed with water to wash both hair and skin.

Medieval Hair Care

Contrary to the perception that personal hygiene was lacking in the Middle Ages, people didn’t actually ignore their hair. Most medieval Europeans simply rinsed with water, while well-off households often made their hair cleansers out of ashes, egg whites, and herbs or flowers for fragrance. Combs were important for more than keeping up appearances: In a time of minimal hair-washing, they were trusty tools for removing dirt buildup and lice.

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Colonial Soaps

As Europeans arrived in the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries, they brought their hygiene habits with them. Combs helped keep hair relatively clean and critter-free, but hair-washing was infrequent. When hair was washed, it was typically with water or homemade soap. Soap mixtures hadn’t strayed much from ancient formulations — animal fat and ashes — but by this time the soaps were boiled and set into cleansing bars. Enslaved people in early America adapted to the limited resources they had, using cornmeal and oils to clean the hair and scalp.

Throughout the 1800s, hair-washing practices evolved. In 1814, Indian-born entrepreneur Sake Dean Mahomed opened a spa in Brighton, England, offering Eastern-inspired treatments such as oil-based head massages. The popular service eventually became known as “shampoo,” an English take on the Hindi word champo. Mahomed’s treatments became beloved by clientele such as King George IV and King William IV, and he is often credited with introducing the idea of hair-washing as a dedicated ritual to the U.K.

Soapmaking continued to improve, and by the late 1800s, the brands Cuticura and Ivory were being sold not only for washing the body but also as shampoos for the hair. The turn of the 20th century saw a major leap in hair care when German chemist Hans Schwarzkopf invented a dissolvible powder shampoo in 1903. It didn’t take off in the U.S. right away; in 1908, an instructional article titled “How To Shampoo the Hair” ran in The New York Times.

Shampooing began to find popularity in America in 1909 with the launch of Canthrox shampoo, a powder that was dissolved in water, but it wasn’t until the 1920s that regular hair-washing became commonplace with the advent of liquid shampoos.

The Oldest Food Brands in Your Pantry

Food pantry items

Author Kristina Wright

November 13, 2025

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Take a look around your kitchen and chances are you’ll spot a few brand names you’ve known your whole life. From Keebler cookies to Campbell’s soup, certain monikers feel like part of the family.

Food branding — the use of a distinctive name or mark to identify a product — emerged in the late 19th century as industrialization made large-scale food production and packaging possible. Before then, most foods were sold in bulk, with no consistent labeling. Branding introduced the idea of reliability and reputation, allowing consumers to recognize and trust particular producers.

A few food and drink companies, however, had already established identities long before branding became widespread. Some of these brand names predate the industrial era itself and have remained in continuous use for centuries. How many do you have in your pantry?

Twinings Tea (1706)

In 1706, English merchant Thomas Twining opened Tom’s Coffee House in London and began offering fine-quality tea alongside the typical coffee and hot chocolate, in the hopes of standing out from the competition. Social convention prohibited women from visiting coffeehouses, so Twining expanded his business in 1717 to include a coffee and tea shop where women could buy their tea directly.

The Twinings Tea logo, created in 1787, is recognized as the oldest continuously used unaltered corporate logo in the world, and the company has operated from the same address — 216 Strand in London — since its founding. It was acquired by Associated British Foods in 1964, though members of the Twining family are still involved in its operations.

Baker’s Chocolate (1764)

Perhaps surprisingly, the baking chocolate in our favorite homemade desserts owes its name to its founder, not its use. Baker’s Chocolate began in 1764 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, when Irish immigrant John Hannon, a chocolate maker, and physician James Baker established a small mill on the Neponset River to grind cacao beans into drinking chocolate. When Hannon disappeared on a cocoa-buying voyage in 1779, Baker assumed full control and began marketing the product under his name.

In 1823, the company was formally incorporated as Walter Baker & Company, named for Baker’s grandson Walter. At the time, chocolate was consumed primarily as a beverage — Baker’s didn’t start manufacturing sweetened chocolate bars until 1849. The company went through multiple ownership changes during the 19th and 20th centuries but continued producing chocolate under the Baker’s name, which remains in use today as part of the Kraft Heinz Company.

Credit: Calamy stock images/ Alamy Stock Photo

King Arthur Baking Company (1790)

The company now known as King Arthur Baking traces its origins to 1790, when Boston merchant Henry Wood founded Henry Wood & Company to import and distribute flour. In 1896, the company — by then operating as Sands, Taylor & Wood — introduced its own flour brand under the name King Arthur Flour at the Boston Food Fair.

The company relocated to Norwich, Vermont, in the late 20th century and officially adopted the name King Arthur Flour Co. Employee-owned since 2004, the company updated its name to King Arthur Baking Company in 2020, maintaining continuity of its 19th-century brand name while reflecting its broader range of baking products.

Credit: Kristoffer Tripplaar/ Alamy Stock Photo

Keebler (1853)

Keebler began in 1853 when German immigrant Godfrey Keebler opened a small bakery in Philadelphia. From there, he took on business partners and eventually incorporated under the name Keebler-Weyl Baking Company. In 1927, the business became part of the United Biscuit Company of America, which went on to adopt the Keebler brand name for all of its products in 1966. But it wasn’t until 1969 that the first Keebler elf — dubbed J.J. Keebler — was introduced in a television commercial. In 1936, Keebler-Weyl became the first commercial baker of Girl Scout Cookies; today, a division of Keebler, Little Brownie Bakers, continues the tradition.

Credit: Justin Sullivan via Getty Images News

Campbell’s (1869)

The company now synonymous with tomato soup began in 1869 in Camden, New Jersey, as a partnership between Joseph A. Campbell, a fruit and vegetable merchant, and Abraham Anderson, a commercial canner and packer. The business was initially called Anderson & Campbell and produced canned tomatoes, vegetables, and jellies. In 1895, the company introduced its first jar of ready-to-eat beefsteak tomato soup. Two years later, in 1897, chemist John T. Dorrance developed the firm’s condensed soup process, allowing it to be packaged in cans, and the following year the company introduced its iconic red-and-white soup can label. In 1922, the name changed to The Campbell Soup Company, and in 2024 it became The Campbell’s Company.

Pillsbury (1869)

At the recommendation of his uncle, Charles A. Pillsbury invested in a struggling Minneapolis flour mill in 1869. The business thrived under his management and he expanded operations along the Mississippi River, renaming the company Charles A. Pillsbury and Co. In 1889, the company was purchased by an English financial syndicate and merged with other holdings to become the Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company, Ltd. The Pillsbury family eventually regained ownership in the 1920s and incorporated the business as the Pillsbury Flour Mills Company in 1935. Ownership changed hands in subsequent decades and the historic company was acquired by General Mills in 2001.

Credit: Darryl Brooks/ Alamy Stock Photo

Quaker Oats (1877)

The Quaker Oats story began in 1877, when Henry Seymour and William Heston founded the Quaker Mill Company in Ravenna, Ohio, and trademarked the Quaker Oats name and image of a Quaker man to distinguish their oats from competitors. The struggling mill was bought a few years later, in 1881, by entrepreneur Henry Parsons Crowell, who turned the brand into a national name with the first magazine ad campaign for a breakfast cereal.

In 1888, the Quaker Mill Company joined six other oat producers to form the American Cereal Company, which pioneered modern packaging and marketing. By 1891, Quaker was printing recipes — such as Oatmeal Bread — right on its boxes, another industry first. The company officially became The Quaker Oats Company in 1901, and a century later, after a 2001 acquisition by PepsiCo, the name evolved to Quaker Foods and Beverages.

Why Are U.S. Dollars Green?

$5 Federal Reserve Note, 1914

Author Timothy Ott

November 13, 2025

Love it?48

U.S. currency is strongly associated with the green color that blankets these bills — so much so that “green” is understood to be a synonym for “money.” But while this link is deeply ingrained in the public psyche, that certainly wasn’t the case for anyone around before the U.S. government pushed out the first wave of green notes during the Civil War.

At the time, there was no standard suggesting that money needed to be green, as evidenced by the plethora of colors found on currency around the world. So how exactly did American bills wind up coated in this particular hue?

Credit: Ivy Close Images/ Alamy Stock Photo

Early Currency Was Easily Counterfeited

There was paper currency in circulation when the United States took its first baby steps into nationhood, although it wasn’t green. From 1775 to 1779, the Continental Congress issued more than $2 million in paper bills to fund the Revolutionary War. These “Continentals,” which joined the foreign coins and various paper banknotes already in circulation, were tan-colored and made from a distinct cloth mixture that was intended to offset attempts at counterfeiting.

Nevertheless, the British successfully introduced a stream of counterfeit bills into the colonies to devalue the American currency exacerbating the inflation problems caused by overprinting paper money that wasn’t backed by commodities such as gold or silver. By the end of the war, Continentals were all but worthless.

Mindful of the lessons learned from previous efforts to distribute money, Congress passed the Coinage Act in 1792, which established the U.S. Mint and specific denominations of copper, silver, and gold coins — but no paper currency.

The First Green Ink Designed for Currency

By the 1850s, a variety of bank-issued paper notes were again a prominent part of the American economy. By this period, the U.S. population was larger and more extensive, and the U.S. dollar was established enough for paper notes issued by private banks to gain trust in local communities.

That meant counterfeiting reemerged as a major issue, particularly as developments in photography made it easier to duplicate the images on bills. Even multicolored notes presented little obstacle to the determined counterfeiter, who would scratch off the colored areas, replicate the bills with black-and-white photography, and add in color afterward.

Printers tried creating inks that couldn’t easily be removed by physical or chemical means, which led to the first green ink for paper currency. In 1857, Professor Thomas Sterry Hunt at Laval University in Québec found that by super-heating chromium in a near-oxygen-free environment, the decomposed substance could be mixed with linseed oil to produce a green ink that stubbornly resisted efforts at removal.

Though a patent was filed, additional experiments demonstrated that the green ink could in fact be removed from a note — boiling it in sulphuric acid was one means — so Hunt’s ink was never used on Canadian currency. However, it was deemed sufficient enough by New York printing and engraving executive Tracy R. Edson, who acquired the patent for a firm that became known as the American Bank Note Company.

Civil War-Era Bills Were Known as “Greenbacks”

In 1861, the United States found itself in a similar situation to the one the Continental Congress faced in 1775: War had broken out, and funds were badly needed to pay for troops and supplies.

That summer, the government contracted with the American Bank Note Company to start printing denominations of “Demand Notes,” so-named because they were redeemable “on demand” for gold coins at Treasury facilities. The following year, the government introduced a new series of “United States Notes,” also primarily produced by the American Bank Note Company, which were established as legal currency without the backing of gold.

Both the Demand Notes and the United States Notes featured reverse sides printed in the American Bank Note Company-patented green ink, inspiring the nickname “greenbacks.” Although the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) today states that “no definite explanation can be made” for why this color was chosen, it’s generally believed that the green ink was considered to be longer-lasting and more effective at preventing counterfeiting than other available inks.

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The U.S. Treasury Stuck With Green Ink

Green-tinted money endured as the U.S. banking system was streamlined over the following years, remaining the status quo even as the BEP pushed out private printers to take over the process in 1877, and as the brand-new Federal Reserve System unveiled the first series of Federal Reserve Notes in 1914.

There was an opportunity for a color change in the late 1920s when the Treasury redesigned U.S. currency to shrink bills to save money on production costs. But the government stuck with green ink for the rollout of the now-standard small-size bills in 1929. According to the BEP, the “pigment of that color was readily available in large quantities, the color was relatively high in its resistance to chemical and physical changes, and green was psychologically identified with the strong and stable credit of the government.”

In other words, the green ink retained its original power of thwarting most attempts at counterfeiting (despite what the Canadians felt about it), while having imprinted itself in the psyche of Americans, who began to strongly associate the color with power and comfort.

Today, astute observers will notice that newer series of printed U.S. bills feature subtle additions of color, such as the peach shading on the $20 bill, the purple and gray on the $5 bill, and the orange, yellow, and red on the $10 bill. Yet the predominant green remains an instantly recognizable feature, once part of the effort to deter forgery and now a symbol of the dollar’s lasting success.

What the $1 Bill Used To Look Like

Closeup of $1 dollar bill

Author Timothy Ott

November 11, 2025

Love it?50

As the United States entered the turbulent era of the Civil War, the government set aside long-standing concerns about nonmetallic currency and began issuing a series of paper banknotes in 1861. These “Demand Notes” were printed in denominations of $5, $10, and $20 — but not the lone dollar.

The $1 bill finally arrived the following year with the next generation of paper currency, known as United States Notes (or Legal Tender Notes), and the bill has since made up for its delayed arrival by becoming the most common denomination in circulation today.

Of course, that 1862 $1 note — or any dollar bill printed before the mid-20th century — would likely draw a double take from modern eyes, as paper currency has undergone numerous aesthetic changes since the days of the Civil War. Here’s a look at some of the notable designs to grace the sides of the humble dollar over the years.

Credit: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History

1862 United States Note

Like most paper currency of this period, the first $1 bill incorporated a mishmash of fonts and shapes across a crowded obverse (front), while the back featured a green ink-rendered display of lathework surrounding an inscription of the government’s legal obligation to the note holder. But the most notable highlight may well have been the picture of the serious-looking fellow who is decidedly not George Washington, nor any other easily recognizable statesman, for that matter. The denomination’s first portrait instead went to Salmon P. Chase, who served as secretary of the Treasury and chief justice of the Supreme Court.

1869 United States Note

The 1869 $1 note was a little closer to the contemporary design: George Washington made his first appearance, albeit with a sunnier disposition than the portrait that surfaced later. The central position of his portrait, the font printed beneath him, and the serial numbers located on the lower left and upper right of the bill set the standard for designs to come. Obvious differences include the vignette of Christopher Columbus on the upper left of the obverse, and a lathework-heavy reverse with the legal obligation wording pushed off-center. Additionally, this eye-catching bill featured various blue, green, and red tints, inspiring its "Rainbow Note" nickname.

Photo credit: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History

1886 Silver Certificate

The U.S. Treasury began issuing silver-backed paper certificates in denominations of $10 to $1,000 in 1878, before the first $1 silver certificate appeared in 1886. With it came the face of Martha Washington, the first woman to appear as the primary portrait on U.S. paper currency (though Pocahontas appeared on an earlier $20 bill as part of a larger scene). The choice of the first U.S. first lady for the note was generally lauded, even if her picture drew mixed reviews, and Mrs. Washington's visage made a return appearance for the 1891 $1 silver certificate.

Credit: Art Collection 3/ Alamy Stock Photo

1896 Silver Certificate

Admired for their elaborate neoclassic designs, 1896 silver certificates are known as the "Educational Series" for scenes that illustrate the best of American industry. The obverse of the $1 certificate showcased the "History Instructing Youth" engraving of a half-reclining woman, one arm around a boy and the other pointing toward Washington, D.C., and an open book. The reverse featured portraits of the first couple, George and Martha Washington. While these bills made a strong visual impression, the copious amount of black ink used to print the front sides caused smudging problems, and bankers complained about an inability to rapidly distinguish between the different denominations, forcing the Treasury to quickly scuttle the series.

1899 Silver Certificate

Designed with the intent of appearing "so distinctive there will be no difficulty in confusing them," according to the Treasury, the 1899 silver certificate avoided the complications that plagued the preceding Educational Series, and its $1 notes endured until being replaced in 1923. While the reverse of this denomination reflected a minimalist aesthetic with its central starlike shape surrounded by an expanse of white space, the obverse featured an eye-catching eagle gripping an American flag, prompting it to be known as the "Black Eagle Note." Additionally, the front included smaller portraits of both Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, marking a rare occasion that multiple presidents appeared on the same note.

1928 Silver Certificate

The 1928 $1 silver certificate was among the first of the small-size bills that circulated as part of efforts to save money on production costs. By this point, the layout of the obverse looked largely similar to that of the modern dollar bill, with the blue Treasury seal to the left of Washington's portrait among the noticeable discrepancies. But the biggest differences can clearly be found on the reverse, where an unusual-looking light green border and large printed "ONE" prompted the note’s "Funnyback" nickname. The Funnyback layout remained in place for the following series of $1 silver certificates, before President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Cabinet member Henry Wallace teamed up to commission a reverse modeled on the Great Seal of the United States for the 1935 releases.

Credit: Art Directors & TRIP/ Alamy Stock Photo

1963 Federal Reserve Note

While the first Federal Reserve Notes were issued in 1914, it wasn't until 1963 that the $1 denomination appeared among these notes, which now make up the bulk of the paper money in circulation. This version is the dollar as we know it. The bill features an obverse with Washington's stone-faced portrait flanked by the Federal Reserve District seal to the left and Treasury seal on the right, and a reverse marked by the two sides of the Great Seal and the motto "In God We Trust," which was added to paper currency in 1957. While the other major denominations have undergone design changes in recent years, with colors and watermarks added to help deter forgeries, the $1 has remained unchanged since 1963. The bill's low value makes it less likely to be counterfeited and a recurring congressional provision precludes its redesign, ensuring the familiar $1 bill will endure for generations.

6 of the Oldest Selfies

Self-portrait, early 20th century

Author Tony Dunnell

November 4, 2025

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In 2023, Paris Hilton made the bold claim of having conceived of the selfie. In posts on Instagram and X, she shared photos from 2006 of her posing alongside Britney Spears, claiming, “17 years ago, I invented the selfie.” While it’s unclear whether she was joking or not, what we do know for certain is that the selfie was not invented by Paris Hilton in 2006. In fact, there’s a strong case to be made that the first selfie was taken almost 150 years before Hilton was even born. And the word “selfie” itself was in known use by 2002, and likely even before that.

Here, we take a look at some of the earliest photographs that could be considered selfies, from old daguerreotype self-portraits to Kodak snaps from the turn of the 20th century.

Credit: World History Archive/ Alamy Stock Photo

Robert Cornelius

In 1839, Robert Cornelius stood in front of a makeshift camera in the yard of his family’s gas lighting business in Philadelphia. He took a photo, then stood motionless for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the daguerreotype process sufficient exposure time. The resulting self-portrait — taken using a camera with an opera glass for a lens — shows a ruggedly handsome man with a fashionably upturned collar. It was a great technical achievement, coming just a little more than a decade after French inventor Nicéphore Niépce took “View From the Window at Le Gras,” the world’s oldest surviving photograph. Cornelius’ photo is generally considered the earliest surviving photographic portrait in the world — and, therefore, the first-ever selfie.

Unidentified Edwardian Woman

One of the most potent weapons in the arsenal of the modern photo-poser is the mirror selfie. But using a mirror to take a photo of yourself is nothing new; it’s been done for well over a century. One of the most famous early selfies was taken by an unnamed Edwardian woman using a Kodak Brownie, a type of box camera first released in 1900. The photo shows the woman standing with her camera in front of a tall mirror. The mystery surrounding her identity only adds to the photo’s appeal. We are left to wonder who she is, and whether it was her who took the photos we can see on shelves to the right of the mirror.

Harold Cazneaux

Harold Cazneaux was a pioneer of photography in Australia, capturing diverse subjects in a huge collection of images spanning the first half of the 20th century. His photos include sweeping landscapes, urban scenes, and intimate portraits, as well as self-portraits. Cazneaux could be considered something of an early adopter when it comes to selfies; his earliest self-portrait was taken in 1904 at the age of 26, and many more followed, including the selfie above, taken in 1937. These weren’t the off-the-cuff selfies we’re accustomed to today — Cazneaux’s compositions were always well considered. “The photographer,” he once wrote, “must be in accordance with all nature’s moods; he must feel the very spirit of the scene if he is to be successful.”

Joseph Byron

If you’re reading this thinking, “Well, these examples aren’t really selfies,” then consider Joseph Byron. Byron specialized in photographing Broadway shows and other stage productions, while also documenting life in New York City. In 1909, he took some self-portraits while standing on the roof of a building on Fifth Avenue — images that very much conform to the modern notion of a selfie, with the camera held in outstretched arms. He also took a group selfie in a similar manner, featuring a handful of his dapper colleagues sporting a fine selection of old-school hats and mustaches.

Credit: History and Art Collection/ Alamy Stock Photo

Grand Duchess Anastasia

Anastasia was the grand duchess of Russia and the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II — the last emperor of Russia. In 1914, when she was 13, she took a handful of self-portraits using a Kodak Brownie box camera and a mirror. The photos, taken in her bedroom at Alexander Palace, were among the first-ever selfies taken by royalty, and could also represent the first teen selfies. Sadly, the images are indelibly tinged with tragedy. Anastasia was killed with other members of her family during the October Revolution of 1917, just a few years after she took the photos.

The Secret History of Area 51

Entrance to Area 51, Nevada

Author Timothy Ott

November 4, 2025

Love it?68

Area 51 does not exist. That is, it does not exist under that specific designation, as it’s formally known as the Groom Lake and Homey Airport, part of the Nevada Test and Training Range. And even that information only became public knowledge after nearly 60 years of government denial of clandestine military activity taking place at the base, which is hidden some 85 miles north of Las Vegas in the Mojave Desert.

According to official records, Area 51 has served as the base of operations for the development of aircraft and other technology designed to enhance the capabilities of the U.S. military. And yet, the place has also carved out a distinct identity in popular culture as a hotbed for alien research and communications, as evidenced by the 26% of Americans who believe that crashed alien spaceships are housed there.

The long-standing tradition of secrecy only bolsters the conspiracy theories surrounding the purposes of Area 51. But while it can be difficult to separate truth from myth, enough details have been unearthed to allow inquiring minds to put together some basic facts about this mysterious site.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of the Laughlin Heritage Foundation/ CIA

Area 51 Began as a Training Ground for a New Spy Plane

The story of Area 51 began in 1955 with the CIA’s attempts to find a training ground for the Lockheed Corporation’s U-2 spy plane. A suitable spot was found at Groom Lake, a salt flat located near the northeast corner of the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) Nevada Proving Ground. Upon being incorporated into AEC territory, the site became known by its map designation of Area 51.

In its infancy, Area 51 was a meagerly populated facility consisting of a 5,000-foot-long runway, three aircraft hangars, a few administration buildings, and trailers for employee housing. The sparse accommodations led to the base being sarcastically known by such nicknames as “Paradise Ranch” and “Dreamland.”

With the development of the high-altitude, supersonic A-12 aircraft in the early 1960s, Area 51 underwent major renovations to expand its infrastructure and tighten security. This included the addition of an 8,500-foot-long concrete runway with a 6,000-foot extension onto the lake bed, along with the construction of three new hangars. Additionally, a 60-foot-tall pylon was installed to test the radar-deflecting abilities of a mounted A-12 prototype.

In the late 1960s, the base became a site to analyze a Soviet MiG-21 fighter jet that had wound up in Israeli possession. By evaluating the capabilities of the MiG-21 and training American pilots to counter them, the U.S. military was able to overcome the problems posed by these speedy and highly maneuverable jets during the Vietnam War.

After Area 51 oversight passed from the CIA to the Air Force in 1978, engineers continued to develop stealth technology for the next generation of U.S. fighter jets. The fruit of their labor was the revolutionary F-117A Nighthawk, which proved nearly undetectable to radars upon achieving operating capability in 1983.

A Man Claimed To Have Seen Alien Ships There

For the first three decades of its existence, Area 51 drew little attention save for the occasional local report of unusual lights and aircraft spotted in its vicinity. But everything changed in 1989, when a man named Bob Lazar delivered a series of interviews to KLAS-TV that introduced this secretive facility to the rest of the world.

Claiming to be a physicist who previously worked in the S-4 section of the base, Lazar insisted that there were nine alien spaceships being stored at the facility as scientists attempted to reverse engineer these technological oddities. He also described the existence of "element 115," which at the time was too heavy to be synthesized on Earth, that was used to power the ships' antigravity propulsion systems.

Lazar's claims were largely discredited (although he still has his believers) after reports surfaced of him seemingly lying about his employment and education history. Nevertheless, the association between Area 51 and extraterrestrial phenomena only grew from there, eventually becoming so widespread that the subject was a plot point for fictional fare such as the 1996 big-screen blockbuster Independence Day and the popular sci-fi TV show The X-Files.

Although the U.S. government continued to officially deny the existence of Area 51, those efforts were offset by lawsuits from former employees alleging health problems stemming from exposure to hazardous waste at the site. In 1995, Bill Clinton introduced a presidential determination that precluded the release of classified information regarding "the United States Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada," an action that was annually reapplied through his remaining years in office before being continued by his successor, George W. Bush.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of the National Security Archives

The Base Was Finally Acknowledged With the Declassification of CIA Documents

In August 2013, following a Freedom of Information Act request filed in 2005, the government finally acknowledged the existence of Area 51 by declassifying a series of CIA documents that detailed the history of the U-2 and A-12 programs developed at the Nevada base. During the annual Kennedy Center Honors that December, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to use the term "Area 51" in a public setting.

The base returned to headlines in summer 2019, when college student Matty Roberts launched the "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us" Facebook event. Although some 2 million people confirmed they would attend, prompting local authorities to plan extra security measures, only a few thousand participants arrived at the nearby town of Rachel for the three-day event in September.

Although its cloak of invisibility has been lifted, Area 51 continues to function in much the same manner as before, with only a privileged few employees privy to the technological breakthroughs underway within its heavily guarded perimeter. And while reports of government investigations of unidentified aircraft occasionally push into the crowded news cycle, it may be decades — if ever — before any legitimate connections between this secretive facility and little green men from other worlds are revealed.

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50 Facts About the 1950s

Author Bennett Kleinman

Around 4 million American babies were born every year.

The term “rock ’n’ roll” was first used on a Cleveland radio station.

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The Corvette muscle car made its debut.

Elizabeth II was crowned queen of England.

Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring was published.

School segregation was outlawed by the Supreme Court.

Disneyland made its grand opening.

At the start of the 1950s, gas cost $0.27 per gallon.

There was an onion craze on the stock market.

Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records in Detroit.

Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her bus seat in Alabama.

Allen Ginsberg read “Howl” for the first time.

First Lady Mamie Eisenhower popularized the pink bathroom trend.

The FBI debuted its “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list.

Hurricanes were formally given names for the first time.

CBS broadcast the first color television program.

President Harry S. Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur.

The United Nations headquarters opened in New York City.

Big Mama Thornton recorded “Hound Dog” — four years before Elvis Presley.

The Academy Awards were broadcast on television for the first time.

Watson and Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA.

Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary became the first people to summit Everest.

Britain ended World War II-era food rationing after 14 years.

Ellis Island closed its doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants.

The world’s first nuclear-powered submarine entered U.S. naval service.

Kermit the Frog debuted on local television.

Sony began selling the first pocket-sized transistor radio.

Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s franchise.

The first modern indoor shopping mall opened its doors.

An undefeated Rocky Marciano retired from boxing with a record of 49-0.

“In God We Trust” became the United States’ official motto.

West Side Story opened on Broadway.

Dalip Singh Saund was sworn in as the first Asian American in Congress.

Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first U.S. president to ride in a helicopter.

Prince, Madonna, and Michael Jackson were born less than three months apart.

The Hula Hoop debuted and sold 25 million units in just two months.

The first Gold Record was awarded to Perry Como for “Catch a Falling Star.”

The Dalai Lama began his exile.

Nikita Khrushchev was barred from visiting Disneyland.

NASA introduced its first seven astronauts.

The PGA allowed Black golfers to compete for the first time.

The first recognized rock concert was held in Cleveland, Ohio.

Charles M. Schulz published the Peanuts comic strip.