1923 was not that different from today in one important way: people were simply getting on with their lives. They went to work, met up with friends, worried about money, fell in love, raised families, and probably complained about things that seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. A century later, the details have changed, but the people in these photographs still feel surprisingly easy to relate to.
That is what makes images from a specific year so interesting. You are not looking at some vague version of “the 1920s.” You are getting a small glimpse of one particular moment, frozen in time while the people living through it had no idea how distant their world would eventually seem. These 23 photographs offer a chance to step back into 1923 and see the year as it was actually being lived.
1. The rooftop of the Fiat factory roared to life as cars sped across it in Turin
2. Ernest Hemingway’s passport photo
3. Claude Monet, standing in his art gallery
4. A Republican vs. Democrat snowball fight at the Capitol
5. Two flappers, testing the structural integrity of the bumper on this car, San Francisco
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6. Testing out a bulletproof vest
7. After the First World War, German currency was so hyperinflated that this woman made a dress out of it
8. A couple taking on a Zipline at the county fair in 1923
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9. Making a batch of soap from scratch in Spencer County, Indiana
10. Vassar College girls practicing some spooky Greek dances
11. A policeman holds traffic to let an adorable cat carry her kittens across the street
12. Einstein and his colleagues at a ‘No more war’ rally
13. German children using bundles of hyperinflated cash as building blocks
14. A young boy riding his homemade bicycle through Baltimore, Maryland
15. Shredding some waves in Hawaii
16. Henry Ford, dressed as a cowboy, showing off his cars to Tomas Edison, 1923
17. Klamath chief, standing on a mountain overlooking Crater Lake, Oregon, 1923
18. Showgirls backstage at the Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1923
19. Soviet futurist Vladimir Goldshmidt trying to hypnotize a chicken, 1923
20. An aerial view of Yankee Stadium in 1923
21. Going on a family camping trip in their car, 1923
22. Silent film actress and producer Mabel Normand, practicing her videography skills, 1923
23. The Hollywood sign, days after being built, 1923
Want to see more vintage content from the early 1900s?
Check out 20 Colorized Photos of the Early To Mid-1910s, or take a look at 20 Colorized Photos From 1905. Finally, if you want to see photos from the beginning of the 20th century, check out 20 Colorized Photos from the First Decade of the 20th Century
