Some decades feel like they came and went with a rhythm you could follow. The 1930s didn’t. It staggered, swerved, and surprised. There were breadlines and movie stars, dust storms and double-breasted suits. It was a time when a lot of people had very little, and somehow still managed to live big.
This collection of photos captures all of it. Not just the headlines, but the little glances and strange inventions and quiet moments that don’t show up in textbooks. You’ll see tired faces, wild ideas, a few unexpected laughs, and more than a few reminders that history isn’t always black and white, even when the pictures are.
1. “A Zeppelin flying above the pyramids of Giza in Egypt, 1931”
2. “Alfred Hitchcock having tea with an associate c.1930”
3. “Steelworker touching the tip of the Chrysler Building – 1931”
4. “My cool grandma in the 1930s. She had a lot of brothers and was never really feminine. She taught me I could take care of things on my own and didn’t need to rely on others.”
5. “Girl hanging her kittens on a washing line. 1931.”
6. “One wheel motorcycle, invented by Italian M. Goventosa de Udine, 1931”
7. “Window shopping in London, 1939”
8. “A 23-year-old John Wayne, c. 1930.”
9. “Al Capone’s free soup kitchen feeding Unemployed Americans during the Great Depression, 1931”
If you’re interested in more, check out our collection of 17 Photos From the Great Depression That Tell Its Powerful Story (1929-1941).
10. “1930. My father was 25. He and my mother were on a sightseeing trip from Canton, Ohio, to Niagara Falls. They stayed overnight at these cabins.”
11. “Student protesting for higher pay for teachers in 1930”
12. “My Grandfather: An Egyptian Cinematographer (1930)”
13. “A mom with her baby in his baby cage, 1937. The portable baby cage was patented in 1922 and popular in the US & UK to hang from urban windows until dwindling in the 1960s.”
14. “My great-grandfather, Domenico Madonna, proudly presenting his sausages in front of his store in Philadelphia. Circa 1930-1940”
15. “Last four couples in a dance marathon, Chicago 1930”
16. “The night prohibition ended, 1933.”
Since we’re fascinated by its history, we’ve created a collection of 31 Photos From Prohibition (1920-1933) That Perfectly Capture the Chaos of the Time.
17. “Londoners flock to a mobile screen showing a Mickey Mouse film, 1931”
18. “Shirley Temple punches Harpo Marx, 1933”
19. “22-year-old Lucille Ball, on the set of a Three Stooges short (1934).”
20. 17-year-old Jackie Mitchell applying makeup before she struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on April 2nd, 1931
21. The Hoover Dam under construction, 1935.
22. “Winston Churchill is carried from a nursing home following being struck by a car in New York City. (1931). He was crossing Fifth Avenue, forgot that cars drove on the opposite side of the road from England, and failed to look to his right.”
23. “My mom and her cat, late 1930s.”
24. “Picnic at Huntington Beach, California (1937)”
25. “Katharine Hepburn in 1933”
26. “Union Army veteran tells stories of Civil War to Shoeshine boys, 1935”
27. “When Albert Einstein met Charlie Chaplin, 1931”
28. “Ernest Hemingway and his three sons with Blue Marlin on the Bimini docks, 1935”
29. “Margaret Bourke-White on the Chrysler Building. 1934.”
30. “Little girl holds a penguin’s flipper as they walk around London Zoo, 1937.”
31. “The tilt test. How they proved that London’s double-decker buses were not a tipping hazard, 1933.”
32. “The building of the Golden Gate Bridge circa 1933”
33. “Giving a pal a boost on a hot day, August 28, 1938”
34. “Young Indigenous woman holding a baby at a train station, circa 1930”
35. Look at how common hats were in NYC in the 1930s.
36. “1934 Bonnie and Clyde newspaper I found in a box at my folks’ home.”
37. “Harlem grocer standing in front of his store, 1937.”
38. “Circus performer Harriet Hodgini, sits on the gate of a truck helping Otto Griebling, a circus clown, apply his makeup (1935), colorized by me.”
39. “My grandfather with his older brother and dad in front of their bike shop, circa 1936.”
40. “Woman driving an experimental Dynasphere, Circa 1931”
41. “Legendary Folk and blues musician Lead Belly and his wife Martha, 1935”
42. “Richard Nixon, 1933”
43. “My grandpa’s class photo from 1938. His family didn’t have enough money for shoes, but he’s still the coolest kid on the block.”
44. “A Berlin boy selling lemonade with a portable lemonade dispenser, 1931”
45. “23-year-old Frank Sinatra mug shot 1938”
46. “A picture of Harlem celebrating Joe Louis’ win over Primo Carnera in 1935, June 25.”
47. “Chariot racing in Sydney, 1936”
48. “A man sits on a girder above New York City at night, ca. 1935.”
49. “Billie Holiday performing “Strange Fruit” at Cafe Society (NYC’s first integrated nightclub) – 1939”
50. “Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (1933)”
51. “Workers at Disney at a meeting on how to animate water bubbles in “Pinocchio,” 1939.”
52. “Bette Davis at home (1939)”
53. “1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale”
54. “Dalai Lama, two years old. 1937”
55. “Niagara Falls completely froze over during the extreme cold wave of 1933.”
56. “My grandpa’s preschool photos from 1937.”
57. “A girl and her dog 1932”
58. “A little girl and her pet toad at a pet show, Venice Beach, California, 1936”
59. “Oilfield truck driver and his son sitting on the porch in Seminole, Oklahoma. (August 1939)”
60. “Migrant farm worker with his wife and ten children, originally from Oklahoma, where he had been a tenant farmer, moved to California in 1936.”
61. “My Great-Grandfather standing at the top of the Washington Monument. (1934)”
62. “Women eat spaghetti on inflatable mattresses at Lake of Capri, 1939.”
63. “Having a drink at Jack’s Saloon in Hot Springs, Arkansas, 1935.”
64. “Technician doing telephone switch maintenance in New York, 1938”
65. “Judy Garland test shot for Wizard of Oz 1939”
66. “An FBI agent on a stakeout in a kidnapping case, 1933.”
67. “American Civil War Veterans drop flowers from the air onto Gettysburg Battlefield to honor fallen comrades, 1938”
68. “Mickey Mouse making his Thanksgiving Day Parade debut in 1934”
69. “The streamliner Mercury passing through New York City Hall in 1936.”
70. “Great Grandfather, Police Officer 1932”
71. “Robert Wadlow, the tallest human being ever, standing next to his father. (1938)”
72. “Joan Crawford, 1932”
73. “You’ll never be this cool, c. 1938”
74. “Burmese women in London, 1935”
75. “A night hug in 1934”
76. “‘No dog biscuits today’, London, 1939”
77. “‘I gave my eyes.’ World War Veteran. 1932, USA.”
78. “Not sure what’s the coolest part here, the 1936 Willys 77 Sedan, San Francisco Streamliner train or smartly dressed man.”
79. “Soba noodles deliveryman. Tokyo, 1935.”
80. “Bodybuilder Relna Brewer showing her strength by ripping a phone book apart (1938).”
81. “Ansel Adams setting up for a shoot in Yosemite (1935)”
82. “A group of Havana schoolboys. The boy with the lollipop is Fidel Castro – 1937”
83. “A policeman judges an ankle competition in England (1930).”
84. “The Planting of the Ivy at Wrigley Field, 1937”
85. “Hedy Lamarr in 1938, whose scientific discoveries helped invent WiFi”
86. “Marina Ginesta, a 17-year-old anti-fascist, overlooking Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, 1936”
87. “22-year-old John F. Kennedy, 1939”
88. “Boris Karloff taking a break while filming ‘Frankenstein’ in 1931”
89. “This little girl having a tea party with a lobster and a hawk in 1938”
90. “Margaret Hamilton, 1939 as The Wicked Witch of the West.”
91. “Hindenburg construction – 1936”
92. “A Grocery Store in 1939 (colorized)”
93. “My grandmother in the southwest. 1934.”
94. “Milkman dropping off and picking up milk, 1939”
95. “Queen Elizabeth and her corgi – 1936”
96. “My great-grandfather in China in 1930.”
97. “Store in Gordonton, North Carolina, 1939.”
98. “Sally Halterman, the first woman granted a motorcycle license in Washington, D.C., 1937.”
99. “Man Standing in a Seattle Lumberyard, 1939.”
100. “The first Krispy Kreme in Winston-Salem, 1937.”
101. “1933 Texaco Doodlebug”
102. “My grandfather playing for the Blackhawks (1935)”
