Last Updated on September 26, 2025 by Matt Staff
Step into the year 1919, a world balancing on the edge of change. These 25 vintage photographs offer a rare glimpse into everyday life, capturing moments of work, leisure, family, and celebration. Each image tells its own story, revealing the spirit and character of people living through a time shaped by both the aftermath of war and the excitement of a new era.
From lively city streets to quiet rural corners, these snapshots highlight the small details that define a generation, the fashions, the routines, the simple joys and challenges. Together, they form a vivid portrait of 1919, inviting us to pause, reflect, and step into a world that feels both distant and surprisingly familiar. Here are 25 vintage photos that show what life was like in 1919.
1. The Harlem Hellfighters, after returning from WWI, wearing their Cross of War medals, 1919
2. A male beauty contest, 1919
3. Helen Keller meeting Charlie Chaplin in 1919
4. Australian nurses battling the influenza epidemic in Sydney, 1919
5. An American veteran of the First World War confronts a member of the Chicago Militia, 1919
6. Silent film actress Bessie Love, 1919
7. Relph E. “Tex” Madsen shaking hands with Senator Morris Sheppard, 1919
8. Getting some lunch at the food truck, 1919
9. 8-year-old Lucille Ball, 1919
10. “My great-grandfather in his pharmacy, Buenos Aires, 1920s”
11. Lawrence of Arabia, 1919
12. A WWI Veteran watching the parade in Harlem, New York, 1919
13. Henry Ford after a tough day in the shop, 1919
14. Martha Graham, 1919
15. The WWI Victory Festival in Paris, July 14, 1919
16. Mechanics did things a little differently in 1919
17. Sergeant John Edmondson, from the 8th regiment, with his wife and two daughters, holding the American flag, 1919
18. U.S. Soldiers pay tribute to the thousands of horses that passed in the Great War
19. “My Great-Grandmother getting ready to sky dive in 1919.”
20. A massive crowd gathers in London to silently remember those who passed in the Great War, November 11th, 1919
21. The big four, Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Vittorio Orlando
22. “My Great-Grandfather (center) atop a 45 caliber gun on the USS Okla, 1919.”
23. The “Detroit Electric” all-electric car makes its promotional tour through the Cascade Mountains, 1919
24. Charlie Chaplin in 1919
25. Charlie Chaplin with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and film director D.W. Griffith, 1919
Want to see more content from the early 1900s?
Check out 20 Colorized Photos from the First Decade of the 20th Century (1900-1910), or take a look at 20 Colorized Photos From The First Year of the 20th Century (1901). Finally, if you want to see what life was like in the 1910s, check out 30 Vintage Photos From the Mid-1910s.
