History Unveiled: Rare & Amazing Photos from the Past

Edward Llewellen (left) made history in 1903, setting a world record by catching a colossal 425-pound sea bass off Catalina Island.

The Royal British Legion mobilizes in Czechoslovakia, October 1938, to supervise the implementation of the Munich Agreement.

A heartwarming rescue: In 1996, female gorilla Binti Jua, with her baby on her back, cradles a 3-year-old boy who fell into her enclosure, safely handing him to zookeepers. Her maternal instincts captivated the world.

Chinese-American women serving with the American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS) in Chinatown, New York City, 1942. Pictured are members including chairman Mrs. Josephine Hong.

Egyptomania in the UK: Pharaoh-themed gas pumps in 1932, a testament to the popular fascination sparked by King Tut's tomb discovery.

A French civilian woman offers cider to a British soldier carrying a Bren gun in Lisieux, 1944.

Marcia Pinkenfield, crowned 'Most Beautiful Child In America' in 1927.

A 1930 Berlin protest with signs declaring '3.5 million Sudeten Germans demand their rights,' highlighting the contentious status of Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.

Herman the Cat, an 'expert mouser' aboard a US Coast Guard ship during World War II, 1943.

The celebratory scene inside a Chicago bar on December 5, 1933, the day Prohibition was repealed.

Richard Hornbuckle's car stops mere inches from disaster on the wrecked Old Sunshine Skyway Bridge, after the freighter Summit Venture slammed into it, Florida, May 9, 1980.

A meeting of the New York chapter of the 'Fat Men's Club' in 1930.

The sailing frigate Niobe, built for the Royal Navy in 1848/49, later served as a training ship for the Prussian Navy after being sold in 1862.

The $7.2 million check issued by the U.S. to Russia on August 1, 1868, for the purchase of Alaska.

A procedure for removing freckles using carbon dioxide, United States, circa 1930s.

President Lyndon B. Johnson driving an Amphicar, an amphibious vehicle designed for both land and sea, 1967.

Joseph Stalin casting his vote in the 1937 Supreme Soviet election, where the CPSU coalition secured 99% of the vote.

Barack Obama during his college days in 1982.

The funeral of assassinated Czech politician Alois Rašín in Prague, 1923. Rašín was killed by anarcho-communist Josef Šoupal, who viewed him as a symbol of capitalism.

Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and Hermann Goering at the opening of the Nazi Party's 1936-37 Winter Relief campaign in Berlin.

Hermann Goering shakes hands with Joseph Goebbels on January 12, 1941, during Goering's birthday celebration. This moment belied Goebbels's private detestation of Goering, noted in his diary.

A Mongolian bride in traditional attire on her horse, captured in an autochrome photograph on July 24, 1913.

Captain Claude Stoughton (whose image appeared on American War Bonds in 1917, touted as a war hero) was actually Fritz Duquesne, a German spy.

Walt Disney developed a Mickey Mouse gas mask during World War II (1942) to help children feel more comfortable and relaxed while wearing it.

Two Wehrmacht officers of the 16th Army, moments before executing two Soviet civilians in 1943. This haunting photograph was found in a German soldier's wallet.