The World's Cultures At The Turn Of The 20th Century, In Photos
Stunning vintage portraits of the world's diverse cultures — from Brazilian headhunters to Indian snake charmers — from over a century ago.
Man peddling vegetables, Japan, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress A witch doctor, 1920-1930. Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Kenyan man, 1880-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Indigenous Filipinos hold baby, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Serbian man wearing hat, vest, belted pants, and pointed toed shoes with cane standing outside of building in Yugoslavia, 1880-1924.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Patriarch Harootiun Vehabedian of the Armenian church wearing hood, robe and five medals, 1880-1924.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Nubian woman, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Two Jewish women face each other in Tunisia, 1900-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Dervish man, 1920-1930.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Mexican people with guitars, 1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Chola cook, 1900-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Empress Sunmyeong (1872-1904), the first wife of Emperor Sunjong of Korea (1874-1926), 1890-1904.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress East African official for Germany, formerly a sultan, Tanganyika, Africa,1902.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Sudanese woman, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress An Aymara Indian, Bolivia, 1900-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Eskimo boy wearing ragged clothing made from flour sacks, Belcher Islands, Northwest Territories, Canada, 1927.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress "Fete day costume, 'Shkypetars,' men of the eagle, as Albanians are known in their own country ...1923."Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Camels draw water from Egyptian well, 1905.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Anatomy class in Sudan, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Bedouin woman, 1900-1910.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Emir Nawwaf, a desert sheik, 1910-1920.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress India -- Fakir with monkeys, 1890-2920.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Woman holding a baby on a street in Istanbul, 1915-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Woman in old Greek Costume, 1920Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Two gypsy women standing, Palestine, 1893.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Head hunters in the upper Amazon, Brazil, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Boy and girl dancing in Scotland, 1900-1925.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Two women posing in Palestine, 1910-1925.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Japanese bedroom with thick quilt used as a bed, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Kling boy in India, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Kling people, Singapore, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Panama--Spraying oil on breeding places of mosquitoes, 1890-1925.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Priest sitting in India, 1890-1900.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Group of Russian peasants, 1875.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Snake charmers in India, 1890-1900.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Druse bride of Mt. Lebanon, Syria, 1910-1925.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Views of Thailand, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Zulu man, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Two women posed, seated, Saigon, South Vietnam, 1890-1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Zulu men near a cauldron, 1920-1930.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Women in Turkish clothing, 1923.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress Two Jewish girls on a beach in Tunis, Tunisia, 1860-1890.Frank Carpenter/Library of Congress
42 Photos Of People Around The World At The Turn Of The Century View GalleryAround the time that Frank Carpenter began to make his first trip around the world, less than one percent (.14-.16 of a percent, to be precise) of Americans had traveled overseas. So when Carpenter published his visual dispatches from the far corners of the Earth, he offered more than just photos.
Indeed, Carpenter introduced millions to the many fabrics of human life. Over the course of his life, Frank Carpenter would travel the world three times, amassing tens of thousands of photos of the cultures and geographies he encountered throughout.
Born in Mansfield, Ohio in 1855, Carpenter commenced his career as a journalist, a profession that paved the way for his travels. By 1888, he had enough assignments with newspaper syndicates and magazines to pay for his first trip around the world. His sole responsibility? Send a letter each week to these periodicals, wherein he described what he saw.
On some of these travels, Carpenter brought his daughter, Frances. She followed in her father's footsteps and became an author and geographer, and the father-daughter duo — when not globetrotting — would write books together, such as The Clothes We Wear and The Foods We Eat, which detailed cultural variance in otherwise humdrum affairs.
Frank Carpenter's work — specifically Carpenter's Geographic Readers — would become the gold standard in the United States for geography textbooks for decades as well as popularize the disciplines of cultural anthropology.
Fittingly enough, it was on his third lap around the world that Carpenter died at age 69. The world-revealing geographer would draw his last breath in Nanking, China.
Above, you'll find a handful of photos that Carpenter took during his travels, which spanned from 1880 to 1934.
Next, look back on American diversity with these portraits of Ellis Island immigrants. Then, see some stunning portraits of Native Americans at the turn of the 20th century.
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