A century ago, regular radio broadcasts were on the rise, and people began tuning in to entertainment and news from around the world. Paris hosted the 1924 Summer Olympics, advancements in aviation were being made on several fronts, automobiles were becoming more prevalent (and dangerous), and prohibition in the U.S. was still in full swing. Students were using tablets made of slate, and “computers” were human beings that operated calculating machines. Below are a handful of images of some of the events and sights around the world in the year 1924.
100 Years Ago in Photos: A Look Back at 1924
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![Children listen to a battery-powered radio receiver that is set on a table in a swimming pool.]()
Read moreChildren listen to a battery-powered radio receiver that is set on a table in a swimming pool in Washington, D.C., in July of 1924. #
Buyenlarge / Getty -
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![Two workers climb on a part of the Eiffel Tower, high above Paris.]()
Read moreMen work high above ground, painting the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, France, on July 29, 1924. #
Bettmann / Getty -
![Several women sit at a workbench, assembling telephones in 1924.]()
Read moreWomen assemble telephones in a London factory in 1924, following the introduction of automatic telephone exchanges. #
Hulton-Deutsch Collection / Corbis / Getty -
![Two older passenger cars drive through water in a shallow pool to clean their underside.]()
Read moreTwo cars at a time run through the Auto Wash Bowl to clean the mud and dirt from the wheels and axles. This new method of washing automobiles is seen in Chicago, Illinois, on September 20, 1924. #
Underwood Archives / Getty -
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![A rear view of a ski jumper in midair, with a crowd of observers below]()
Read moreA contestant in midair during a ski-jump event in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in January 1924 #
Topical Press Agency / Getty -
![Six athletes in swimsuits stand against a wall, posing for a photo.]()
Read moreOriginal caption: "Photo shows Duke Kahanamoku, Charles Pung, Pua Kealoha, Johnny Weissmuller, Harold Kruger, and Jack Robertson, certain point winners for Uncle Sam in the swimming event at the (1924) Paris Olympics." #
Bettmann / Getty -
![An early helicopter with 16 blades attached to a tall rotor mast makes a brief flight as several people look on.]()
Read moreRaúl Pescara's 16-bladed helicopter leaves the ground at Issy les Moulineaux, France, to attempt the world endurance record in January 1924. Pescara's flight set a new record, staying airborne for eight minutes, 13.8 seconds. #
Topical Press Agency / Getty -
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![A boy sits atop a young elephant outside a circus tent.]()
Read moreFrom May 13, 1924. Original caption: "Teddy Roosevelt, 3d, at circus." Ten-year-old Teddy was the grandson of the former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. #
Library of Congress -
![Two workers sit atop one of the huge propellers of a large ship in dry dock.]()
Read moreMen work on the propellers of the RMS Mauretania during her refitting in the dry dock at Cherbourg, France, in May 1924. #
Firmin / Topical Press Agency / Getty -
![A young person stands in a park, with a shoe-shine box slung over their shoulder.]()
Read moreA portrait of a young, unidentified shoe shiner in City Hall Park, New York City, on July 25, 1924 #
Lewis W. Hine / Buyenlarge / Getty -
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![An automobile factory room filled with machinery and drive belts, with stacks of newly built crankshafts on the floor]()
Read moreOriginal caption: "April 7, 1924 – Highland Park, Michigan. Crankshaft grinding department in the Ford plant at Highland Park." #
Bettmann / Getty -
![A man holds a plow pulled by a single horse, working a small plot of land behind a block of residential buildings in the Bronx.]()
Read moreOriginal caption: "Farmer Frank Zavistoski plows his four-acre plot of farmland at the corner of 164th Street and Sherman Avenue, with apartment buildings in the background, in the Bronx, New York City, New York, on the 4th of November, 1924. Zavistoski grows vegetables on the plot of land, as well as keeping chickens and cows." #
UPI / Bettmann / Getty -
![President Calvin Coolidge, in a large crowd, throws out the ball for the opening game of the 1924 World Series.]()
Read moreIn this October 4, 1924, photo, President Calvin Coolidge throws out the ball for the opening game of the 1924 World Series, between the Washington Senators and the New York Giants, in Washington, D.C. #
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![An aerial view of a rigid airship flying above Washington, D.C.]()
Read moreThe USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) flies over Washington, D.C., with the U.S. Capitol visible in the background, in November 1924. #
Library of Congress -
![Three runners jump over hurdles on a race track.]()
Read moreOriginal caption: "Lake View women athletes Zilk, Sheffield, and Sheffield running and jumping over hurdles on a track, Chicago, Illinois, 1924." #
Chicago Sun-Times / Chicago Daily News collection / Chicago History Museum / Getty -
![A view of a 1920s-era New York City neighborhood and two large bridges]()
Read moreA view of New York City's Two Bridges neighborhood, with the Brooklyn Bridge at right and the Manhattan Bridge at left, circa 1924 #
Underwood Archives / Getty -
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![Six women wearing fashionable coats and hats pose in front of an arch in Paris.]()
Read moreOriginal caption: "From left: Nina Byron, Sybil Wilson, Ruth Fallows, Helen MacDonald, Grace Girard, and Yvonne Hughes, members of the Follies who have scored a sensational triumph here. They are appearing at the New Moulin Rouge Revue and all Paris is agog with their beauty and grace." #
Bettmann / Getty -
![A person falls as a car with a sort of safety apparatus attached to its front bumper knocks them over.]()
Read moreOriginal caption from December 17, 1924: "Picks him up at 25 miles an hour! If the modern auto or truck hits you don't worry. Equipped with this device you are simply given a free ride. This man even came from behind another car, was struck but not even scratched. The demonstration was given recently in Washington, D.C." #
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![Rows of people work in a large room, using large calculating devices, under a sign that reads "Computing Division."]()
Read moreU.S. government clerks use new calculating machines to determine the bonuses for World War I veterans, following the passage of the 1924 World War Adjusted Compensation Act, or "Bonus Act," compensating veterans for wages lost during their service. #
Buyenlarge / Getty -
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![Benito Mussolini sits in a car with a lion cub on his lap.]()
Read moreBenito Mussolini goes for a drive with his pet lion cub, named Ras, in 1924. #
Keystone / Getty -
![A police officer stands on a street, holding up traffic on a rainy night, in 1924.]()
Read moreA London police officer holds up traffic in Parliament Street to allow members of Parliament to get to the House of Commons on a rainy winter evening, December 2, 1924. #
Topical Press Agency / Getty -
![A large crowd of swimmers stand on a floating dock on a summer day.]()
Read moreWarren Kealoha, Hawaiian Olympic swimmer (bottom, nearest to camera), swims with a crowd on a floating dock in the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., on August 7, 1924. #
Library of Congress -
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![Six Chinese school children pose with slate tablets in 1924.]()
Read moreChinese schoolchildren pose with their slate tablets in Peking (Beijing), circa 1924. #
Library of Congress -
![Several people suse early radio equipment set up inside a race track in a stadium.]()
Read moreOriginal caption from Paris, France, July 1924: "This photo shows the radio station at the Colombes Stadium, by means of which spectators were able to follow the progress of the (Olympic) marathon race. Scouts along the route reported to this station by telephone, and a series of amplifiers carried the information to the thousands in the stands." #
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![Seven women wear costumes that include conical hats topped with diamond-shaped radio antennae.]()
Read moreThe Radiogirls, adorned with antennae, appear in the revue "Alles per Radio," by Gustav Beer and Karl Farkas, in Ronacher, Vienna, circa 1924. #
Brandstaetter Images / Getty -
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![An old racing car loses a wheel at high speed.]()
Read moreA car loses a wheel at high speed on the Culver City Speedway, in Los Angeles, California, in November 1924. #
Topical Press Agency / Getty -
![A young newspaper carrier wearing a hat and apron leans against a post while holding a newspaper.]()
Read moreRoland, an 11-year-old newspaper carrier, seen in New Jersey in 1924 #
Lewis Wickes Hine / Library of Congress / Corbis / VCG / Getty -
![Two people operate a very large telescope inside a domed observatory.]()
Read moreThe 65-centimeter refractor telescope installed at the Berlin University Observatory in Babelsberg, Germany, circa 1924 #
Underwood Archives / Getty -
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![A person on a small boat dumps boxes overboard as another small boat approaches.]()
Read moreOriginal 1924 caption, offshore near Detroit, Michigan: "This bootlegger is dumping his load of 'hooch' over the side of his little launch as the Federal boat nears in the pursuit." Prohibition was in effect in the United States from 1920 through 1933. #
Bettmann / Getty -
![Two men stand beside a line of five 1920s-era delivery trucks parked in a street.]()
Read moreDrivers pose beside their Piggly Wiggly grocery trucks along C Street, N.W., in Washington, D.C., circa 1924. #
Library of Congress -
![Two mountain climbers wear oxygen tanks near tents at a base camp.]()
Read moreBritish mountaineer George Mallory is seen with Andrew Irvine at the base camp in Nepal as they get ready to climb the peak of Mount Everest in June 1924. It is the last image of the men, both members of the 1922 and 1924 Everest expeditions, before they disappeared on the mountain. Mallory's body was later discovered by an expedition in 1999. #
Associated Press / AP -
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![Small crowds of people stand at an observation area, looking toward a huge volcanic eruption in the backround.]()
Read moreVisitors look toward an eruption of Hawaii's Kīlauea volcano at the Halemauʻmaʻu crater on May 22, 1924, as seen from Volcano House. #
Tai Sing Loo / NPS Photo / Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
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