Trending badgeTrendingPosted 1 hour ago49 Photos Of Historical Figures Just Sort Of Hanging Around That Have Low-Key Broken My BrainThe state of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s desk is making me feel much, much better about my own.by Kelley GreeneBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink We've all seen the common pictures from our history books: Einstein with his tongue out, Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and Neil Armstrong upon his return from the moon. But if you're anything like me, you were probably left wondering what these folks looked like in their day-to-day lives, too. Well, you're in luck! Here are 49 incredibly cool images of historical figures just hanging out that honestly kind of broke my brain: 1. Pierre and Marie Curie, husband-and-wife physicist and chemist duo, heading out for a bike ride in the French countryside in 1899. Photo 12 / Universal Images Group via Getty Images 2. Author and humorist Mark Twain playing pool with the daughter of his biographer in the early 1900s. Heritage Images / Getty Images 3. Winston Churchill, UK Prime Minister, at a pheasant shoot in 1910. Topical Press Agency / Getty Images 4. Engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla, looking at some bits and bobs in his lab in 1910. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive 5. Illusionist Harry Houdini standing around after making an escape from a box submerged in the East River, New York, in July 1912. FPG / Getty Images 6. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, playing in the London-qualifying competition of the Amateur Billiards Championship in 1913. Mirrorpix / Mirrorpix via Getty Images 7. Former President Theodore Roosevelt reading a book while on the S.S. Imperator in 1913. Photo 12 / Universal Images Group via Getty Images 8. Annie Oakley, sharpshooter, watching Mrs. W. Gould Brokaw of New York take some shots at targets in 1919. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive 9. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (second from left), hanging out on the beach with some friends in the 1920s. Fotosearch / Getty Images 10. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, with his dog Chow, sometime in the 1920s. Brandstaetter Images / Getty Images 11. Inventor Thomas Edison, standing in his lab in an undated photo. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive 12. French fashion designer Coco Chanel, alongside Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, at a horse racing event in 1924. Phillips / Getty Images 13. Indian political activist Mahatma Gandhi spinning cotton in an ashram in 1925. Ullstein Bild Dtl. / ullstein bild via Getty Images 14. Actors Randolph Scott and Cary Grant working out at the gym in 1930. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive 15. Animator and entrepreneur Walt Disney on vacation in Havana, Cuba, in 1931. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive 16. Helen Keller, author and activist, visiting a hospital in England in 1932. Topical Press Agency / Getty Images 17. Aviator Charles Lindbergh sitting on top of his plane in Ireland in 1933. Keystone / Getty Images 18. Actresses Joy Hodges, Lucille Ball (blonde!), and Phyllis Brooks bowling in 1935. Keystone-France / Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images 19. Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, inspecting her plane's radio equipment with Lt. George Sparhawk, U. S. Army Communications Officer in Hawaii, and her Chief Technician, Paul Mantz, in 1935. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive 20. Queen Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth) watching a play at the Coliseum Theatre, seated between her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, in 1939. Keystone / Getty Images 21. Artist Salvador Dalí doodling in his bathtub in 1939. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive 22. An undated photo of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein sailing. UniversalImagesGroup / Getty Images 23. Singer Frank Sinatra, chatting with some guys around 1945. Michael Ochs Archives 24. Jackie Robinson, trailblazing baseball player, at his writing desk in New York in 1947. Afro Newspaper/Gado / Getty Images 25. Artist Pablo Picasso doodling a dove at a resort in Côte d'Azur, France, in 1950. Michel MAKO / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images 26. Mickey Mantle, baseball player, at 19 chilling in the dugout before a game in 1951. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive 27. Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower playing golf in Kaneohe, Hawaii, in 1951. Underwood Archives / Getty Images 28. Then-Senator (and later President) Richard Nixon and William P. Rogers hanging out by the pool in Los Angeles in 1952. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive 29. Alan Turing, computer scientist, stands over researchers at the National Physical Laboratory in 1951. Science & Society Picture Librar / SSPL via Getty Images 30. Artist Frida Kahlo lying in bed resting in Mexico City, Mexico, in 1952. Photo Researchers / Getty Images 31. Actress and singer Doris Day on the beach in 1955. Bettmann / Bettmann/CORBIS 32. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., in his home office in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1956. Michael Ochs Archives 33. Actress Audrey Hepburn with her mother, Baroness Van Heemstra, near Paris in 1956. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive 34
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December 9, 2025
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