50 Fascinating Pics That Will Provide You With Your “Daily Dose Of History”

Historic Daily Dose is the perfect place to start if you’re looking to refresh or expand your knowledge of the world’s past. The account has posted over 600 times and has amassed an impressive 11.6k followers. From photos of The Great Depression to heartbreaking pictures from war zones, these images are not always easy to see, but they’re important reminders of past events that should never be forgotten. And if you’re wondering why you’re in need of a daily dose of history in the first place, Making History writes on their site that, “It is not just useful, it is essential.”

“Understanding the linkages between past and present is absolutely basic for a good understanding of the condition of being human,” Making History explains. “All living people live in the here-and-now, but it took a long unfolding history to get everything to NOW. And that history is located in time-space, which holds this cosmos together, and which frames both the past and the present.” Without studying history, we would have little to no context for ourselves and everything we experience on this planet. History is a living, breathing subject that we should all be invested in studying. 

According to a study conducted by the American Historical Association, some of the top reasons the public cares about studying history are a desire to be more informed about past events, finding learning about past events entertaining, and the belief that experience and knowledge about history are important to share with children. Unfortunately, however, 8% of the survey’s respondents reported not being interested in learning about past events at all. This may have something to do with the fact that the vast majority of Americans’ educational experiences in regards to history have heavily relied on learning names, dates and facts, rather than actually asking questions.

91% of Americans believe that fact-based education discourages students from learning more, which I would wholeheartedly agree with. Nobody, especially kids and teens, wants to be forced to memorize facts without any real understanding of why they’re important. So it’s no wonder that many of us have to make up for the lack of historical knowledge we gained in school as adults. That’s where Historic Daily Dose comes in, dear pandas. We hope you’ll learn something from this list that will inspire you to start asking more questions!  

Having a greater curiosity about the past might even mean that you’re more interested in civic engagement as well. The American Historical Association found that there is a link between those who are interested in being more informed about the past and those who want to share that information with children and those who are involved in community problem-solving. There was an even stronger link found between those who value historical knowledge and those who take part in volunteer work. It seems like the more we understand the past, the more we care about taking care of the future of our world, and making it a better place, as well.

In a previous Bored Panda article, we got in touch with Susan and Beckett, co-hosts of The History Chicks podcast, to hear why they believe it’s so important to remember our past. Their show shines a light on some of the most fascinating women in history who are often overlooked, so the co-hosts shared how it came to be in the first place. “We launched the show in 2011 after Beckett realized there were not only no podcasts on a subject she wanted to learn about (Gilded Age Heiresses), but there were none about Women's History in general," they previously told Bored Panda. "Uttering, 'How hard could it be?' she contacted Susan. 12 years later, we laugh because we knew the answer to her question was, 'Pretty darn hard, starting with a nearly vertical learning curve'."

"Our favorite part of studying history is discovering the interconnectivity of it all," Susan and Beckett shared. "That people in history aren't all that different from us, they just lived in different times and those times (and people) connect all the way through to modern-day in the most interesting ways."

We also previously asked Susan and Beckett if they could share some of the most widely spread historical fallacies that they were taught or have heard. "For starters people who did Big Things, usually didn't do them alone," they noted. "Paul Revere, for example, wasn't the only one traveling with a message that night (and he didn't shout 'the British are coming' because people would have just thought he was coming from a pub since everyone in the Colonies was British.)"

"Sybil Ludington did a similar ride in Connecticut, truly alone, all on a horse, and remained uncaptured, and she was only a teenager at the time," Susan and Beckett told Bored Panda. "It's a way cooler story, but history often only remembers the people with the sizzle, or the louder mouths or, like in Paul's case, their names rhyme with enough words for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to write a poem about him nearly 100 years after the fact."