Women Delivering Ice, 1918

This picture preserves a moment few cameras ever caught — women Delivering Ice, 1918. The scene dates to 1918, a detail that changes how you read every face and object in the frame.

The 1910s were a decade of upheaval. The First World War (1914-1918) pulled millions into uniform and redrew the map of Europe, while on the home front automobiles, telephones, and moving pictures were rapidly becoming part of ordinary life.

Pictures of ordinary life are some of the most valuable historical documents we have. Grand events were always going to be recorded, but a normal day — how people worked, dressed, shopped, and passed the time — survives only when someone happened to point a camera at it.