A Boy Between Two Giant Mounted Lobsters, New Jersey, 1915

Lobster Roll: Here’s an unusual sight — a boy between two mounted lobsters caught off the New Jersey coast, February 1915. The scene dates to 1915, 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.

Part of the appeal of old photographs is how confidently people did things that look baffling now. Standards of safety, custom, and common sense have shifted so much that yesterday's ordinary can read as today's unbelievable — and that gap is exactly what this picture captures.