Here's a Totally Safe and Not Concerning Picture of a Baby Playing with a Ton

This picture preserves a moment few cameras ever caught — Here's a totally safe and not concerning picture of a baby playing with a ton of baby alligators at a California alligator farm. Like the best archival images, it needs almost no explanation — the frame tells its own story.

Photography has only existed since 1839, which means the camera-recorded past is a narrow window — and every surviving frame from it is a small act of preservation, whether the photographer knew it or not.

The strangest historical photos are rarely staged jokes — they usually show a real solution to a real problem of their day. Understanding why this scene made sense to the people in it is half the fun of looking at it.