[C19fan]

Of course, I love the ladies in Edwardian clothing. I do not see any fat people although New Yorkers tend to be slim because of all the walking.

[BobL]

We had the death penalty back then...people behaved.

[rlmorel]

Cool...grabbing those images later!

[Wallace T.]

The only overweight people I saw were a policeman at a desk in picture 9, and another man in the background in that picture, possibly a priest. No fat kids, however.

[riri]

If those people had a clue that future Americans were going to just piss it all away...and give it away...

[Gen.Blather]

When I was in public school in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, fat children were rare. Then, vending machines came into fashion. Also, companies began marketing highly profitable and comparatively cheap snack foods. Before this, a snack was a PBJ or, more likely, an apple or orange. Now, you could have a couple of bags of chips that sold for 10/15 cents. (Gum was five cents per pack of five.)

Fat was something marketed to the public. Like idiots, we fell for it. Today, when I drive near a public school, the skinny kid is the rare one.

[LostInBayport]

The general demeanor of these snapshots of society seems to be one of order, pride in appearance and politeness.

Today we have the “People of Wal-Mart” and Black Friday smackdowns!

We’ve fallen a long way.

[setter]

No weirdos.

[Karl Spooner]

I see they had ingrats in those days too.

.

As has been a tradition since around 1916, this photo shows some of New York City's finest handing out Christmas presents to children from disadvantaged families.

[Jane Long]

Love the knickerbockers that the boys all wore. And, those hats that the women wore.

Simpler time, in that city, for sure.

[peggybac]

I googled the library and the building across the street is still there. https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x89c2590099a8a8a9%3A0x3b51df6e509a734c!3m1!7e115!4s%2Fmaps%2Fplace%2Fnew%2Byork%2Bpublic%2Blibrary%2B41st%2Bstreet%2F%4040.7528457%2C-73.9813618%2C3a%2C75y%2C296.49h%2C90t%2Fdata%3D*213m4*211e1*213m2*211sZPNtMKnWZWs4MhnQeg8dIw*212e0*214m2*213m1*211s0x89c2590099a8a8a9%3A0x3b51df6e509a734c%3Fsa%3DX!5snew%20york%20public%20library%2041st%20street%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e2!2sZPNtMKnWZWs4MhnQeg8dIw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIoaLynvX0AhVZmmoFHQG1CJcQpx96BAhFEAg

[aquila48]

A much more civilized time.

[sten]

In the early 1900s, 90% of the country was white.

while there might’ve been crime in NYC, it’s nothing like today.

today’s crime issues revolve around a single race.

If you don’t want to believe it... look at the stats when you remove any crime involving blacks. it’s impossible to ignore.

[Steve_Seattle]

Whenever I see photos from the 20s through the 40s, I am always struck by how well-dressed everyone is, even children, even men standing in line at a soup kitchen during the depression. We’ve become a nation of slobs.

[kenmcg]

Back then they looked to be in good physical shape, and took pride the way they appeared in public.