Have you ever wondered what life was like for our grandparents and great-grandparents? One way to get a glimpse into the past is to explore vintage photo booth images. From the 1930s to the 1960s, people all over the world spent time in photo booths to capture their memories in a unique way. From black and white headshots to lively group portraits, these snapshots offer a rare window into the past.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the history of vintage photo booth and explore fun samples of vintage images I found on the web.

Note: this part 2 post is all based off a post I did on 2018 entitled, Vintage Photo Booth Images.

Enjoy!

Source: eBay

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy , eBay, are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Note: If the item you clicked on is no longer available, just do a search for like items. There are loads of vintage items being added to Etsy and eBay daily!

Vintage Photo Booths Images from the 1930s to 1950s

Brief History of the Photo Booth:

The first-ever working photo booth was made by French inventor T.E. Enjalbert in March 1889 and was presented later that same year at the World’s Fair in Paris. He named it the “Apparatus for Automatic Photography” (which sounded way cooler in french: Appareil pour la photographie automatique).

The photo booth as we think of it today was created by Anatol Marco Josepho in 1925. The coin-operated machine he called “Photomaton ” was introduced on Broadway in New York. This version was used by more than 200,000 people, all of which waited patiently for 8 minutes while their photo strips developed.

After this success, he created the Photomaton Company and a fun fact is that the future president Franklin D. Roosevelt was actually on his board of directors.  The Photomaton Company went on to install booths all over the country. In 1928, Josepho sold the rights to his invention to Henry Morganthau Sr. He was paid $1,000,000 for it and was promised a guaranteed lifetime royalty (Source–Outsnapped).

The Vintage Photo Booth Images:

1931 photo booth image of a mother & daughter who are clearly related.

Source: Etsy – maclancy

Little Miss Sassy – 1930’s photo booth image.

Source: Pinterest

1938 image of a woman with a stylish coat and fur collar.

Source: Etsy – maclancy

1940s smiling young man in Army uniform.

Source: Etsy – therescuedphoto

Same place, different day.

Two 1940s photo booth images of a pretty Black Women in a lovely dress with a bow and the second image we discover she is a mother with another shot with her son.

Source: Etsy – JakeRoeBucks

To say that I am madly in love with this photo, is a bit of a understatement…I LOVE this photo! Why? Because she looks like a player from the The All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League aka “A League Of Their Own”. From the baseball hat, to the hair and even the red lip she could 100% be a player.

Source: MoMa

I recreated this look not from this photo (but it’s almost the same) but from the TV show “A League of their Own” (Greta) which you can see below.

For the love of dogs.

How cute is this 1940s photo of a young man trying to get a lasting memory with his favourite cocker spaniel? Too cute!

Source: Etsy – therescuedphoto

Remebering that time at the “Paradise”.

1940s image of two curly haired friends with dress clips and a doll face brooch posing together under a sign that says “Paradise”.

Source: Etsy – therescuedphoto

This 1940s tinted photo booth image of this young women with the gorgeous curls is MY vintage hair inspiration. In fact, I have slowly been working towards having my hair look like this, without ever seeing this image until now (I shared a recent photo of myself from Instagram below). Love it!

Source: Etsy – therescuedphoto

It’s me again! I need more curls all over but I’m getting there.

“Kennywood Park Memories-May 20th, 1950”. I adore our smiling couples fun “animal” sweathers. We have a fish sweater and a blue jay sweater.

Source: Pinterest

Cat Eye glasses are the best and our cutie 1950s gal is rockin her’s in style!

Source: Worthpoint.com

You have three tries to get the photo right, what look are you going for? The smile? The goofy? Or the flirty?

1950s photo of a woman with a polkadot shirt and cute clip-on earrings.

Source: eBay

“Hey ladies remember that night in 1923? Ahhh good times!”.

Fun 1950s photo booth image of 3 older ladies with great hair and fun glasses!

Source: Pinterest

“Don’t a-mess with my ducktails
Don’t a-mess with my ducktails
If you mess with my ducktails

I’ll get so mad at you” – Joe Clay “Ducktail”-

1950s photo booth image of a teenager boy with a ducktail hairstyle.

Source: eBay

1950s image of a young woman with a scarf tied around her head and cute short bangs a style that was popular in the 1950s (Thanks to Audrey Hepburn).

Source: Etsy – therescuedphoto

I hope you enjoyed this fun photo booth filled post! It is always a joy to look back at the “early selfie” and smile.

Question time: Do you have some fun photo booth images of you or others? Share any thoughts in the comment section below.

Further Reading: Vintage Photo Tuesday: The Photo Booth & Vintage Photos 1920s-1960s (Archived Blog Posts).

Thanks for dropping by!

Liz