33 Vintage First-Day-Of-School Photos

The back-to-school outfits, bags and haircuts have certainly changed.

Kids throughout the U.S. have returned to the classroom or are facing their final days of summer vacation. To note that, we’ve rounded up 33 vintage back-to-school photos from the past century.

While the outfits, books, bags and hairstyles may have changed, the excitement surrounding going back to school, making new friends and learning new things seems timeless.

1
Keystone View/FPG/Getty Images
A young boy and girl on the way to school for the start of a new term in the 1920s.
2
Universal History Archive via Getty Images
A girl's first day of school in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, circa 1921.
3
Underwood Archives via Getty Images
A mother takes her daughter by the hand as they head to school in the late 1920s or early 1930s.
4
John Graudenz/ullstein bild via Getty Images
Japanese children in traditional garb start school in California in 1927.
5
Kirn Vintage Stock via Getty Images
A 5-year-old girl shows off her books after her first day of kindergarten, circa 1929.
6
FPG via Getty Images
Children on their way home from school, with book bags strapped on their backs, after the first day of classes in Germany, circa 1930.
7
The Sydney Morning Herald via Getty Images
A young Australian boy stares into a classroom already full of students, circa 1930.
8
Keystone-France via Getty Images
Students in France greet a photographer at the start of a new term by shaking their schoolbags in 1932.
9
Keystone-France via Getty Images
Parents and their children are seen outside a school in Tokyo in the early 20th century.
10
Keystone-France via Getty Images
During World War II, Parisian students line up a courtyard on the first day of classes.
11
Keystone-France via Getty Images
A little boy in Paris says goodbye to his mother outside a school in September 1945.
12
Al Gretz via Getty Images
Joyce Payne and Vincent Baker have fun depicting their teacher at a school in New York's Harlem community on Sep. 13, 1948.
13
Rae Russel via Getty Images
In 1948, a young girl shares a moment with her mother outside the Lucy D. Anthony school in Madison, New Jersey.
14
Rae Russel via Getty Images
As their instruction begins in 1948, students at the Lucy D. Anthony school examine a small turtle.
15
Leonard Mccombe/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Wide-eyed children listening to fairy-tales on their first school day in 1949.
16
Leonard Mccombe/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Nap-time on the first day in 1949.
17
Archive Photos via Getty Images
Students eagerly vie to be called on at a New York school, circa 1950.
18
Express via Getty Images
Teacher Agnes Bolton stands in the schoolhouse door on the first day of classes for her only pupil, Jimmy MacLellan, in Scotland, circa 1950.
19
Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images
Children getting to know their new teacher, circa 1950.
20
Hulton Deutsch via Getty Images
Richard Sharp on his first day at the St. Nicholas County Primary School in Loughton, England, circa 1952.
21
Kurt Hutton via Getty Images
Five-year-old Howard Crafter has a tough time adjusting at the St. Nicholas County school, also circa 1952.
22
Keystone-France via Getty Images
Children hard at work on Sept. 15, 1959.
23
Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Delores York heads off for her first day at a previously all-white school in September 1960 in Arkansas.
24
Kirn Vintage Stock/Corbis via Getty Images
Two brothers about to start the new school year, circa 1964.
25
Jack O'Connell/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Mary Lynch, an assistant principal at a school in Boston's Roxbury community, leads first graders to a school in the city's North End on Sept. 6, 1967. Operation Exodus, a voluntary busing program organized by Roxbury parents, transported students from overcrowded schools in predominantly black neighborhoods to schools in predominantly white neighborhoods that had vacant seats.
26
Ted Streshinsky Photographic Archive via Getty Images
Children walk up a flight of stairs to attend a newly desegregated school in Berkeley, California, in 1968.
27
Boston Globe via Getty Images
Jim Hard (left) of Framingham, Massachusetts, gets acquainted with Joseph Reis of the Roxbury neighborhood at the Trotter School in Boston on Sept. 3, 1969.
28
Doug Griffin/Toronto Star via Getty Images
Canadian kindergarten teacher Trisha Langley teaching her first lessons on Sept. 7, 1971.
29
Ulrike Welsch/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Students at the Mary E. Curley School in Boston on Sept. 8, 1975.
30
Denver Post via Getty Images
Maranda Francisco seems taken aback by a classmate's antics on Sept. 20, 1987.
31
Denver Post via Getty Images
Students line up at the Side Creek Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado, on Aug. 11, 1987.
32
Duane Howell/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Schools kids arrive at Ellis Elementary School in Denver on Aug. 31, 1988.
33
Duane Howell via Getty Images
Five-year-old Dylan O' Sullivan appears determined to make it a good year as he heads into class in Denver on Aug. 30, 1989.

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