19 Pictures of Women That Prove Old School Was Really Cool

Girls stuff
03/31/2025
19 Pictures of Women That Prove Old School Was Really Cool

There are plenty of female trailblazers in history—the women who did it first, so others could follow. Here are some such super cool women, who did things big and small, but in doing so, managed to alter the course of history so that future generations could follow in their path. These women are truly old-school cool!

“My grandma, Mary Jane, while working at the Department of Agriculture.”

“My mom was one of the first female graduates of the Culinary Institute of America. Here she is working as the first female pastry chef at a hotel in Pittsburgh in 1980.”

“My grandmother in 1935, at 14. She was a working woman, and once the fastest typist in the state of Utah.”

© SoggyOil / Reddit

“When she was 90, I recorded a video of her dancing to Party Rock Anthem, which went viral in 2012. What a life.” © SoggyOil / Reddit

“This is my mom in the late 70s.”

“My grandmother, in the 60s, working in Kodak’s mailroom. Grandfather titled this picture: Ask her to marry you already!”

  • I know people in the 60s had the same problems we have today, but when I see old pictures, I always imagine it being an awesome time to live. © johnnycashesb***h*** / Reddit

“I was one of the first female UPS drivers in Maryland, in 1977.”

  • My mom was also one of the first female UPS drivers in California. She started in either 1974 or 1975. She worked for them for 20 years. Then she went on to get her CDL and drive semi-trucks. I will always be proud of my hardworking mom! © CelestialGoddess1111 / Reddit

“My grandmother, born in Havana, Cuba 1924, walking home from work circa 1944 in Greensburg, PA.”

“My great aunt Kitty—codebreaker—on her wedding day in 1943.”

“Exceptionally bright, she was accepted to the Florida State College for Women (now FSU) in the class of 1942 to study mathematics.” © According-Ad3963 / Reddit

“This is my grandmother when she was a meter maid, in the 1960s.”

“She was told she had to wear a dress, and she didn’t like that. So she wore pants. She was the first woman to change the uniform and the first meter maid to wear pants in this west Texas town.”
© ryan33397 / Reddit

“My mom, getting out of a jet. She was one of the first female pilots to be trained in Sweden. Early 1980s.”

“My grandmother working in a café. Circa 1944.”

“My great-aunt standing in front of her airplane at LaGuardia Field in 1945.”

“My grandmother posing for a brochure in the VIP room at the original Playboy Club in NYC, where she worked as a bunny in the 60s.”

“Photos of my grandmother—one of Sweden’s top models in the early 1960s.”

“Cool fact, she was very familiar with the King and Queen of Sweden, and she even knew Alain Delon at the time!” © OPF18__ / Reddit

“My great-grandmother, 1917. Age 15.”

“My great-grandmother, working as a welder.”

“My grandmother was one of the first women to be a train engineer. For Union Pacific, possibly the first in her state (mid-1970s).”

  • She made it easier for me to be a locomotive engineer!!! Thank you for her courage. She was way ahead of her time. The earliest women engineers I know were from the 1980s. © Specialist-Wolf-2116 / Reddit

“My grandma, now 90, modeled for Volvo back in the day.”

“My totally ripped great-grandmother in the circus, 1950s.”

  • This is great, look at her muscles! Did she do high wire work or acrobatics? Thanks for sharing this. © ppw23 / Reddit
  • Her name is Lilli Kristensen, and she was a part of the Ringling Brothers circus. She was an aerialist acrobat and bareback horse rider. She was recruited by the brothers in Sweden in 1949.
    © Unknown author / Reddit
  • She also tamed Panthers! © SocraticSalvation / Reddit

If you liked these vintage photos, then here go more snapshots of the past, only these are from the proms.

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