Rune stone, Herrstaberg, Östergötland, Sweden, c. 1890 Three girls at a rune stone (Ög 46) in Herrstaberg. The inscription says: "Vibern raised this stone in memory of Solva, his brother."

Source: Swedish National Heritage Board.

The World's Fair in Water Colors by Charles A. Graham, 1893 Source: World's Columbian Exposition Collection at The Field Museum.

Image taken from page 15 of 'The Unification of London: The need and the remedy', published 1895

Credit to The British Library.

Cover of a programme for Sinbad the Sailor, the pantomime in Dublin's Gaiety Theatre at Christmas 1892 Source: National Library of Ireland on The Commons

Riksarkivet (National Archives of Norway) - New Year Cards Digital Collection

I love this collection of new year cards from a variety of countries. The ones above are all from the 1890s but the National Archives of Norway have put up their entire collection on their Flickr page. If you want to see the rest, click here.

The Ghost Dance by the Oglala Lakota at Pine Ridge. Illustration by Frederic Remington, 1890 The Ghost Dance (Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the prophet Jack Wilson (Wovoka)'s teachings, proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with the spirits of the dead and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to native peoples throughout the region. The basis for the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, is a traditional ritual which has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times, but this new form was first practiced among the Nevada Paiute in 1889. The practice swept throughout much of the Western United States, quickly reaching areas of California and Oklahoma. As the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, Native American tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs. This process often created change in both the society that integrated it, and in the ritual itself.

Piazza del Duomo, Milan, 1898, the Beccari's army in the place against demonstrators The Bava Beccaris massacre, named after the Italian General Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris, refers to the repression of widespread riots in Milan in May 1898.

The Nansen–Jackson meeting at Cape Flora, 17 June 1896 (a posed photograph taken hours after the initial meeting)

An organ grinder with a monkey, photographed in 1892

Photochrom of Scarborough, 1890s Scarborough is a town on the North Sea coast of North Yorkshire, England, within the borough of the same name. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the modern town lies between 10-230 feet (3-70 m) above sea level, rising steeply northward and westward from the harbour onto limestone cliffs. The older part of the town lies around the harbour and is protected by a rocky headland. It is one of the largest settlements in North Yorkshire.

Swedish telephone, hand crank for magneto on right, 1896   A telephone magneto is a hand-cranked electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce alternating current from the rotating armature. In early telegraphy, magnetos were used to power instruments, while in telephony they were used to generate electrical current to drive electromechanical ringers in telephone sets and on operator consoles.

ON THIS DAY: 1899 – The first Hague Convention, among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in international law, was signed The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. The First Hague Conference was held in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the body of secular international law. A third conference was planned for 1914 and later rescheduled for 1915, but it did not take place due to the start of World War I.

ON THIS DAY: 1894 – Gavrilo Princip, Serbian assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, is born (d. 1918)

Passenger on wheelbarrow taxi, with barrow pusher, Beijing, c. 1870-90

Group of servants sitting around a table, c. 1890s

Advertisement for a "Witch" spoon by Daniel Low, Salem, c. 1891 Daniel Low, a jeweler in Salem, Massachusetts, began selling souvenir sterling "Witch" spoons in 1890, using two different patterns, the first with three pins, the word "Salem", and a witch on a broom. 

A dalang performing wayang kulit in Java, c. 1890 Wayang is a Javanese word for particular kinds of theatre. When the term is used to refer to kinds of puppet theatre, sometimes the puppet itself is referred to as wayang. Performances of shadow puppet theatre are accompanied by a gamelan orchestra in Java, and by gender wayang in Bali.

UNESCO designated wayang kulit, a shadow puppet theatre and the best known of the Indonesian wayang, as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 7 November 2003. In return for the acknowledgment, UNESCO required Indonesians to preserve their heritage.