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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

A look back

Historical articles from the Observer, compiled by @guardianlibrary. See also From the archive blog. For full content from 1791 onwards see our page on accessing past articles.

18 February 2017

  • Howard Carter with the sarcophagus of Tutankamun.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1923

    Tutankhamun’s splendour is revealed to the world

11 February 2017

  • Peter Hain, then leader of the Young Liberals, speaks against apartheid in South Africa at Lord’s cricket ground in 1970.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1970

    White South African cricket team invited to tour the UK

4 February 2017

  • A piece of a late 18th-century steam engine in the Science Museum, London.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1805

    The machine age begins: an engine with the power of three horses

28 January 2017

  • President Harry Truman with General Dwight Eisenhower in 1951.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1951

    General Eisenhower reassures Nato countries on a tour of Europe

21 January 2017

  • Reagan President Ronald Reagan and first lady, Nancy Reagan, wave to onlookers following the swearing-in ceremony.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1981

    Ronald Reagan becomes 40th president of the United States

14 January 2017

  • ‘Their lights wink stupidly and flicker in an exasperatingly mechanical rhythm.’

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1920

    The curse of illuminated advertisements

7 January 2017

  • A vintage phone

    From the Observer files: this week in 1927

    The telephone link that is bringing America and Britain closer together

17 December 2016

  • A notice outside Pentonville prison in London to announce the execution of Neville Heath on 16 October 1946 for the murder of Margery Gardner.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1969

    Protecting the public without hanging

10 December 2016

  • Tony Benn

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1976

    Mr Tony Benn and the Militant factions, Nagisa Oshima’s Realm of the Senses and Henry Kissinger on uncertainty

3 December 2016

  • From the Observer archive: this week in 1936

    The destruction of the Crystal Palace by fire

26 November 2016

  • Lord Scarman meeting residents in Brixton, south London.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1982

    Implementing the findings of the Scarman Report

19 November 2016

  • William Beveridge: ‘What matters are the legitimate interests of more than one nation.’

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1945

    Why the world needs a United Nations

12 November 2016

  • Imprisoned suffragettes waving through the barred windows of Holloway prison.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1906

    The shoddy treatment of suffragettes in prison

5 November 2016

  • British Gun Capture<br>21st November 1956: Three British soldiers sit triumphantly on a British-made gun they captured from Egyptian forces during the Suez Crisis. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) white;format landscape;male;weapon;artillery;gun;Roles Occupations;Army;British;Africa;Middle East;KEY 326534;KEY

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1956

    Britain’s shameful intervention in Suez

22 October 2016

  • 'Attack of the mutineers on the Redan Battery at Lucknow, 30 July 1857', (c1860). Indians fighting British troops of the East Indian Company. Illustration from The History of the Indian Mutiny, by Charles Ball, Volume III, The London Printing & Publishing Company, (c1860). (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1857

    Reflections on the siege of Lucknow

8 October 2016

  • From the Observer archive: this week in 1905

    Drinking is no longer ‘good form’

1 October 2016

  • Sir Geoffrey Howe

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1973

    It is of little relevance if Britain falls behind other countries in its economic growth

24 September 2016

  • Roy Jenkins, as home secretary in 1966, ruled on the birching of a prisoner

    From the archive – this week in 1966

    Corporal punishment in prisons

10 September 2016

  • Fort Niagra, subject of an attack by General Brock.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1812

    US forces invade Canada

3 September 2016

  • Electioneering<br>British Prime Minister Clement Attlee (1883 - 1967) electioneering in Priory Court, Walthamstow, London, seen here with a group of children. (Photo by Fisher/Getty Images)

    From the archive: this week in 1950

    Communists infiltrate the Labour party
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