Experience LIFE's visual record of the 20th century by exploring the most iconic photographs from one of the most famous private photo collections in the world.

4 days ago · LIFE wrote in its 1948 report that, after the brutal war years, Europe was seeing a revival: From the tip of Italy north to Scapa Flow, American travelers are discovering a …

When LIFE magazine visited Big Sur in 1959, the Esalen Institute was three years from opening, but the coastal community had long been attracting free-thinking types.

As LIFE noted, the Queen’s visit coincided with another by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who was in Washington for “urgent policy talks” about Soviet accusations that the U.S. and Turkey …

In LIFE’s coverage of the event the magazine actually used a different photo, taken from a wider angle. That shot is majestic in its own right, giving more emphasis to the Utah landscape and …

LIFE magazine was fortunate enough to visit Cabo Blanco in 1959, when the club was still in its heyday. Staff photographer Frank Schershel captured the fisherman out at sea and along the …

So it’s likely that LIFE staffers caught many shows there, perhaps even sneaking out of the office for an afternoon movie break. The demolition meant goodbye to all that. Actress Gloria …

The breadth of the GE operations underlines the great variety of activity that legendary LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt documented when he gained access to the General Electric …

Here’s how LIFE described the painting’s journey from Paris to Washington in December 1962. Surrounded by grandeur that would have done credit to Charles de Gaulle, she had travelled …

LIFE’s coverage focused on the spectacle, the charity and the famous guests, which included Marilyn Monroe and her husband of nearly a year at that point, playwright Arthur Miller (see …