100-Year-Old Vintage Cat Memes

AmyBrown

Aug 26, 2020 12:00 PM EDT

Believe it or not but it turns out the very first cat memes were created over 100 years ago, thanks to a photographer named Harry Whittier Frees. Harry Whittier Frees dressed up cats and posed them with props, just the way one would photograph a human. He basically did what people do today before it was cool.

Frees was born in 1879, Reading, Pennsylvania. In an interview with LIFE magazine, it was told he took his first "lolcat" photo completely by accident! The year was 1906 when his family gathered for dinner and brought a paper hat. They passed around the hat from head to head until it was placed on the head of Frees' cat. At that moment he took a photo of a cat with a hat. The source mentions how admired the shot was so he began to take more photos of cats in outfits and props.

These photographs were taken in the early 1900s with a camera speed of 1/5th a second. As as we all know, cats (especially kittens) move constantly. Especially when you're trying to take a picture of them! So you can imagine how difficult it must have been and reportedly, two-thirds of the negatives had to discarded due to their blurriness.

Honestly, it just makes the following images that much more impressive! Feast your eyes on the world's earliest cat memes:

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via Harry Whittier Frees
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via Harry Whittier Frees
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via Harry Whittier Frees
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via Harry Whittier Frees
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via Harry Whittier Frees
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via Harry Whittier Frees
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And now some cat memes from the year 1964, by John Montgomery:

via John Montgomery
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"Cuddles (below) wants to be a ballet dancer when he grows up"

via John Montgomery
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"Did someone say cream cakes for tea?"

via John Montgomery
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"Guess what! I'm a catalogue!"

via John Montgomery
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"What's this, a flying fish?"

via John Montgomery
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"You should have seen the one that got away"

via John Montgomery
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"Am I the prettiest cat in the show?"

via John Montgomery
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"I wish the judges would hurry up. I want to go home"

via John Montgomery
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"This cat flap shows the principle of the cat door. The best cat doors are made of stronger stuff, and many are magnetic"

via John Montgomery
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"I'm sure no one will mind if I help myself"

via John Montgomery
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"Getting down to some serious drinking from a cask full of milk"

via John Montgomery
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"They'll never miss this one."

via John Montgomery