Classic Memes From a Time Before The Internet

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Apr 14, 2023 9:00 AM EDT

It's easy to believe that memes are a novel invention of the 21st century. After all, we're so evolved and living in the future; it's no wonder we pioneered this compelling new art form.

Unfortunately, we did not invent memes. Not even close. If you look into any newspaper or humor magazine from the early 20th century, you will see cartoons, illustrations, and jokes utilizing the exact same format memes on Memebase use today. Modern people are not as creative as we thought, and everything we've done has been done before by now-dead humorists.

Pawing through old newspapers at an archive or library is just as fun as it sounds. You have to search extremely hard to get to the good stuff, and even then, it's usually not that good. That's why I'm glad that there are hardworking Twitter users that will do the work of finding funny headlines for us! You go, @yesterdaysprint !

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