20 Free Vintage Ice Cream Photos
Here’s a small collection of free vintage images featuring people eating ice cream! These are curated from various public domain resources, lightly edited, and are available for personal or commercial use as they are out of copyright in the United States. If you’re from outside the US, you may have different restrictions.
How to Download
Click the link in the title (above the photo, it looks like “1. [photo title]”), and a large image should open in your browser. Then save that file to your computer and you can either print it or use it in a digital collage.
If you prefer to download them all at once, I have all these bundled together in my shop!
If you’re looking for a good printer, I have some recommendations here. And if you’re wondering what to do with these photos once you have them, here’s some tutorials!
Photos 1-5
1. Edwardian girl with ice cream
This cutie is from 1913! It shows a little girl with a cute headband eating ice cream from a dish.
This photo was taken in 1936. “Soda jerk” is American slang for the guys who worked the soda fountain counter at drug stores in the 1920s-1950s, where they served sodas, ice cream floats, and so on.
3. 1920s Movie Star with Ice Cream Bar
This is Betty Compson, a movie star from the 1920s! She’s eating an Eskimo Pie (now called Edy’s Pies) which is vanilla ice cream coated in chocolate.
4. Turkish Ice Cream Seller with Fez Hat
This photo is from 1898 and shows an ice cream merchant selling treats to his young customers.
5. Children with Ice Cream Cones
This photo was taken in 1938 at the National Rice Festival in Crowley, Louisiana.
Photos 6-10
6. American Soldier Eating Ice Cream
This photo was taken in 1943 in Palermo, Italy. The soldier there recently met up with his Italian cousins.
7. Edwardian Women Eating Ice Cream Cones
This photo was taken in 1917 and shows Eileen Sedgwick and Marion Tiffany eating ice cream cones at the Greenwich Village Garden Party, a benefit for the Red Cross.
8. Young Woman Eating Ice Cream, 1940s
This photo was taken in 1942 in Michigan, during a national music summer camp.
This photo was taken in 1942 in Greenbelt, Maryland. It shows an ice cream man and three children, and a fab vintage ice cream truck!
10. Victorian Ice Cream Advertisement
This ad for a Victorian ice cream maker is from 1889.
Photos 11-15
11. Four African-Americans Eating Ice Cream
This photo is from 1939 and was taken in San Augustine, Texas. Everyone is dressed up beautifully– maybe it was date night!
12. Ice Cream Truck with Crowd of Customers
This photo is from 1942 and was taken in Washington, D.C.
13. Asian-American Kids Eating Ice Cream Cones
This photo is from 1942. While a super cute photo, it was taken during the forced removal to the temporary concentration camp during World War II which puts a somber spin on it.
14 & 15. Blonde Boy Eating Ice Cream (Photo 1/Photo 2)
These two photos were taken in 1941 in Vale, Oregon and show a barefoot little boy messily eating ice cream in a park.
Photos 16-20
16. Two Girls and Their Father Eating Ice Cream
This photo was taken in 1957! Two girls and their dad sit on a park bench and eat ice cream.
17 & 18. Little Girl Eating Ice Cream Cone (Photo 1/Photo 2)
These photos were taken in 1942 in Detroit, Michigan and show a little girl on a tricycle eating a huge ice cream cone.
This is a trade card of an illustrated boy serving ice cream and was created between 1876-1890.
20. Japanese Children with Ice Cream
This photo was taken in 1906 in Yokohama, Japan. Look at their little outfits!
I hope you enjoyed these images! If you use them in a collage or junk journal spread, leave a comment and let me know!
