Photographers carrying around massive equipment in the late 1800 s captured scenes from their time which now enable us as viewers to develop a mental picture of something that we would otherwise have no way of knowing about. Photographs are tools for learning. Through their images, they describe how something might have looked. They process factual information by exposing details of a person or place at a particular time. For those who weren't present at a certain place at a certain time, photographs have preserved that situation for them so they are able to have an idea of what actually did occur.
Photographs provide a more personal, up-close perspective on things, than most words can do.
Some situations are difficult to explain in words, and unless you were there, you have no way of understanding what that situation was like. However, a picture that captures a moment of film illustrates emotion and expressions that can be seen and therefore understood. Throughout history photographs have been taken to document or record the state of being at a specific time. These photos have and will provide an understanding of the past for generations to come. Photographs have captured much of our world's history on film.