A young girl in 1920s Volendam, Netherlands, cradles a cat in her arms as she looks guardedly at the photographer. Although known for their coy, contrarian nature, cats have proved themselves to be the most photogenic of creatures. Cat curiosity is not just a product of the digital age; the photos in this collection show that cats have been popular photographic subjects for decades. (Read about bizarre 16th-century cat drawings.) In celebration of National Cat Day, we hope you enjoy these pictures of felines from our archives. —By Becky Little, photo gallery by Sarah Leen

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Three kittens cuddle in front of a giant fish tank, eyeing a very large grouper, at Marineland in 1952. Marineland became the world's first "oceanarium" when it opened in 1938 near St. Augustine, Florida.

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Siamese cats gather in their owner's Washington, D.C., living room, drawn by kittens playing with a ball of yarn. According to legend, a god created Siamese cats by blending the "GRACE OF THE PANTHER, INTELLIGENCE OF THE ELEPHANT, AFFECTION OF THE LOVE-BIRD, BEAUTY OF THE FAWN, SOFTNESS OF DOWN, [and] SWIFTNESS OF LIGHT," said the photo's caption from a 1938 National Geographic. (Read what cats think about us.)

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A cat protects its territory by attacking its reflection, seen in this photo from a 1964 National Geographic. The magazine caption suggested that "mastery of such acrobatics, developed in the games of kittenhood, makes the cat a superb hunter." (Read more about cats as hunters.)

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While teenage sailor Robin Lee Graham scrubs his boat on a beach near Darwin, Australia, his companion Avanga watches from a precarious perch nearby. The photo appeared in Graham's 1968 National Geographic report of his two-year sailing trip around the world.

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In this photo from a 1979 National Geographic, a cat contemplates paradise, or perhaps shoewear, from its owner's porch in the North Shore town of Kahuku, Hawaii. (Watch a video about how far cats roam outside.)

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According to the 1997 National Geographic in which this photo ran, a cat's paw pads provide traction similar to that of a ballet dancer's rosin-coated pointe shoes. (Read about one cat's mischievous paws.) The photo's caption notes that the famous ballet choreographer George Balanchine advised dancers to "land like a pussycat"—that is, gracefully.

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One cat relaxes while another plays in the shadows at Carnation's Feline Nutrition Center outside Seattle, Washington. The company, which manufactures cat food, maintains several rooms filled with purring, pacing, and playing taste-testers at its nutrition center.

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Got milk? A cat gets a kiss from a cow on a dairy farm in Massachusetts.

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Beneath cloudy skies, a young woman lounges with her cat on a trampoline in Mentone, Texas. (Want to know if petting is stressing out your cat?)

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The world's first cloned cat peeks its head out of a beaker at Texas A&M University in College Station. CC—short for "Carbon Copy"—was cloned at the school in late 2001, part of an effort aimed at cloning pets for owners. (Read more about cloning.)

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What are you looking at? Two feral cats glare at a camera-carrying intruder in a Baltimore alley. The 2011 National Geographic in which this photo appeared noted that wildcats first began to domesticate themselves more than 10,000 years ago. (Read more about feral cats.)

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What's cooking? A cat sidles up to a farm woman in Breb, Romania, as she prepares food for pigs in 2013.

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Although they're renowned for their night vision, cats can't compete with infrared light for piercing the darkness. This 2013 thermal image visually captures the reality of a cat's cold nose. (Read about cats in space.)

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Perhaps we love our pets mostly because they put up with us. Here, a cat's face is lovingly framed by its owner in Mill Valley, California.

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A young girl in 1920s Volendam, Netherlands, cradles a cat in her arms as she looks guardedly at the photographer. Although known for their coy, contrarian nature, cats have proved themselves to be the most photogenic of creatures. Cat curiosity is not just a product of the digital age; the photos in this collection show that cats have been popular photographic subjects for decades. (Read about bizarre 16th-century cat drawings.) In celebration of National Cat Day, we hope you enjoy these pictures of felines from our archives. —By Becky Little, photo gallery by Sarah Leen

Cats Through Time

Photograph by Donald McLeish, National Geographic

Cat Day: Our Archival Pictures of Felines

What's up, pussycat? Photos of coy, cute cats from the National Geographic archives.

Published October 31, 2014

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