See how fashion, family life, sports, holiday celebrations, media, and other elements of pop culture have changed through the decades.

Experience LIFE's visual record of the 20th century by exploring the most iconic photographs from one of the most famous private photo collections in the world.

In 1971 LIFE reported from Aspen, where young people in search of adventure were moving to the Colorado resort town. What’s more, there was a demographic wrinkle—a majority (about 60 percent) of those new arrivals were women.

“I find at present penguins are the only comfort in life. One feels everything in the world so sympathetically ridiculous, one can’t be angry when one looks at a Penguin.” And yet plenty of people have looked upon them with indifference, malevolence, or desperation.

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In 1949 LIFE magazine took its readers on an extreme river adventure in a story headlined “Shooting the Salmon.” The headline referred to the Salmon River, which cuts through central Idaho. The magazine opened its story breathlessly:

But what inspired LIFE to send photographer Gjon Mili to document the making of Anatomy of a Murder was not any of the big-name cinematic talents involved.

In 1972 LIFE magazine ran a cover feature on what it termed “Marriage Experiments.” The issue featured several examples of nontraditional domestic units. These ranged from a collective family in Berkeley, California to unmarried parents living in the Boston suburbs.

As a weekly magazine LIFE covered it all, with a breadth and open-mindedness that looks especially astounding today, when publications and websites tailor their coverage to ever-narrowing audiences. LIFE chronicled the lives of presidents, and also followed a …

In 1939, according to the report in LIFE, more than 8,000 people flocked to the store in Dallas for an extravaganza that lasted three nights. It was “the most spectacular fashion show ever held in the great Southwest,” LIFE wrote.