Yiddish children’s book (The Kitten by Leib Kvitko), Odessa, 1935. From the Center for Jewish History, who offer this description:

A little boy and his kitten are best friends and play together day and night. But instead of catching mice at home, the kitten plays and dances with them. When the boy’s mother finds this out, she throws the kitten out of the house. The kitten returns when the boy’s mother is away. The little boy rejoices, and his mother only smiles when she comes back and sees them together again.

“Mickey the alley cat, stranded atop a tall pole, is prodded by a clothesline swung by Patrolman Peter Weiber onto a plank ‘bridge’ suspended by his owner, Angel Martinez.”

Photographer: Vincent Lopez, 1959. (Source: Photographic Morgue of the New York Journal-American, Harry Ransom Center.)

Jens Hansen Lundager (1853-1930), “Hulda Lundager with her cat and her doll,” Mount Morgan, Queensland, Australia, n.d.

(Source: State Library of Queensland on Flickr Commons.)

Amy Carter with her cat, Misty Malarky Ying Yang, Feb. 1978. National Archives, ARC Identifier 177850. (Via Public Domain Images Online.)

Editor’s note: Mickey Mouse phone.

(Source: imagespublicdomain.files.wordpress.com)

“Three-Hour Rescue: Patrolman Richard Hiller successfully rescues a kitten after a 3-hour-long attempt to save it from the catch basin of a storm drain,” 1957. (Source: Photographic Morgue of the New York Journal-American, Harry Ransom Center.)

Editor’s note: There is an entire folder in this photo morgue devoted to “Cats—Rescues.” Bless you, New York Journal-American.

Nickolas Muray (American 1892-1965), [GIRL WITH CAT], ca. 1945. George Eastman House Collection.

(Source: vintagepussies)

“Cats’ food didn’t come out of a can and it was nothing but the best fish - Pt Perpendicular, c 1936 / by Mrs Tulk.”

(Source: State Library of New South Wales on Flickr.)