--- title: National Ice Cream Day: Photos of People Eating Ice Cream description: For National Ice Cream Day, a roundup of LIFE Magazine's best ice cream photography. canonical: https://time.com/3940639/national-ice-cream-month/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-08T12:00:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T05:41:23.000Z og:title: These Vintage Ice Cream Photos Will Make Your Mouth Water og:description: For National Ice Cream Day, a roundup of LIFE Magazine's best ice cream photography. og:url: https://time.com/3940639/national-ice-cream-month/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4b405b3cef3a04b/698858f2cd684808670a0976/150629-icecream-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ice Cream 1939 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Vintage Ice Cream Photos Will Make Your Mouth Water twitter:description: For National Ice Cream Day, a roundup of LIFE Magazine's best ice cream photography. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4b405b3cef3a04b/698858f2cd684808670a0976/150629-icecream-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Vintage Ice Cream Photos Will Make Your Mouth Water  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:41 AM UTCPublished: Jul 8, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  Two young boys eating ice cream, 1939. Two young boys eating ice cream, 1939.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:41 AM UTCPublished: Jul 8, 2015 12:00 PM UTC Brain freezes, sticky fingers and sugar rushes—oh, the sacrifices an ice cream addict makes for her dessert of choice. Though the treat has origins overseas, it is such a fixture of summertime in America that in 1984, President Ronald Reagan (also a [connoisseur](http://time.com/3740459/ronald-reagan-jelly-belly/) of jelly beans) [declared](http://www.idfa.org/docs/default-source/National-Ice-Cream-Month/ice-cream-month-proclamation.pdf?sfvrsn=2) July National Ice Cream Month. In his proclamation, Reagan called ice cream “a nutritious and wholesome food” and summoned Americans “to observe these events with appropriate ceremonies and activities.” And, for those who require more specificity, there’s an Ice Cream Day too, which falls on the third Sunday of the month. And so it was decreed: Eating ice cream—at least for one month out of 12—is not only an American pastime, but an American duty. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Two young boys eating ice cream, 1939. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Melinda Bennett eating an ice cream cone, 1940. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Debutantes eating ice cream at an ice cream parlor, 1940. William C. Shrout—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A young boy eating ice cream, 1942. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A boy eating ice cream at the Kentucky State Fair, 1944. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A teenage boy in Iowa eating ice cream, 1945. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Businessman eating ice cream cone outside a drugstore, 1946. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Young girl eating ice cream, 1946. Roy Stevens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Bathing suit model eating ice cream by a lake, 1946. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Little boy eating ice cream on the screened-in porch in Cape Cod, 1946. Cornell Capa—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Teenagers eating an ice cream cone together, 1947. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kids enjoying ice cream at Linda Vista Shopping Center, 1948. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Triplets eating ice cream cones, Robert (L), Sheldon (C) and Ronald (R) Schwartz, 1949. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Tame lion cub being fed ice cream cone by zookeeper's daughters Janice and Judith Owens who also share their treat with the family dog, at home. A. Y. Owen—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Balinese dancing girls eating ice cream, 1952. Gordon Parks—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Charles, Stephen and Kenneth Winston standing with cartons of ice cream, cones and cookies representing a year's consumption, 1953. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Boy eating ice cream cone at the circus in Madison Square Garden, 1953. Cornell Capa—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Two women enjoying ice cream cones at Iowa State Fair, 1955. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A young boy eating an ice cream cone at the local drugstore, 1957. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  An "Or-bit" sundae in honor of astronaut John Glenn's orbital flight, 1962. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Chapman College students eating Italian ice cream while participating in four-month educational cruise to Greece and Italy, 1968. 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