"We try to come up with funky stuff that is full of surprises," says illustrations editor Susan Welchman, who picks the images each month for National Geographic's most popular feature. "They have to be light, related to the stories in the magazine, and, if possible, funny." Click a year to display the archive at right. ‹‹ Back to current Flashback January Spittoons at the ready, the U.S. Board of Tea Experts demonstrate the art of tea tasting to a New York women's club president in 1954. February Designed to attract attention in the 1920s, an owl ice-cream stand—complete with turning head and glowing eyes—drew customers from a Los Angeles roadside.