Working from home, or ‘WFH,’ became commonplace during the COVID pandemic. But it’s not nearly as new a concept as you might think. In fact, people have been working at home much longer than they’ve worked in offices.
From Agatha Christie to Mark Twain, here are vintage photos of some of the most brilliant and creative minds in history as they work their magic right from the comfort of their own homes.
Albert Einstein
![Albert Einstein sits at a desk in his study](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2023/07/einstein-19073-623x640.jpg)
Here is the German-born American physicist Albert Einstein at home in his study in Princeton, New Jersey, taken in 1951.
Leo Tolstoy
![The writer Leo Tolstoy is seen writing at home](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2023/07/tolstoy-90027-640x561.jpg)
The Russian author Leo Tolstoy, who penned the famous novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, is pictured working in his home. He was 80 years old when this photo was taken in 1908.
Sigmund Freud
![Sigmund Freud is seen reading a manuscript at his desk](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2023/07/freud-81625-640x484.jpg)
Here is Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, reviewing a manuscript in his Vienna home. The photo is dated 1930.
Anna Freud
![Anna Freud seated at her desk in front of a bookshelf](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2023/07/anna-freud-75031-640x438.jpg)
Like father, like daughter. This is Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud, who also became a psychoanalyst. She’s pictured at home in this 1920 photo.
Agatha Christie
![Agatha Christie using a typewriter in her home office](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2023/07/christie-81887-640x520.jpg)
Iconic detective novelist Agatha Christie works on a typewriter at her home in Devon England, in 1946.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
![Martin Luther King, Jr. looks through books while seated in his home office](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2023/07/king-86645-640x474.jpg)
The civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. is seen in his study in this 1956 photo taken in his Montgomery, Alabama home.
Mark Twain
![Photo Credit: Culture Club / Getty Images](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2023/07/twain-57802-640x616.jpg)
Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, writes in his study at Quarry Farm, Elmira, New York, where he created the iconic characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Thomas Edison
![Thomas Edison sits in front of a large bookshelf as he inspects one of his inventions](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2023/07/edison-13317-640x468.jpg)
More from us: Illuminating Facts About Thomas Edison
The prolific inventor Thomas Edison is pictured in his New Jersey home, tinkering with one of his many creations.