8 vintage photos of beauty queens

Miss America has really changed over the years

Vintage beauty queens

One of the 24 beauty queens chosen by the judges of the first photographic beauty competition, which was sponsored by a Parisian magazine in 1902. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Viola Dana sits in a chair of flowers after winning a 1920 beauty contest in Hollywood. (General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

Margaret Gorman Cahill, 15, won the first Miss America contest in Atlantic City, N.J. in 1921. Her formal title was queen of Atlantic City's "Inter-City Beauty Pageant," which later became the Miss America Pageant. (AP Photo/handout)

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Mary Campbell, second from left, won the 1922 Miss America contest. At far left is Armand T. Nichols, director of the pageant. Gorman, the previous winner, is at right. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Ruth Malcolmson represented the Quaker City as Miss Philadelphia in 1924 and went on to win the Miss America title. (Underwood & Underwood/Corbis)

Original caption: "Robed In Queenly Attire! Sweeping the 15 judges virtually off their feet, Miss Norma Smallwood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, captured the Beauty Queen's crown at Atlantic City on Sept. 10th. This photo shows Miss America 1926 in her regal robes, seated on her throne at Atlantic City." (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Miss America, 1927. (Underwood & Underwood/Corbis)

Miss America, 1940. (Underwood & Underwood/Corbis)

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Sarah Eberspacher

Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.