What was daily life like for old people in Russian villages at the turn of the twentieth century? Elderly people feature as an integral part of Russian rural family life in literary and in scholarly accounts, and are predominantly framed as able, skilled, omniscient community members. This article suggests that constructions of old age that see the elderly retaining physical prowess and community leadership overlook the lived realities of ageing. As elderly people lost physical and mental capacity, they slipped out of view in the Russian village, desexed, unseen and unremarked. The experience of the frail elderly allows us to explore the values accorded individuals within rural communities, and the extent to which families, communities and legal structures could and did intervene in the private sphere.

Painters' self-portraits offer the opportunity to study signs of ageing through the centuries. In this paper, we examine 687 self-portraits by 506 European painters from the 15th to the 20th century. To qualify for the analysis, painters had to be unquestionably identified, have known years of birth and death, and the self-portraits had to be dated unequivocally. ‘Age scores’ for the characteristics of the lower face were developed. Ptosis of the upper eyelid, bags under the eyes and the characteristics of beards were also recorded. Among the main findings, the painters of self-portraits that exhibited ptosis of the upper eyelid had a higher actual age than those of portraits which did not (55 versus 38 years). Similarly, those that represented bags under the eyes were older painters (47 versus 33 years). The percentages of portraits with eyelid ptosis and bags under the eyes were similar through the centuries and in three zones of Europe. The age scores of the lower half of the face were also consistent in all centuries, except at ages 40–49 years. The painters' average lifespan significantly increased during the 18th century; and within Europe a north–south lifespan gradient has been evident since the 17th century. We conclude that ageing has had similar facial manifestations over the last five centuries, except between 40 and 50 years of age.

This article addresses the subject of the role of older women in nineteenth-century North America. Existing historical accounts of the lives and position of older women in Canada and north-eastern USA are both partial and flawed, focusing mainly upon negative images of older women in poverty or in subjugated, passive domestic roles. These images of women's roles are based upon nineteenth-century guides and manuals which tended to portray later life as bleak, unfulfilling and restricted. However, through an examination of diaries and other biographical material describing the everyday lives of middle class women, contrasting evidence emerges of active and powerful roles and positive views of later life. It is argued that the examples discussed are not exceptional cases but rather are representative of a wider nineteenth-century pattern of older women undertaking satisfying and vital social roles within their family and community networks.