On Sunday night, Miss New York, 24 year-old Nina Davuluri, was the first-ever South East Asian contestant to be crowned Miss America. (You can see her, and read a bit about her story here.)

The Miss America Pageant, which began as a means to earn girls scholarships way back in 1921, has come a long way over the years. Clearly, the ethnicities of the contestants have changed, along with the fashions (swimsuits!) and, of course, the "talent" portion of the show.

The ground-breaking crowning of Ms. Davuluri prompted us to take a look back at how beauty ideals -- in pageants and elsewhere -- have changed over the years. Here are a few of our favorite examples. You can see more over at The Week.

Viola Dana sits in a chair of flowers after winning a 1920 beauty contest in Hollywood.

READ: The Pageant that Redefines Beauty

Miss America, 1927.

Miss America, 1940.

READ: Your Beauty Etiquette Dilemmas -- Solved

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.