These Incredibly-Edited Photos Bring Us History In Color

Published March 8, 2017

Updated February 13, 2025

As the maxim goes, a picture speaks a thousand words. But in color, they say even more. We give you these amazing photos of history in color.

Photo-editing software has never been more affordable or easier to use, and as a result various artists have used the technology to physically alter the way we view our past. Indeed, we can now see centuries-old events in color, which inevitably has the effect of making the events captured by camera seem more “real.”

Don’t believe us? Check out these photos of history in color and see for yourself:

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Some of these Connecticut high school boys in 1909 have been newsboys for eight or nine years already. US National Archives

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Some of these Connecticut high school boys in 1909 have been newsboys for eight or nine years already. Colours of Yesterday/Facebook

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At the 1942 fair in Klamath Falls, Oregon.Russell Lee/The Library of Congress

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At the 1942 fair in Klamath Falls, Oregon.Colours of Yesterday/Facebook

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An injured Japanese father and child in 1944 during the Battle of Saipan. W. Eugene Smith/Life Magazine/Flickriver

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An injured Japanese father and child in 1944 during the Battle of Saipan. Colours of Yesterday/Facebook

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Buster Keaton making New Year’s resolutions in 1929.Pinterest

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Buster Keaton making New Year’s resolutions in 1929.Colours of Yesterday/Facebook

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Metro Goldwyn Mayer star Dorothy Sebastian brushes up on her flying instructions, circa 1929.Flickr/A Diamond Fell From the Sky

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Metro Goldwyn Mayer star Dorothy Sebastian brushes up on her flying instructions, circa 1929.Colours of Yesterday/Facebook

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A 1936 drought refugee from Polk, Missouri, awaiting the opening of orange picking season in Porterville, California.Library of Congress

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A 1936 drought refugee from Polk, Missouri, awaiting the opening of orange picking season in Porterville, California.Colours of Yesterday/Facebook

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Jane Russell in a promotional shot for the 1943 film The Outlaw. Flickr/siddacool

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Jane Russell in a promotional shot for the 1943 film The Outlaw. Flickr/siddacool

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Fresh socks are given to evacuated troops from Dunkirk in 1940 at Paddock Wood station in Kent, England.Colours of Yesterday/Facebook

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Fresh socks are given to evacuated troops from Dunkirk in 1940 at Paddock Wood station in Kent, England.Colours of Yesterday/Facebook

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Singer Sarah Vaughan, circa August of 1946.Wikipedia

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Singer Sarah Vaughan, circa August of 1946.reddit/Captain-cliche

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1942 Sideshow barker at the Klamath Falls, Oregon circus.Russell Lee/The Library of Congress

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1942 Sideshow barker at the Klamath Falls, Oregon circus.Colours of Yesterday/Facebook

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Rita Hayworth, born Margarita Carmen Cansino, was a 1940's screen idol and top WWII pin-up girl. Flickr/siddacool

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Rita Hayworth, born Margarita Carmen Cansino, was a 1940's screen idol and top WWII pin-up girl. Flickr/siddacool

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West Indian and Australian troops in 1917 during the Battle of Ypres, stacking 8-inch shells at a dump. Imperial War Museum

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West Indian and Australian troops in 1917 during the Battle of Ypres, stacking 8-inch shells at a dump.Colours of Yesterday/Facebook

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French actress, singer, model, and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot.Flickr/siddacool

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Mark Twain in the garden, 1900. Reddit/Zuzahin

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Elizabeth Taylor on the set of the film ‘Giant’, 1956. Photographer: Frank WorthReddit/Malakon

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V-J Day in Times Square, August 14th, 1945. Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt.Sanna Dullaway/Deviant Art

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Walt Whitman portrait, 1887. Reddit/DanarKeller

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British Troops in England, September 20th, 1939. Reddit/BenAfleckIsAnOkActor

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H.W. Murphy, testing his bulletproof jacket, October 13th, 1923. United States Library of Congress.Reddit/BenAfleckIsAnOkActor

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Charles Darwin portrait, March 7th, 1874. Reddit/mygrapefruit

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Boy with Stuffed Toy in London during WWII, 1945. Photographer: Toni Frissel. Reddit/HansLucifer

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Hindenburg Disaster, May 6th, 1937. Photographer: Murray Becker. Reddit/danarkeller

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Nikola Tesla, 1893. Photographer: Napoleon Sarony. Reddit/danarkeller

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Next, check out the world's first selfie and history's cool kids: the best of old school cool.

author

An All That's Interesting writer since 2013, Erin Kelly focuses on historic places, natural wonders, environmental issues, and the world of science. Her work has also been featured in Smithsonian and she's designed several book covers as a graphic artist.

editor

Based in Brooklyn, New York, John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of expertise include modern American history and the ancient Near East. In an editing career spanning 17 years, he previously served as managing editor of Elmore Magazine in New York City for seven years.

Citation copied

COPY

Kelly, Erin. "History In Color: 25 Iconic Black And White Images Brought To Life." AllThatsInteresting.com, March 8, 2017, https://allthatsinteresting.com/history-in-color. Accessed August 21, 2025.