Stumbling across a black and white photo in an old book is an intriguing find for history buffs. Yet it can sometimes be hard to connect with a black and white photo on a personal level. The subjects are faded and distant; we can’t gauge the color of their eyes or the flush in their cheeks, or see the intricate lines in their face.
Your perception of history may change entirely when you discover that people across the world colorize black and white photos. Here are some of the most compelling colorized black and white photos on the web—images that practically bring history to life.
Abraham Lincoln, 1865
King George V at Buckingham Palace (1914) before the outbreak of war
J. Hamilton Lewis, representative for Washington (1897-1899) and Senator for Illinois (1913-1919, 1931-1939). He was the first Senator to hold the title of 'Whip' in the Senate, later served once more as the 5th Whip, and served in the Spanish-American war - ca. 1913
Erwin Rommel as a Lieutenant, wearing a Pour le Mérite after the Battle of Caporetto, Italy 1917
Marie Curie in her laboratory in Paris, 1912
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his children with Cossack officers, 1916
Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan at Antietam, October 2nd/3rd, 1862
Richard Pierce–14 years of age, works as a Western Union Telegraph Messenger. Wilmington, Delaware, ca. May 1910
Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed by Matthew Brady in Washington, April 1878
Portrait of a Sámi immigrant, Ellis Island, 1910
School at Anthoston, Kentucky. By Lewis Hine, 1916
The Eiffel Tower, July 1888
Suffragists in Parade, c.1910-1915
The Cow Boy, Sturgis, Dakota Territory, c. 1888
Confederate soldier and family, c. 1860s
Harry Houdini steps into a crate at New York Harbor as part of an escape stunt, July 7, 1912
Post officers model their new Autopeds scooters, Washington DC, 1917
Licking blocks of ice during heat wave in 1912, NYC
Booker T. Washington in his Tuskegee University office, ca. 1906
The Jersey Shore c. 1905 “Boardwalk at Asbury Park”
Charlie Chaplin at 27, no makeup, 1916
French soldiers during the Franco Prussian War, 1870
Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author and poet, 1869
Alfred R. Waud, renowned sketch artist, known mostly for work as an artist correspondent during the American Civil War, seen here sketching at Gettysburg, July 1863
Silent film actress Mary Pickford, c. 1920
Edgar Allen Poe, 1848
Italian immigrants arrive at Ellis Island, 1905. Their worried expressions are caused by lost baggage.
Walt Whitman, 1887
Seth Kinman, one of the earliest settlers of California, sitting on a chair he gave to President Andrew Johnson made out of a grizzly bear. He also gave a chair made of elk horns to President Lincoln, ca. 1865
Japanese Archers c. 1860
Mary Winsor, founder and president of the Limited Suffrage Society, holds a sign during the American suffrage movement; ca. 1917
John L. Burns, the 'Old Hero of Gettysburg,' with gun and crutches, ca. July 1863
Featured photo: Jordan J. Lloyd; Additional photos: Jordan J. Lloyd, Marina Amaral , Colored History, Photo Retrofit, Dana R Keller, Richard Pierce, Sanna Dullaway, Ryan Urban, Manuel De Leonardo
