30 Colorized Images From the Instagram Account “History In Color”

It’s hard to picture how the past would have appeared in color when all we have are black and white images to go on. Many people today are re-colonizing historical photographs in an effort to make us feel closer to our ancestors.

Colors can be restored by studying current style trends and the objects in the picture. Most color correction is completed based on educated guesses and an awareness of how colors occur in nature. Colorized historical photographs are often uploaded to the r/ColorizedHistory subreddit. Take a look at the gallery below to see some examples of their greatest restored black and white photographs.

More info: Reddit

#01 Photographed by Edward S. Curtis in 1905, the image depicts three horses.

#02 A marijuana plant that Grandma grew in 1973 took first place at the California City County Fair.

#03 Amelia Earhart

#04 John Smith, also known as The White Wolf, was a well-respected elder Chippewa from Cass Lake, Minnesota. This 1914 portrait shows him in his traditional garb. (Likely Born in the Years 1822 and 1826; Could Have Been Born as Early as 1784; Passed Away on February 6, 1922)

#06 The Two Bulls, or Joseph, of the Dakota Sioux, ca. 1900.

#07 Chicago, 1929: Mail carrier N. Sorenson poses with a hefty load of holiday mail and packages.

#08 Richard and Mildred Loving’s love story became the foundation for the landmark Supreme Court case that overturned the nation’s most recent segregation laws.

#09 In this 1945 photo, two American soldiers proudly display the “Easter Eggs” they had made for Adolf Hitler out of 155mm artillery shells with his name engraved on them.

#10 During the Irish Land War in 1887, the O’halloran sisters fought off officers who were evicting their family with poles and boiling water.

#11 A Trip to Sweden by the Bin Ladin Family in 1971

#12 Frida Kahlo Keeps A Sugar Skull, 1951.

#13 Sorrento, On The Amalfian Coast, Italy In The Year 1888

#14 A Navajo woman weaves a blanket under a cottonwood tree in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona in the photo titled “The Blanket Weaver.” By Edward S. Curtis, ca. 1905

#15 Sophie Scholl was 22 years old when she was executed by guillotine for high treason for starting the White Rose student resistance group during the Nazi regime. This year she would have turned 100 years old.

#16 German soldier in the snow, wearing only a helmet, boots, and a tank top with a cat on his head; a humorous photograph from the First World War. 1916.

#17 Artist Claude Monet is pictured in his Giverny garden in this 1899 photograph.

#18 This is a photo of Samson Beaver, his wife Leah, and their daughter Frances Louise taken in Canada in 1907.

#19 Mexico, Frida Kahlo, and Natalya Sedova in 1937, along with Leon Trotsky

#20 Arraignment of Benito Mussolini, 1915