Colorized Photos That Captured Way More Than Expected
By | August 23, 2022
Rare photos from history only tell a part of the story when they're in black and white. Seeing them in color gives you a look into the past in a way that you won't see in history books. Thanks to the beautiful colorization that each photo has undergone, each of these photos is like a window into the past.
These photos won't just tell you about history... they'll help you live it.
Each of these amazing colorized photos tells a story about where we've been and where we're going. They'll show you the arc of the human race and give you hope for a new day. Once you see how gorgeous these photos look in color, black and white just won't do it for you anymore.
This colorized collection of photographs is way more than meets the eye.
Brigitte Bardot never had it easy with fame. She was thrust into the spotlight from a young age and was hounded by paparazzi. That led the young Bardot to drop out of the spotlight before she really reached her peak, although it gave her more time to focus on her love of animals.
Bardot explained her problem with fame:
I am so used to people looking at me… I just don’t want them getting too intimate, that’s all. I was literally crushed by celebrity. No-one can imagine how awful it was. A nightmare. I just couldn’t live like that anymore.
Charlie Chaplin attends the premiere of his newest film City Lights in Los Angeles, accompanied by Albert Einstein. February 2, 1931.
When discussing his father's friendship with Chaplin and their distinct popularity, Einstein's son is said to have told Chaplin:
You are popular [because] you are understood by the masses. On the other hand, the professor’s popularity with the masses is because he is not understood.
Titanic Orphans, brothers Michel and Edmond Navratil, 1912. They were the only children to be rescued from the Titanic without a parent or guardian.
The boys survived the devastating crash, but no one knew who they belonged to. They were survivors without a home who were given to a woman who spoke their native language, French. Luckily, it didn't take long for their mother to see their faces on the front of ever newspaper in the western world. She brought them home safe and sound.
It didn't take long for viewers to fall in love with Loren. by 1953, she was taking on starring roles and earning amazing reviews. While she may have gotten her start as a pageant queen it was clear within a few years that she was more than just a pretty face.
Arsenal goalkeeper Jack Kelsey peers into the fog, searching for the elusive ball. The fog was so thick the game was eventually stopped
As Kelsey looked into the fog, prepared to stop whatever ball came his way, he had no idea that the game had been called off. The fog was so thick that everyone stopped playing and he had no idea that he was only person left on the pitch. Hopefully he won MVP.
As Scarlett O'Hara, Vivian Leigh brought to life one of the most important and heartbreaking roles of the 20th century. To play a southern belle in the middle of the Reconstruction Era Leigh was put through immense hardships. She slept very little and was really only able to lean on the cast and crew to make it through the shoot.
Leigh spoke of the hard work that came with the role, and the immense sadness that she felt when it was all said and done:
When the day came that meant the film was completed, I could not help feeling some little regret that our parts were done and that the cast and the crew — who were all so thoughtful and kind throughout — were breaking up. Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Tom Mitchell, Barbara O’Neil — fine players all. We should see each other again, of course — but never again would we have the experience of playing in Gone With The Wind.
Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde, photographed in 1882. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, the early 1890s saw him become one of the most popular playwrights in London.
Today, Wilde remains the patron saint of people who would rather have a good time. He famously said of his extreme contempt for work:
One must have some sort of occupation nowadays. If I hadn't my debts I shouldn't have anything to think about.
100 years ago Mata Hari was shot after blowing a kiss at the French firing squad who executed her for accusations of being a spy
It's unclear if Mata Hari was ever actually a spy for the Germans or a double agent for the French. While she did have daliances with people from those countries no one really knows if she was able to actually gather information. Unfortunately, she took the fall for what was bad information in 1917.
Paratroopers of Easy Company aka the Band of Brothers, at Berghof - Adolf Hitler's home in the Bavarian Alps, 1945.
It must have been surreal to sit and sip cocktails in a place once owned by easily the worst person on the planet. One of the soldiers of the 7th Infantry Regiment said of his time at the former home of Hitler:
We couldn’t believe what we saw. The walls were covered with shelves and the shelves were stocked with all kinds of wines, champagnes and liqueurs. The food bins were well stocked with a variety of canned hams, cheese and two-gallon cans containing pickles.
Here's an odd threesome for ya... The tallest, shortest and fattest man of Europe all playing a game of cards, 1913
At the time, post cards were the most common way of communicating with someone that you didn't see on an every day basis. Most of these inexpensive postcards featured a funny image on the front because they were easier to sell. This one must have been flying off the shelves.
Homecoming Soldier, Vienna, Austria by Ernst Haas
The photo essay that became "Homecoming" was born while Haas was working as a tracher and scouting locations for fashion shoots. It was published in both Heute and Life magazine, where it showed the stress and excitement of the end of the war. Haas' work not only changed photography, it showed viewers exactly what it was like to be a soldier after a long battle.
Japanese-American college students during their relocation to an internment camp. Sacramento, 1942.
The barracks where they were kept formerly housed migrant workers and they were in horrible condition. The rooms had little in the way of modern necessities - both in cooking and bathing, but the Asian-Americans forced into these camps did their best to keep their heads up. Their resiliance should never be forgotten.
Field told Oprah that when she became the star of her first prime time television show she hadn't even traveled far beyond her home town:
When it aired in 1965, a season had 36 shows, which is huge. At 18 I didn't see how the show was perceived. I barely had all my consciousness at that point, and I never read reviews or saw ratings. I had my own TV series, yet I'd never been on a plane or even been out of the state.
The Stock Market crash on October 29, 1929, was so devastating and gut wenching that it became known around the world as "Black Tuesday." That day saw 16,410,030 shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange and essentially deleted billions of dollars out of the world's finances simply because there was too much trading happening. It was the last thing anyone thought would ever happen.
The Stock Market crash sent America, Europe, and the rest of the industrialized world into a tail spin that became known as the Great Depression. Less than five years after the crash tens of millions of Americans were out of work, and the nation didn't recover until we entered World War II in the 1940s. It was a day that hopefully we'll never have to experience again.
Koboto Santaro, a Japanese military commander, wearing traditional armor, in 1863
It wasn't until the 16th century, when Japan began trading with Europe that they began incorporating more modern fabrics and weapons into their attire. Thanks to this change a new armor, called tosei-gusoki, began to be used. However, it remained a status symbol to use armor that predated the new trade.
June 6th, 1944- Into the breach☠️☠️☠️
There was resistance up and down the beaches of Normandy, with hundreds of thousands of casualties. However, by the end of the day there more than 150,000 Allied troops standing proud on the beaches of Normandy. Their resiliance paid off.
Unpacking Mona Lisa at the end of World War II in 1945
This incredibly difficult task was carried off like a heist in reverse on August 28, 1939. On that day hundreds of trucks formed a convoy to move 1,000 crates of paintings and artifacts. Over the course of three days everything in the museum was transported far away from anywhere that the Germans would expect and the items weren't returned until after the end of the war.
"The Kiss of Life" - A utility worker giving mouth-to-mouth to a co-worker after he contacted a low voltage wire - 1967
Morabito discussed catching the lifesaving moment on camera, stating:
I passed these men working and went on to my assignment... I thought I’d go back and see if I could rind another picture. I heard screaming. I looked up and I saw this man hanging down. Oh my God. I didn’t know what to do. I took a picture right quick. J.D. Thompson was running toward the pole. I went to my car and called an ambulance. I got back to the pole and J.D. was breathing into Champion. I backed off, way off until I hit a house and I couldn’t go any farther. I took another picture. Then I heard Thompson shouting down: He’s breathing!
Geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor and Meteorologist Charles Wright photographed on the 5 January 1911 at the entrance of a grotto in the side of an iceberg with the Terra Nova ship in the background
Scott's group roughed it over Terra Nova through sub-freezing temperatures and intense hunger. All they wanted to do was the recognition of being the first group to the South Pole, it was so bad they could taste it. The group made it to their destination but Amundsen was already there...
A German soldier with a saw tooth bayonet stands in a dugout wearing his brow plate slid down to his neck, World War I
Trench warfare made for extremely dangerous run-ins during World War I. This extremely vicious kind of fighting made for an extremely brutal and bloody war, one that we'll thankfully never see again. Full body shielding like that seen in this photo was an incredibly necessary tool at this time.
Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia
As strange and impossible as it sounds that an English soldier could so endear himself to soldiers that he knew nothing about, it's all true. His life played out like a film which is likely why Lawrence of Arabia continues to work so well. He was one person who changed the tide of history, something that we all have the ability to do.
16 year old German soldier crying after being captured by the Allies, 1945
American photojournalist John Florea claims that he took this photo and others of Henke in Hessen, just north of Frankfurt. Florea believes that Henke is weeping because he's in shock, not because he was taken down by the Russians. It's likely that Henke said he was taken down by the Soviets because he lived in East Germany after the war and the Communist Party of East Germany considered anyone who surrendered to American soldiers as a liability.
While speaking about the way she was treated in the Hollywood system, Hayworth later said:
The way the studio sold me, you’d think I popped out of some package, ready made. My father’s family were all dancers. I was trained as a dancer since I was four years old. Honey, they had me dancing as soon as they could get me on my feet. It was a family tradition but the reason I had to do it professionally was that we were broke. Very broke.
Charlie Chaplin in 1916, at the age of 27
While speaking with the New York Times after the release of The Gold Rush he explained:
If I go fishing. I have always the idea of a story in my mind. I can think it over while the line is in the water. Often I stay away from the studio hoping that a new situation may occur to me. When I go out for recreation in the evening it is the same. I see a different kind of life and it makes me think all the harder about my idea. I never get away from the notion that I am watching myself in the passing show. As I eat I think of changes in situations. I work while I play, with the result that I become myself, a piece of film.
Henry Behrens, the smallest man in the world dances with his pet cat in the doorway of his Worthing home, 1956.
At home, Behrens lived a normal life. Much of his personal effects had to be custom built so he could use them, and he wasn't much bigger than his pet cat. But that wasn't really a problem for Behrens because he was a great, big man in a miniscule body.
On January 27 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration and death camp, was liberated by the Red Army
The Nazi soldiers had long deserted the camp, hoping to escape the horrible things they'd done. When the Soviets arrived they found more than 7,000 Jewish survivors who were barely hanging onto life. It didn't take long before the word was out about what was really happening in Nazi occupied Europe.
Oregon, August 1939. Unemployed lumber worker goes with his wife to the bean harvest. Social Security number tattooed on his arm identifies him as Thomas Cave.
Initially snapped by Dorothea Lange, the photographer barely made any note of Cave's tattoo. Her writing on the photo reads: "Note social security number tattooed on his arm." This must have been genuinely fascinating to see in the moment, not only because it was new, but because not a lot of people were being tattooed at the time.
A group of bootblacks gathers around an old Civil War veteran in Pennsylvania, 1935.
The veterans who survived the Civil War and lived into the middle of the 20th century (or later) saw a myriad of strange and new accomplishments. They saw technology like the automobile and the airplane wink into existence. And many of these men were lucid enough to tell stories and provide a detailed history of an era that only they could remember.
Winston Churchill as a Cornet in the 4th Queen's Hussar's Cavalry, 1895. He was 21 at the time.
By the time the young Churchill was a member of the 4th Hussars he was still a young man. He took every opportunity he could to throw himself into battle with little fear outside of never being able to speak again. This photo doesn't just show a proud soldier, it's someone who learned about the military inside and out before going on to lead one of the most impressive armies of the 20th century.
Albert Einstein invented bed head
As he continued to take care of his son, Einstein shirked his hair combing duties and stopped visiting the barber. It didn't happen overnight, but after a while Einstein had the wild hair we all know and love. It's likely that all that time saved freed up some much needed hours to brave the worlds of theoretical physics.
Traveling to the New York City for the first time, Dali took up a cabin in the Champlain. He rode across the Atlantic from France to America in the lower decks of the ship. He famously noted that he preferred to sleep close to the engines because it helped his trip go by quicker.
Eunice Hancock, a 21-year-old woman, operates a compressed-air grinder in a Midwest aircraft plant during World War II. August 1942.
As World War II raged on, the percentage of women in the workforce jumped from 27 percent to 37 percent - that's something like 2 million women going to work. These women worked in warehouses that built machinery for the war effort, they picked our crops, and they drove out busses. They were a major part in the Allied Forces winning the war.
Pablo Picasso wearing a hat and holding a revolver & holster given to him by Gary Cooper - Cannes, 1958
When this photo was taken Picasso had long transitioned out of his cubist phase. At this point in his life he was more into making sculptures and just kind of being a known celebrity. Even so, his work of this era was still incredibly fascinating and it neve rlost its playful spark.
Sophie Scholl, teenage anti-Nazi political activist
Before Scholl and her brother were caught and executed they brought many young people into the anti-Nazi underground with writings similar to this one which reads:
Our current ‘state’ is the dictatorship of evil. We know that already, I hear you object, and we don’t need you to reproach us for it yet again. But, I ask you, if you know that, then why don’t you act? Why do you tolerate these rulers gradually robbing you, in public and in private, of one right after another, until one day nothing, absolutely nothing, remains but the machinery of the state, under the command of criminals and drunkards?
"West meets East" - Two german brothers , separated by The Berlin Wall, meet again during the “border pass agreement” of 1963
During Christmas 1963, some 700,000 people from West Berlin traveled to East Berlin more than one million times. The wall was shut down again on January 5, 1964, which meant that visits were full of cheer with a hint of foreboding. The agreement was deemed successful which led to further day passes being doled out.
A photographer uses his own backdrop to mask Poland's World War II ruins while shooting a portrait in Warsaw, November 1946.
Much of Poland laid in ruins for years after the end of World War II. Even so, many Polish people did their best to make the best of an untennable situation. Even in this beautifully colorized photo it's clear that the polish people were envisioning a better tomorrow in spite of a wretched present.
American soldiers watch as the Tricolor flies from the Eiffel Tower again, August 25, 1944, Paris, France
General Choltitz was commanded by hitler to destroy the landmarks of Paris and burn the city to the ground. However, Choltitz couldn't bring himself to do it and surrendered to the Allied Forces. By August 26 the city was once again letting freedom ring.
American troops of the 1st Infantry Division leaving the port of Weymouth, England en route to Omaha Beach in Normandy in June 1944
In spite of the massive losses the men of the 1st infantry division didn't stop. They continued to push until the Battle of Normandy was won by Allied forces thanks to their ability to change directions in midstream and outthink the German military. Even though the Allied Forces came out on top, hundreds of thousands of men lost their lives.
Crow Native Americans watching the rodeo at Crow fair in Montana, 1941
Every third week of August people descend on Billings, Montana to take in the culture, sights, and sounds of the indigenous people of the great Plains. Each day of the fair sees a parade which begins at 10 am that stretches on for more than a mile. The centerpiece of the Crow Fair is the rodeo which takes up an entire day.
Drought refugee from Polk, Missouri, with his son awaiting the opening of orange picking season at Porterville, California in 1931
Many families that had good work for a few months would inevitably have to move on once the season came to an end. If they had some money saved that would be okay, if not they were once again forced to search for work. Sadly, this didn't stop until America entered World War II.
Dutch Resistance fighters armed with captured German weapons talk in the streets of Breda, Netherlands following its liberation in 1944
The Dutch resistance wasn't large but they did everything they could to help the Allied Forces with information and counterintelligence. They also carried out sabotage attempts on the German military. In 1944, their efforts were rewarded with the southern section of the Netherlands was freed. It would be nearly another year before the rest of the country was taken from the clutches of the German military.
King Ferdinand and Queen Marie of Romania arriving at Dover, England for a state visit on May 12, 1924
Even though the Romanian military wasn't a major force during the war, Ferdiand did end up uniting Bukovina and Transylvania in 1918. He was later crowned the king of "Greater Romania" in 1922. This peaceful unification didn't last long as a civil war broke out shortly afterwards.
Martin Luther King Jr. at the pulpit
While speaking with NPR, the Rev. James A. Ford exolained just why Doctor King's words continue to inspire:
I think that there was a kind of magic about the cadence and the tone of his voice and the way he actually started quite frequently fairly slow, but slowly you were enveloped and you were a part of his pace; you moved along with him. He engaged you. I mean, often he would ask a question repeatedly, and even if you didn't get a chance to answer back, you thought back an answer. It was a dialogical process. It was an interactive process.
Princess Elizabeth did her part for the war effort when she served as an ambulance driver for the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II. 1945
Years later, the Queen admitted that she slipped out of Buckingham Palace on the day that the war ended to be with the throngs of Londoners who were celebrating V-E Day:
We cheered the king and queen on the balcony, then walked miles through the streets. I remember miles of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall (the main street of British government), all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief. I also remember when someone exchanged hats with a Dutch sailor - and the poor man, coming along with us to get his cap back.
Rosa Parks & Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama circa 1955
Parks later said that she didn't know that the country would react the way they did, she just followed her heart:
I didn't have any idea just what my actions would bring about. At the time I was arrested I didn't know how the community would react. I was glad that they did take the action that they did by staying off the bus.
This photograph of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, considered "one of the most prolific figures in engineering history" was taken 160 years ago.
It may not sound crazy that an engineer would dedicate his life to desiging bridges and ships, but Brunel was more than that. He took his own designs and tried to figure out how they could be improved. For instance he figured out how to create tubular suspension and truss bridges that could improve bridges he'd already constructed.
The Russian author Tolstoy, regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time posing in 1908
By 1908, Tolstoy spent most of his time writing letters to his friends and people he admired. He wrote a letter on non-violence to one of a correspondent that made its way into the hands of a young Gandhi. The letter changed his life and steeled his resolve for peace.
U.S. athlete Jesse Owens salutes during the presentation of his gold medal for the long jump, after defeating Nazi Germany’s Lutz Long, during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
While speaking about the games after his multiple gold medal wins he explained:
People come out to see you perform, and you’ve got to give them the best you have within you. A lifetime of training, for just 10 seconds.. I wanted no part of politics. And I wasn’t in Berlin to compete against any one athlete. The purpose of the Olympics, anyway, was to do your best.
Winston Churchill & Charlie Chaplin, on the set of “City Lights," 1929
The two men became so close that Churchill became comfortable enough with the star to pitch him film ideas. The military man famously tried to get Chaplin to produce a film on the rise and fall of Napoleon to no avail. He said:
Think of its possibilities for humour. Napoleon in his bathtub arguing with his imperious brother who’s all dressed up, bedecked in gold braid, and using this opportunity to place Napoleon in a position of inferiority. But Napoleon, in his rage, deliberately splashes water over his brother’s fine uniform and he has to exit ignominiously from him. This is not alone clever psychology. It is action and fun.
Speaking about the change with the BBC, Professor Haleh Afshar explained:
This is a scene you would no longer expect to see in Iran - but even after the Islamic Revolution, hairdressers continued to exist. Nowadays you wouldn't see a man inside the hairdressers - and women would know to cover up their hair as soon as they walked out the door. Some people may also operate secret salons in their own homes where men and women can mix.
In Grace Kelly's earliest gigs she was told that her chin was "too wide"
Kelly later spoke about why she felt like she was never going to be a success, stating that more often than not she was simply not exactly what casting directors were looking for. She said:
I was in the ‘Too’ category. Too tall, too leggy, too chinny.
