Historical photos in color
Real photographs of famous people and moments from the Library of Congress, restored and in color, each beside the original scan and the facts of its catalog record.
Or just upload the photo: damage, color and sharpness are handled in one pass.
Choose a photoBy decade
- Photos before 1900 in colorReal photographs from before 1900 at the Library of Congress, restored and colorized: 3 pictures, each beside the original scan and its record.
- The 1900s in colorReal photographs from the 1900s at the Library of Congress, restored and colorized: 7 pictures, each beside the original scan and its record.
- The 1910s in colorReal photographs from the 1910s at the Library of Congress, restored and colorized: 80 pictures, each beside the original scan and its record.
- The 1920s in colorReal photographs from the 1920s at the Library of Congress, restored and colorized: 7 pictures, each beside the original scan and its record.
Where the photographs come from
Every photograph here is a glass negative, transparency or print held by the Library of Congress whose catalog record reads “No known restrictions on publication.” Most come from news agencies and studios of the 1900s–1920s, such as the George Grantham Bain Collection; where the record names no photographer, neither do we.
Each page quotes the catalog record — its title, date and notes — and links to it, so the result can always be checked against the Library’s scan.
How they were restored
The scans went through the same analysis and instructions as the restoration tool on this site; the images were generated in our lab with Gemini nano-banana 2.1, a different model from the one behind the tool. We made one or two attempts per photograph and published only results that stayed close to the original, judged by eye and, where the measurement found faces, by a face-similarity measurement. One page is the exception: the engraving copy of Abraham Lincoln, which the model turned into a photo-like portrait. It stays in the series as a warning, and its page says so.
The color is inferred by the model. A black-and-white negative recorded light and shadow, not hue, so every color here is a plausible reconstruction, not a record.
Questions about these colorized photos
Are these real photos?
Yes. Each page starts from a negative or print in the Library of Congress and links its catalog record. The repair and the color are the model’s work; hold the photograph on any page to see the original scan. One print, of Abraham Lincoln, photographs an engraving rather than the person, and its page says so.
Are the colors historically accurate?
They cannot be read from the photograph. The color versions are plausible reconstructions, not evidence of what people wore or how places looked.
Can I restore my own photo like this?
Yes. Upload a scan or a phone photo of the print, and when the result is back, hold the photograph to see your original before you decide whether to keep it.