History photos

Rephotography is the act of repeat photography at the same site, with a time gap between the two images; the so-called "then and now" view of a particular area.

These colorized versions of black and white photographs allow you to look at a piece of history with a different eye.

Have you ever seen your grandparents’ wedding photos? How about your great-grandparents’ baby pictures? If you’ve got an album full of ancient, black and white family photos just collecting dust in your attic, wouldn’t you like to see those same images in vibrant colors?

“A picture is worth a thousand words”—a phrase most of us have heard before. And for a reason. Photographs can capture loads of information in just a split second and immortalize it for years to come. By freezing moments, photographers enable us to travel to places and times we’ve never witnessed ourselves. They allow us to see the world exactly as it was, whether it was yesterday or a hundred years ago.

Gucci unveils a museum in Florence on Tuesday. See photos of the brand’s most iconic moments.

Pictures hold something truly special—a speck of time that once was and shall never be again. They’re the closest thing we have to a time machine, allowing us to glimpse through a window of film and into the past.

Not all historical photos were meant to be seen by the public. The pictures that we've collected have been hidden away from history, and kept secret to spare their subjects from embarrassment.Many of these photos show a chilling side to the secretive past of many of our most well known celebrities and historical figures.

In 1930's, millions of people were out of work across the US. When there was a job opening, there were often a thousand people applying for the same job.

These days, when cameras are everywhere, from our phones to security cams in public spaces, it’s easy to forget that the major part of history has passed without them. Only in 1888, when Kodak released the first commercial camera, did they slowly begin permeating our lives.