Seeing the late 1890s in color changes the way you look at the decade. Black and white photographs can make people from that era seem almost unreal, as if they belonged to a completely different world. Add some color, and suddenly you notice the little things. The clothes look less like costumes, the streets feel more familiar, and the people start to look like people rather than figures from a history book.
That is what makes these photographs worth spending some time with. Over a hundred years ago, these were just ordinary scenes that nobody expected future generations to study. Today, they give us a surprisingly intimate look at a world that was already changing fast, even if the people living through it could not yet see where those changes would lead.
1. A boat crew rows out for fishing from Syðrugøta, Faroe Islands, 1898
2. A Swedish couple, looking like they’re in a romance movie, 1899
3. Inventor Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel looking out over a peaceful view in Nova Scotia, Canada, 1898
4. The earliest underwater photo ever taken, 1899
5. Crossing over the Los Angeles River at Griffith Park, 1898
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6. One of the first acceptable engines, the Ronald Engine No. 2, 1899
7. Now those eyes have some wild stories to tell
8. This is what football practice looked like in 1899, at the University of California
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9. An electric cab from London, 1898
10. The RMS Oceanic on her maiden voyage, 1899
11. American soldiers before leaving to fight in the Spanish-American War, 1898
12. The staff of the Yukon Sun, the farthest North British paper in the British Empire, 1899
13. European tourists in Egypt enjoying a meal with a backdrop of hieroglyphics, 1898
14. A cavalryman bracing his rifle on his horse, 1899
15. Lt. Colonel Theo Roosevelt outside his command tent, Camp Wikoff, Montauk, 1898
16. Spending some time by the Detroit River in 1899
17. Monmouth College Campus in 1898
18. Autumn leaves falling in Michigan, 1899
19. A pub in London called the Victorian Boozer, 1898
Want to see more vintage content from the 1800s?
Check out 35 Vintage Photos Of The Late 1880s, or take a look at 35 Vintage Images from the Early 1890s. Finally, if you’d like to see photos from the last decade of the 19th century, check out 25 Photos That Define the Last Decade of the 19th Century.
