The world of 1889 feels impossibly distant until you see it in color. It was a time of horse-drawn carriages, crowded city streets, and communities that were beginning to experience the first waves of modern technology. For many people, the nineteenth century exists only in black and white photographs, making it easy to forget that the people who lived then saw the world in the same colors we do today.
That is what makes colorized photographs so remarkable. The images collected here bring the faces, fashions, buildings, and everyday scenes of 1889 into sharper focus, making the year feel less like ancient history and more like a real place inhabited by real people. Looking through them has a way of shrinking the distance between centuries and turning history into something that feels unexpectedly alive.
1. A photo of United States Postmaster General Donald M. Dickinson, 1889
2. Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, 1889
3. The Eiffel Tower, once it was finished, Paris, 1889
4. A portrait of a blind man who carried a paralyzed man, 1889
5. Three happy boys in Whitby, England, 1889
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6. John Muir with his best friend, 1889
7. Lars Jonassen, in Paris, 1889
8. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1889
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9. William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody in Paris, 1889
10. Hawaiian King Kalakaua and Author Robert Stevenson, 1889
11. A boy and his father are trying to catch the big one with a cane pole in 1889
12. Art Moss and his friend are preparing for a massive cattle drive, 1889
13. A man from Jerusalem, gazing cautiously at his workers, 1889
14. The Tower Bridge in London, while under construction, 1889
15. Heading home after a long day in the marshes, 1889
16. The O’Halloran sisters, who fended off officers evicting their family with pots of boiling water, 1889
17. Shooting ace Annie Oakley with her prized possession, 1889
18. Johannes Brahms, a Romantic Era composer and pianist, before speaking on an Edison wax cylinder, 1889
19. Georges Ernest Boulanger, age 52, 1889
20. The 23rd President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, 1889
Want to see more vintage content from the 1800s?
Check out 20 Colorized Photos From The Mid-1880s, or if you want to take a look at life in the 1870s, check out 35 Vintage Photos Of The Mid-1870s. Finally, if you want to see what life was like in the 1890s in color, check out 20 Colorized Photos of the Mid to Late 1890s.
