These 10 photographs, in monochrome and then reconstructed color, are taken from the book The Paper Time Machine, a collaboration between Retronaut and Jordan Lloyd of Dynamichrome. The photos give us a different look at history.
“So realistic are the results, that the decades and centuries that separate us from the subjects of these images, simply fall away,” said the author.
1. Eiffel Tower, Paris, July 1888
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| Construction of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, July 1888. |
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| Photo by Roger Viollet/Getty. Color reconstruction by Dynamichrome. |
2. Taj Mahal, India, c.1942
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| Covered in bamboo scaffolding to disguise it from enemy bombers, the dome of the Taj Mahal, Agra, India, looks almost as if it is being built during WWII. Private First Class John C. Byrom, Jr., of Waco, Texas, trying to catch a goldfish in the marble-lined pool at the approach to the Taj Mahal. Observing are Corporal Anthony J. Scopelliti and Private First Class Ray Cherry. |
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| Photo by Library of Congress. Color reconstruction by Dynamichrome. |
3. Golden Gate Bridge, United States, c.1934
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| The Golden Gate Bridge under construction, San Francisco, California, c.1934. |
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| Photo by Library of Congress/Chas M. Hiller. Color reconstruction by Dynamichrome. |
4. Mount Rushmore, United States, 1932
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| Gutzon Borglum and supt. inspecting work on the face of Washington, Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota. May 31, 1932. |
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| Photo by Library of Congress. Color reconstruction by Dynamichrome. |
5. Stonehenge, England, c.1920
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| A view of a trilithon being re-erected during Lieutenant-Colonel Hawley's excavations and renovations at Stone Henge in 1919 and 1920. The monument itself dates to circa 2000 B.C., although the site was in use much earlier than this. |
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| Photo by English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images. Color reconstruction by Dynamichrome. |
6. Sacre-Coeur, Paris, c.1880s
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| The bell-tower of the Sacre Coeur Basilica under construction on the Montmartre Hill in Paris, c.1880s. |
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| Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma Keystone via Getty Images. Color reconstruction by Dynamichrome. |
7. Nelson’s Column, London, 1844
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| Nelson's Column under Construction, Trafalgar Square, London, April 1844. This image suggests industrious advances in the construction of the column. However, when Talbot took this photograph the building work had actually been halted while the government took over the project from the building committee whose funds had run out. Talbot invented the negative/positive process for making photographs between 1835 and 1839. Any number of prints could be made of a single image from the negative. |
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| Photo by SSPL/Getty Images. Color reconstruction by Dynamichrome. |
8. Tower Bridge, London, c.1889
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| Tower Bridge was begun in 1881 and opened in 1894, to designs by Sir Horace Jones. It was designed so that the central section could be raised to allow the passage of ships to and from the busy wharves of London. |
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| Photo by English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images. Color reconstruction by Dynamichrome. |
9. Statue of Liberty, Paris, 1882
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| Workers build the Statue of Liberty inside French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's workshop in Paris, 1882. The background shows the carved arm of the statue. At the back (right) are smaller models of the arm and the head. |
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| Photo by Albert Fenrique/Library of Congress. Color reconstruction by Dynamichrome. |
10. Hoover Dam, United States, c.1935
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| Officials ride in one of the penstock pipes of the soon-to-be-completed Hoover Dam, Arizona, c.1935. |
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| Photo by Bureau of Reclamation. Color reconstruction by Dynamichrome. |