But we have now used technology to add a dash colour to these historic pictures of Sheffied, all taken before 1970, to transform images of how the city once looked in the days before colour photography was common.
Earlier this month, we applied a computer program to an initial 15 photographs to bring them into the age of colour. And now we have done the same for 16 more pictures, drawing on artificial intelligence to transform the pictures dating from the early days of the 20th century, up to 1960.
The technology has worked better on some of the pictures than others. But we hope it brings some new life to them and helps today’s audience see Sheffield in colour, hopefully close to how it would have looked to those who saw the places and events in pictures as they happened all those years ago.
1. Transformed by colour
We have used technology to colourise another set of our pre-1970 photographs to bring new life to some of our archive pictures. This picture shows the picture after colour is added (left), and the original black and white photo (right) Photo: Sheffield Newspapers
2. Let's dance
The AI has brought out the colour well in the picture of the final of the rock 'n' roll contest at the 1960 Sheffield Telegraph farm grounds gala. Photo: Sheffield Newspapers
3. The King opens the university
King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra visit Sheffield in 1905, to open the University. The picture shows the Royal couple outside the Firth Building at Sheffield University. Picture taken from the Sheffield Newspapers book Sheffield since 1900 Photo: Sheffield Newspapers
4. High Street
Horse drawn trams on High Street in 1900. Many of the buildings were lost in the Blitz Photo: Sheffield Newpapers