For me colour photographs provide a fascinating perspective and radically different angle on historical events. They evoke the age when they were taken with a forcefulness of a 1000 words. Notwithstanding the fact that the photographs have been colourised, they nevertheless still radiate their patina of age as if they had been weathered by the elements themselves.
View this array of photos and let me know whether you concur
Main picture: Madison Square Park New York City around 1900