Frequently asked questions
1. How is the color restored?
Every print starts from the highest-resolution scan the holding archive publishes, often taken from a glass plate negative and twenty megapixels or larger. The color is restored using modern professional digital techniques and then transferred onto that original scan. Every grain, every line, and every detail you see is in the original photograph. Nothing is redrawn, sharpened, or invented.
2. Is the color historically accurate?
Where the photograph or the archive record tells us what color something was, we follow the evidence. Signs, awnings, building materials, and uniforms are all looked at before the color is set. Where nothing survives to tell us, we choose colors that are plausible for the place and the period, and we do not pretend to more than that. The detail is documentary; the color is an informed restoration.
3. Can I see the original photograph before I buy?
Yes. Each print's page shows the original black and white scan next to the restored version, so you can move between the two and check for yourself. The same page links to the record at the holding archive, where you can view the exact file we worked from.
4. Where do the photographs come from?
Every photograph we publish comes from a public archive and is in the public domain. The New Orleans 1900 collection comes from the negatives of the Detroit Publishing Company, which passed to the Library of Congress in 1949 and are held there today. Each product page names the source archive, the photographer where the archive records one, and the rights statement. Where the photographer was never recorded, we say so rather than guess.
5. What is the print itself made of?
Prints are made on premium luster photo paper, which has a slight sheen, holds fine detail, and does not show fingerprints the way a high gloss does. Canvas and framed formats are offered as well, and each photograph's page lists the sizes available for that image. Everything is produced close to where it ships, and posters travel rolled in a tube in plain packaging with no third-party branding.
6. How do I know the edition is really limited?
The edition size is fixed before a photograph goes on sale, and it is stated on that photograph's page. Stock is counted in the store across every size and format, so the same edition cannot be sold twice. When the last one sells, the listing closes and the photograph moves to the archive. If you have a question about a specific edition, write to support@pastincolor.com and we will answer it plainly.
7. Why do you close an edition instead of printing more?
Because the promise only means something if we keep it. An open edition is a picture you can buy at any time, and there are plenty of those. A closed edition means the people who own that photograph are the only people who ever will. We would rather sell fewer prints than quietly reprint one.
8. How long will my order take to arrive?
Your print is produced to order after you buy it, which takes 2 to 5 business days. It then ships with tracking, arriving in 3 to 5 business days in the United States and 3 to 7 business days in Europe. Shipping is included in the price you see. We ship to nine countries: the United States, and in Europe France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark. The tracking link reaches you by email the moment the order leaves the facility.
9. What happens if my print arrives damaged?
Send a photo of the damage to support@pastincolor.com within 30 days of delivery. We send a free replacement, or refund you if you would rather have that. You do not need to ship anything back to us. A replacement never comes out of the edition, so it does not cost another collector a print.
10. I am buying this as a gift. What should I know?
Enter the recipient's address at checkout and the print goes straight to them, in plain packaging with no third-party branding. Allow for production plus delivery, which can run to about two and a half weeks in Europe and about two weeks in the United States. If it needs to arrive by a particular date, write to support@pastincolor.com before you order and we will tell you honestly whether it is realistic. You can also send them the link to the photograph's page, which names the archive and tells the story we were able to verify.
11. Is it safe to pay on this site?
Checkout runs on Shopify, which handles the payment itself over an encrypted connection. Your card number goes to the payment processor and never reaches us, so there is nothing for us to store or lose. We keep your name, address, and email because we need them to produce and deliver your order, and we do not sell your data. If anything about an order looks wrong, write to support@pastincolor.com.
12. I live in Europe. Is anything different for me?
Prices are shown in euros and shipping is included, the same as everywhere else. There are no import duties or customs fees: your print is produced close to where it ships, inside the European Union, so nothing crosses a customs border. You also have the right to withdraw from your purchase within 14 days of delivery for any reason, in which case you return the print in its original condition at your own shipping cost and we refund the full purchase price. Tell us by email at support@pastincolor.com within that 14-day window.