“Back in 1909, a super-rich French banker named Albert Kahn decided to create a photographic record of the world using the new color photography process that had just appeared, the Autochrome Lumière. He commissioned 4 photographers to take their cameras to places all over the world. One of the cities they documented was Paris.”

Apparently a total of 72,000 photos were taken in all – sadly, the super-rich banker went bust in 1929.  DH sent me this link; click and see some extraordinary photos of everyday life and scenes of Paris from 1914. I asked my mother if she remembered it like this … and she hung up on me.