The colorized Peter Jackson WW1 documentary is the most dramatic example of how useful this is, of any that I've seen.
I think making the past seem more real and relevant is useful in helping people to learn from and understand our history by making it more relatable. Those were real, warm blooded people with hopes and dreams, dying by the tens of thousands in 1916. The more you humanize history (rather than being a rote, soulless text or object in a book), the better. Which takes nothing away from how beautiful B&W can be, there's no reason we can't preserve that history simultaneously.
They way they held back on the transition from black and white to color until a good 20-30 minutes into the movie made it all the more breathtaking when it happened. At that point you were already absorbed in the black and white footage, it was magical.
I think making the past seem more real and relevant is useful in helping people to learn from and understand our history by making it more relatable. Those were real, warm blooded people with hopes and dreams, dying by the tens of thousands in 1916. The more you humanize history (rather than being a rote, soulless text or object in a book), the better. Which takes nothing away from how beautiful B&W can be, there's no reason we can't preserve that history simultaneously.