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Archives can be rich sources of information, yet they are also very often built within the violent processes of empire‐building, setting the stage for how knowledge about colonised places are constructed, disrupted, and how their histories are understood. Archives often tell us more about power and the kinds of knowledge that were important to imperial powers than the people and places disrupted by empire. This necessitates careful consideration of the archive itself, and not simply the information it contains. The relationship between the visual aspects of the archive and the ways that we come to know about colonised sites is the focus of this paper. Focusing on photos of rural Puerto Rico taken after The Depression (circa 1941–1942), this paper builds an understanding of archives as sites that can be transformed into conceptual or imaginary space that exists outside of the original purposes of the archives. This space is reliant on the willingness of those who encounter archives to read beyond what they are presented with. This in turn allows for careful reading of the traces and possibilities inside archives that subvert their seemingly totalising narrative. The relationship between the visual aspects of the archive and the ways that we come to know about colonised sites is the focus of this paper. Focusing on photos of rural Puerto Rico taken after The Depression (circa 1941–1942), this paper builds an understanding of archives as sites that can be transformed into conceptual or imaginary space that exists outside the original purposes of the archives. This space is reliant on the willingness of those who encounter archives to read beyond what they are presented with. This in turn allows for careful reading of the traces and possibilities inside archives that subvert their seemingly totalising narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]