Photochrome prints of North America

Photochrom or photochrome prints are a type of color prints that were very popular between 1890 and 1910. The photochrome process was mainly used to print postcards. Below is a collection of prints from various places in the USA and Canada. I find these old historical photographs oddly compelling. They depict a world that has long gone in colors that are realistic but at the same time slightly ‘off’.

Branding calves in Colorado, USA (detail)

The Colorado river below the cascades (detail)

Wabash Avenue in Chicago, USA

Grain elevators on the Chicago river, USA

The Gardner river in what is now Yellowstone National Park

The Statue of Liberty in New York, USA

Illecillewaet Glacier in the Selkirk Mountains, Canada

Whirlpool Rapids, Canada

If you liked these pictures, check out additional photochroms of England, Ireland and the European continent.