Rare Books
Scenic America
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Scenic prints
Rare Books
A collection of over 5,000 color postcards, prints, and print proofs of American views produced by the Detroit Publishing Company approximately 1898 to the late 1920s. The company's distinctive postcards were made using their exclusive "Photochrom" process that combined photographic negatives and color lithography to create the look of early color photographs. This collection was assembled by a printing foreman for the company and includes several trial press runs and print proof sheets with the printing register marks on the edges. There are 51 oversize color prints, also created using the photo-lithographic process, including one sheet with 24 postcard-size views. Also included are 105 photographs, mostly of the American West, attributed to William Henry Jackson, with some bearing his credit. A few photographs have printed captions like those that appear on postcards. The Detroit Publishing Company was noted for the breadth of topics, people, activity, and industry depicted in their postcards, chronicling American life shortly before and after the turn of the 20th century. In addition to extensive scenes from 42 U.S. states and a few foreign countries, imagery depicts topics such as farming, museums, World War I, naval ships, and cowboys. There are also several postcards of African Americans, some depicting racist stereotypes and containing racist captions.
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