--- title: 'An American Odyssey': Color Photos of the New World description: A vibrant look at America from the 1880s to the 1920s through what a new book's editors call "the first color photographs" of the New World. canonical: https://time.com/3879610/photos-first-to-show-north-america-in-color/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-16T16:24:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:44.342Z og:title: 'An American Odyssey': Color Photos of the New World og:description: A vibrant look at America from the 1880s to the 1920s through what a new book's editors call "the first color photographs" of the New World. og:url: https://time.com/3879610/photos-first-to-show-north-america-in-color/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf40355c5c487a79a/69884bb006f2c119b6339b24/american_odyssey_10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Grand Canyon, view from O’Neill’s Point, Arizona og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'An American Odyssey': Color Photos of the New World twitter:description: A vibrant look at America from the 1880s to the 1920s through what a new book's editors call "the first color photographs" of the New World. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf40355c5c487a79a/69884bb006f2c119b6339b24/american_odyssey_10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Photochroms Captured 19th-Century America in Living Color > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Apr 16, 2014 4:24 PM UTC  Grand Canyon, view from O’Neill’s Point, Arizona, photochrom. Grand Canyon, view from O’Neill’s Point, Arizona, photochrom. William Henry Jackson / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Apr 16, 2014 4:24 PM UTC **NOTE: This gallery is best viewed in “Full Screen” mode; see button at right, above.** Most of us perceive history, as depicted in photographs, in stark black and white — both figuratively and literally. After all, the most famous, stirring images associated with many of the landmark events and signature figures from, say, the American Civil War through the Great Depression, World War II and even much of the post-war 20th-century are often black and white pictures. But a new book, [_An American Odyssey_](http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/05772/facts.an%5Famerican%5Fodyssey.htm) (TASCHEN, 2014), provides a strikingly vibrant look at America, from the late 1880s to the early 1920s, through what the book’s editors call “the first color photographs of the North American continent.” The [photocroms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photochrom) in this gallery are from the private collection of graphic designer and photographer Marc Walter, who owns one of the world’s largest collections of vintage travel pictures and co-authored _An American Odyssey_ with Sabine Arqué. Made by a process in which black and white photographic negatives are transferred to color lithographic printing plates or stones — rather than tinted by hand — photochrom postcards and other mementos were hugely popular in the early 20th century. (It’s of course worth noting that color photography — made primarily via color separation, the Lumières’ Autochrome process, and other methods — had been around since since the mid- to late-19th century. But it wasn’t until Kodak and [Agfa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agfacolor) began producing mass-market, consumer-ready color film in the 1930s that the art and craft of color picture-taking was widely and affordably available.) [**\[See Sanna Dullaway’s contemporary photo colorizations.\]**](http://lightbox.time.com/2013/02/17/bringing-color-to-presidents-past/#1) As for why the photochroms seen here are so extraordinary, the introduction to _An American Odyssey_ notes: --- > “” --- The images in _An American Odyssey_ are at-once beautiful and technically brilliant documents that reanimate history in a way few other media possibly can. [**Pre-order** **_An American Odyssey_** **from Taschen.com.**](http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/05772/facts.an%5Famerican%5Fodyssey.htm)  Mulberry Street, New York, photochrom. Anonymous / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Sunset from the Battery, New York, photochrom. Anonymous / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Portland Head Light, Maine, photochrom. Anonymous / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Memorial Arch, Hartford, Connecticut, photochrom. Anonymous / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Arch Rock, Mackinac Island, Michigan, photochrom. Anonymous / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Diving for coins, Bahamas, photochrom. William Henry Jackson / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Grand Canyon, view from O’Neill’s Point, Arizona, photochrom. William Henry Jackson / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Apache Chief James A. Garfield, photochrom. Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Mariposa Grove, "Three Graces," Yosemite National Park, California. Anonymous / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Mount Lowe Railway, on the circular bridge, California, photochrom. William Henry Jackson / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Chinese pharmacy, Chinatown, San Francisco, photochrom. Anonymous / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  Cape Horn, Columbia River, photochrom. Anonymous / Collection Marc Walter / Courtesy TASCHEN  An American Odyssey, published by TASCHEN, May 2014. 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