Picturesque Colorado: Railroad Advertising Photographs of Early Colorado by Jackson, McClure, and Peirson April 14, 2009

Picturesque Colorado:

Railroad Advertising Photographs of Early Colorado by Jackson, McClure, and Peirson

Picturesque Colorado, an exhibit of over twenty vintage railroad advertising photographs and photochroms from the W.G. Eloe collection of Colorado and the American West, will be on view at the Byers-Evans House Gallery Friday, April 3, through Sunday, May 31, 2009. An opening reception will be held during the Golden Triangle Museum District’s First Friday Art Walk, Friday, April 3, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.

By the beginning of the 20th century many western railroads had taken advantage of developing technologies and evolving social and economic trends to create the tourist industry in the Rocky Mountain West. As railroads were making remote areas of the American West more easily accessible, an emerging middle class was finding the time and money to travel more extensively. At the same time, Denver & Rio Grande had contracted with William Henry Jackson to photograph the highlights of Colorado scenery along its route. The railroad provided him with a special train which included living quarters and a dark room.

Color printing became possible in this era, but color photography was still in the future. In 1898 Jackson became a partner in the fledgling Detroit Publishing Company that specialized using a Swiss printing process that was part traditional photography and part lithography and produced a final print that was characterized as being in “living color.” Jackson’s “Photochroms,” produced in Detroit, became immensely popular and were purchased by railroad companies, who added their logos and names to the presentation board hoping to promote tourism in the picturesque Rockies to a growing American middle class. The Railroads popularized Jackson’s images showing the train prominently in the foreground, this made the point that the scenic grandeur could be easily enjoyed from the comfort of one’s red plush seat. The large framed photographs appeared in railroad stations, ticket offices, hotel lobbies, schools and even private homes.

The Byers-Evans House Museum is located at 1310 Bannock Street, Denver, Colorado. Hours are 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and guided tours are available. Admission to the Byers-Evans House Gallery is free. For further information, visit www.coloradohistory.porg/be or call (303) 620-4933.