The Library of Congress has put online more than 6,000 old full color “photochroms” from around the United States and the world that are of high interest to genealogists. These images date from the 1890s to the 1910s. Genealogists will want to search this collection for images from the areas around their ancestral home towns.
![Photo: Maison du France, Bruges, Belgium. [between ca. 1890 – ca. 1900]](https://blog.genealogybank.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/photo-1118-2016-belgium-photocrom.png)
“[These] richly colored images look like photographs but are actually ink-based photolithographs, usually 6.5 x 9 inches.
“Like postcards, [these] photochroms feature subjects that appeal to travelers, including landscapes, architecture, street scenes, and daily life and culture. The prints were sold as souvenirs and often collected in albums or framed for display.
“These prints were created by the Photoglob Company in Zürich, Switzerland, and the Detroit Publishing Company in Michigan.”
Search this collection here: https://www.loc.gov/collections/photochrom-prints/about-this-collection/
Inventory
Click the links below to see the images for the country/area that interests you.
| Country | Quantity | Call Number |
| Algeria | 74 | LOT 13420 |
| Austro-Hungarian Empire | 591 | LOT 13417 |
| Bahamas | 6 | LOT 13923 |
| Belgium | 108 | LOT 13422 |
| Canada | 31 | LOT 13923 |
| Cuba | 2 | LOT 13923 |
| Denmark | 14 | LOT 13421 |
| England | 1,118 | LOT 13415 |
| France | 518 | LOT 13418 |
| French and Italian Riviera | 79 | LOT 13425 |
| Germany | 1,207 | LOT 13411 (the LOT also includes images in Poland, Czech Republic, and Russia) |
| Holy Land | 143 | LOT 13424 (the LOT includes Israel, Jerusalem, Lebanon, and West Bank) |
| Ireland | 121 | LOT 13406 |
| Italy | 318 | LOT 13434 |
| Latvia | 8 | LOT 13419 |
| Luxembourg | 2 | LOT 13429 |
| Montenegro | 7 | LOT 13430 |
| Netherlands | 116 | LOT 13423 |
| Norway | 155 | LOT 13432 |
| Poland | 91 | LOT 13411 and LOT 13419 |
| Romania | 8 | LOT 13431 |
| Russia | 72 | LOT 13411 and LOT 13419 |
| Scotland | 182 | LOT 13407 |
| Serbia | 4 | LOT 13433 |
| Spain | 8 | LOT 13426 |
| Switzerland | 741 | LOT 13410 |
| Tunisia | 41 | LOT 13427 |
| Turkey | 28 | LOT 13428 |
| Ukraine | 44 | LOT 13419 |
| United States | 391 | LOT 13923 |
| Wales | 167 | LOT 13408 |
| Unidentified (Europe) | 25 | LOT 13512 |