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The Photochrom (also known as Photochrome) is a color photo lithograph created from a black and white photographic negative. The process is a photographic variant of chromolithography, the broader term for color lithography. The color is achieved through using multiple lithograph stones, one per color in the printing process. A separate stone would be made for each color to be used which required at least a minimum of four stones (for the three primary colors and black) for the image. The image was printed on high-quality paper which resembled the smooth photographic printing paper of the day. The image was then finished off with a varnish to add depth and richness to the appearance of the photograph.

The process was developed in Switzerland and brought to the United States by the Detroit Publishing Company in 1897. The Detroit Photographic Company was started by publisher William A. Livingstone and photographer Edwin H. Husher in the late 19th century but did not go by that name until 1905 after which it quickly changed the name to the Detroit Publishing Company. The Detroit Publishing Co. enjoyed a period of enormous success as a world-wide publisher of photographic prints and postcards, but its sales began to decline during World War I, and with the introduction of new and cheaper printing methods it was forced to go into receivership in 1924 and by 1932 the company's assets were liquidated.