French laundry - Kendall Mfg. Co. Providence R.I.

Alois Senefelder, the inventor of lithography, introduced the subject of colored lithography in 1818. Printers in other countries, such as France and England, were also started producing color prints. The first American chromolithograph—a portrait of Reverend F. W. P. Greenwood—was created by William Sharp in 1840. Chromolithographs became so popular in American culture that the era has been labeled as "chromo civilization". During the Victorian times, chromolithographs populated children's and fine arts publications, as well as advertising art, in trade cards, labels, and posters. They were also used for advertisements, popular prints, and medical or scientific books.

Trade cards were one of the most prevalent forms of advertising in the U.S. from around 1875 to 1900. They had their origin in England in the 1700s with tradesmen advertising their wares. The advent of lithography in the 1870s made it possible to mass-produce them in color. The Philadelphia 1876 Centennial Exhibition sparked the beginning, as many were passed out at that event.