El "Templete," Habana view, photochrome print postcard.

The Detroit Publishing Company was started by publisher William A. Livingstone and photographer Edwin H. Husher. ln 1905 that the company called itself the Detroit Publishing Company. The best-known photographer for the company was William Henry Jackson, who joined the company in 1897. The company acquired exclusive rights to use a form of photography processing called Photochrom. Photochrom allowed for the company to mass-market postcards and other materials in color. We at GetArchive are admirers of their exceptional high-resolution scans of glass negatives collection from the Library of Congress. By the time of World War I, the company faced declining sales both due to the war economy and the competition from cheaper, more advanced printing methods. The company declared bankruptcy in 1924 and was liquidated in 1932.

Founded by the Spanish, San Cristóbal de la Habana by Pánfilo de Narváez, was a small trading port and suffered regular attacks by buccaneers, pirates, and French corsairs. Pirate attacks convinced the Spanish Crown to protect its ships heading to Spain by assembling them in one large fleet, which would traverse the Atlantic Ocean protected by the Spanish Armada (Spanish Navy). After 1561, all ships headed for Spain were required to assemble in the Havana Bay waiting for the best weather, and together, departing for Spain by September. This boosted commerce and development of the adjacent city of Havana. Ships from all over the New World carried products first to Havana, in order to be taken by the fleet to Spain. Ships also had to be supplied with food, water, and other products. In 1563, the Spanish Governor of the island moved his residence from Santiago de Cuba to Havana, the de-facto capital of the island. By the middle of the 18th century, Havana had more than 70,000 people, and was the third-largest city in the Americas, ahead of Boston and New York. The city was captured by the British in 1762 but returned it to Spain in exchange for Florida. Slavery was legal in Cuba until 1886 and after the Confederate States of America were defeated in the American Civil War in 1865, many former slaveholders continued to run plantations by moving to Havana. As trade between the Caribbean and North American states increased, Havana became a flourishing and fashionable city. During this period Havana became known as the Paris of the Antilles. At the beginning of the 20th century, Cuba was occupied by the United States. The US occupation ended in1902 and Cuba became a republic. U.S. prohibition on alcohol from 1920 to 1933 helped Havana to become a destination for sailing, car racing, musical shows, organized crime, and sex tourism. Luxury hotels, casinos, nightclubs were producing more revenue than Las Vegas. In 1958, about 300,000 American tourists visited the city. After the revolution of 1959, Fidel Castro promised to improve social services, public housing, and official buildings. Communism model, expropriation of all private property was followed by the U.S. embargo, which hit Havana especially hard. In 1991 Soviet subsidies ended, and a severe economic downturn made many to believe that communism soon collapse, however, contrary to events in Europe, Cuba's communist government persists to this day.

William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) was an American painter, photographer, and explorer who is best known for his pioneering work in documenting the American West. He was born in Keeseville, New York, and after serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War, he became interested in photography. Jackson worked as a photographer for the United States Geological Survey, and he was a member of several expeditions to the West, including the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871. During these expeditions, he produced a large number of photographs that helped to document the landscape and the Native American cultures of the region. Jackson's photographs were instrumental in promoting the idea of creating national parks in the United States. He was also one of the founding members of the Detroit Photographic Company, which produced a large number of postcards and other commercial products based on his photographs.