Revisit these nostalgic Kodak moments – snapshots of American life seen by millions on giant lightboxes

From 1950 to 1990, the Grand Central Terminal in central New York City displayed huge Kodak transparency images, measuring 60x18 feet, in a lightbox created in collaboration with the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson. This was part of a campaign to sell the idea of a shared American Dream using a highly idealized version of American life, aimed at the US population and anyone who passed through the famous railway station.

Kodak's legendary Kodachrome slide film was widely praised, with its iconic 'Kodak moment' phrase becoming part of common language. A two-volume panoramic format box set of these classic photographs has been produced to commemorate the golden age of the Kodak Colorama, featuring 287 specially chosen images from the larger Colorama program.

The Colorama lightbox was a monumental display, backlit by a mile of cold-cathode tubes, and required 61,000 watts of power to illuminate the images. The lightbox was constructed on a steel frame, with two layers of diffusing glass to even out the backlighting and reduce glare from competing light sources in the station's concourse. The lightbox was updated monthly, showcasing a constantly changing view of American life.

Creating images suitable for the lightbox was a challenge. Kodak's Ektacolor film was not sharp enough for such large displays, so Kodak had to develop a large format camera capable of capturing the images and printing them at a mammoth size. This required a partnership with Deardorff, a camera company from Chicago, originally designed as a 'banquet camera' for large group portraits at formal events.

The camera used a 20x8 inch film back, and the transparencies were printed using a purpose-built enlarger, creating images approximately 19 inches wide by 18 feet tall. The Colorama images were then displayed at the only venue within Kodak's Rochester factory.