  We introduce a dataset of 142 mostly late-type spiral, irregular, and
peculiar (interacting or merging) nearby galaxies observed in UBVR at the
Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), and present an analysis of their
radial color gradients. We confirm that nearby elliptical and early- to
mid-type spiral galaxies show either no or only small color gradients, becoming
slightly bluer with radius. In contrast, we find that late-type spiral,
irregular, peculiar, and merging galaxies become on average redder with
increasing distance from the center. The scatter in radial color gradient
trends increases toward later Hubble type. As a preliminary analysis of a
larger data-set obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we also analyze
the color gradients of six nearby galaxies observed with NICMOS in the near-IR
(H) and with WFPC2 in the mid-UV (F300W) and red (F814W). We discuss the
possible implication of these results on galaxy formation and compare our
nearby galaxy color gradients to those at high redshift. We present examples of
images and UBVR radial surface brightness and color profiles, and of the tables
of measurements; the full atlas and tables are published in the electronic
edition only.
