Rare and Wonderful Color Portraits of Greeks in the 1920s

Maynard Owen Williams was a National Geographic correspondent from 1919. He was an inveterate traveller who began traveling in his teens, explored Asia and witnessed the Russian Revolution, among other adventures.

Williams was the Geographic’s first foreign correspondent, and his reports include a description of the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1923.

Maynard Williams was also an excellent photographer, and pioneered travel photography. The Maynard Owen Williams Prize for creative nonfiction at Kalamazoo College is named in his memory.

Enjoy these beautiful, rare images of Greece in color, captured from the camera of Maynard Owen Williams in the 1920s.

A man in national costume smokes a waterpipe, Crete.

A maid of Candia poses in costume.

A woman poses in the national costume of Crete.

A woman works outside her home in Crete.

A woman poses in the national costume of Crete.

Three women sit and do needlework, Crete.

Women and girls in the garden of a country home, Deka, Corfu.

A man poses in the national costume of Crete.

Artist from Mt. Athos stands next to painting of Saint Nicholas.

Two women with baskets used for gathering olives during harvest, Deka, Corfu.

A girl husks corn in a field on the Salonika Kozani Road, Microghouzi.

Girls stand on a stairway of a house in a Greek fishing village, Benizze, Corfu.

A woman in traditional Greek dress knits sitting outside her home, Aivali.

Women filter water taken from riverside pools to use for drinking, near Jugoslavian Frontier.

A muleteer stands in the woods in Crete.

Peasant women, Delphic Festival.

Young woman sitting in a garden of flowers, Corfu.

Prior and his monk stand next to well at Europulus monastery, Corfu.

A hunter lies under an olive tree on the island of Crete.

A peddler with his wares passes through the village, Gastouri, Corfu.

Three women pose with children on stone steps, Corfu.

Turkish refugees dry corn near site of Pella in the Macedonian plain.

Actress in peasant dress from Thessaly.