Photograph by George Mobley , National Geographic
A sudden snowstorm buffets May Day revelers during a stroll through Helsinki s Kaivopuisto Park in 1967.
A staff photographer for 33 years, George F. Mobley worked on projects on every continent. He loved the outdoors and was especially interested in the Arctic regions, covering Greenland, Siberia, and northern Canada in addition to Scandinavia.
Photograph by Volkmar Wentzel , National Geographic
Veiled in haze, twin peaks of Angola s Chela range tower above a Kuvale herdsman in a picture published in September 1961, the same year conflict erupted in what was then a Portuguese colony.
An Editor's note accompanying the feature explained that writer and photographer Volkmar Wentzel, then a member of the magazine's foreign editorial staff, had traveled "the length and breadth" of Angola less than two years earlier and that "[his] journey could not be made today."
Photograph by William Albert Allard , National Geographic
This tableau featuring a Basque farmer and his wife originally appeared as a double-page spread in the August 1968 issue of National Geographic.
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Photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel, National Geographic
Twin siblings playing in Italy s Lake Garda drift by Castello Scaligero in this Kodachrome picture that appeared with a 1968 National Geographic profile on the country's "Land of Lakes." The castle's crenelated battlements date to the 13th century.
Photograph by B. Anthony Stewart, National Geographic
In a cane field in Puerto Rico, a mechanical loader is silhouetted against a blaze meant to burn away leaves and underbrush. The picture originally appeared in the December 1962 issue of National Geographic, one of dozens of color photos accompanying a feature story on Puerto Rico and its people.
Photograph by B. Anthony Stewart, National Geographic
In this picture from the early 1940s, travelers in California s San Joaquin Valley gather owl s clover and blue lupine in a field along Route 99. The photo originally accompanied a 1942 feature story on California s abundant wildflowers.
Photograph by B. Anthony Stewart, National Geographic
A boat crew cooks breakfast on a wrecked barge along New York s Mohawk River in this image originally published in the July 1947 issue of National Geographic.
Photograph by B. Anthony Stewart, National Geographic
An autochrome image captures the vibrant foliage at Charleston, South Carolina's Middleton Place, billed as the home of America's oldest landscaped gardens. The picture was originally published in the August 1940 issue of National Geographic.
Photograph by Luis Marden, National Geographic
A rodeo cowgirl hitches her pony at an El Paso parking meter in this picture from the October 1939 photo feature "Riatas and Romance on the Rio Grande."
Photographer Luis Marden, known for his charm, liked to set up studio-style shots. In this case, Marden s subject agreed to pose at the parking meter.
A legendary figure at National Geographic, Marden spent over six decades traveling the globe as a photographer, writer, filmmaker, and more.
Photograph by B. Anthony Stewart, National Geographic
A forest of oil derricks makes a ghostly backdrop for a conversation in Signal Hill, California, in 1941. The city is located north of Long Beach in Los Angeles County.
Photograph by B. Anthony Stewart, National Geographic
A woman stands with a coal miner in Holden, West Virginia, in this 1938 photo.
Photographer B. Anthony Stewart was a bookkeeper in National Geographic s photo lab before launching a decades-long career shooting pictures for the magazine.
Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams, National Geographic
Raising mirrors or what photographer Maynard Owen Williams called improvised periscopes above their heads, Londoners try to catch a glimpse of passing royalty during a parade around 1934.
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Photograph by Jacob J. Gayer, National Geographic
In a circa 1928 autochrome, ships approach a vast dock to unload millions of tons of iron ore near Ashtabula, Ohio. The photo was published in the May 1932 issue of National Geographic.
Photographer Jacob J. Gayer served as a staff writer and photographer for the magazine from 1921 to 1931.
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Photograph by W. Robert Moore, National Geographic
Young women play on a seesaw in Korea in this 1931 image.
As chief of the foreign editorial staff at National Geographic, photographer W. Robert Moore had a hand in nearly 90 magazine articles. He retired in 1967.
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Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams, National Geographic
Parisians walk past lottery and vermouth advertisements on the City of Light s Boulevard des Italiens in 1936. The poster for the national lottery says, "Try Your Luck."
Photographer Maynard Owen Williams had many adventures as National Geographic s first foreign correspondent, including reporting on the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1923.
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Photograph by Jules Gervais Courtellemont, National Geographic
In an autochrome image from around 1926, bananas, pomelos, and other native fruits are on display at a produce market in Bangkok, Thailand (then known as Siam).
Photograph by W. Robert Moore, National Geographic
Hanging from boats in a Macao harbor, fishing nets dry in the early morning sunlight around 1931, the year photographer W. Robert Moore began his career at National Geographic. He eventually served as chief of the magazine s foreign editorial staff.
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Photograph by Jules Gervais Courtellemont, National Geographic
Wearing a traditional bonnet, a woman in Provins, France, carries a wicker basket in this circa 1930 autochrome by Jules Gervais Courtellemont, who spent more than two decades photographing his travels.
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Photograph by Wilhelm Tobien
Children sit by fishing boats at rest in a Canary Islands harbor in this autochrome published in the May 1930 issue of National Geographic. The image was part of a photo essay "An Elysium for the Beauty-Seeking Traveler" that accompanied an article on the Spanish islands.
Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams, National Geographic
Sunlight falls on a student at Jerusalem s Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in this photo by Maynard Owen Williams from around 1926.
An inveterate traveler, Williams was National Geographic s first foreign correspondent.
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Photograph by Edwin L. Wisherd, National Geographic
Children play on an oak tree near St. Francisville, Louisiana. Staff photographer Edwin Wisherd captured the photo while on assignment for the story "Louisiana, Land of Perpetual Romance," published in the April 1930 issue of National Geographic.
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Photograph by Kiyoshi Sakamoto
Japanese students await a turn in the water for a swimming lesson in this 1927 autochrome.
The previous year, photographer Kiyoshi Sakamoto a frequent contributor to National Geographic magazine had traveled to Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., to master the techniques of autochrome photography.
Photograph by Jules Gervais Courtellemont, National Geographic
Artists paint on the banks of the Dordogne River near Beaulieu, France, in this circa 1923 autochrome image.
Jules Gervais Courtellemont was a writer, explorer, and publisher as well as a photographer. He shot for National Geographic from 1923 until his death in 1931.
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Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams, National Geographic
National Geographic photographer Maynard Owen Williams captured this image of woodcarvers in Amritsar while on assignment for a July 1921 story covering India.
A pioneer of travel photography, Williams joined the staff of National Geographic in 1919.
Photograph by Jules Gervais Courtellemont, National Geographic
A man plays his guitar for a young girl in Grenada, Spain, in this autochrome picture that appeared as part of a photo essay in the March 1929 issue of National Geographic.
An early master of autochrome photography, Jules Gervais Courtellemont was one of the first to embrace the technology when it became commercially available in 1907.
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Photograph by Kiyoshi Sakamoto
In this photo published in the July 1921 issue of National Geographic, kimono-clad passengers enjoy a boat ride down the Hozugawa River in Kyoto, Japan, an activity that remains a popular summer pastime of the region.
Photographer Kiyoshi Sakamoto contributed photos to the magazine for more than a decade in the period between the two World Wars.
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Photograph by Franklin Price Knott
A circa 1926 autochrome image by Franklin Price Knott shows a group of men in M Sila, Algeria.
An autochrome series by Knott composed the first color photographic essay to be published in National Geographic.
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Photograph by Donald McLeish
In 1928 National Geographic Editor Gilbert H. Grosvenor wanted "outdated" photographs of the Great Sphinx of Giza images made prior to excavation removed from the archive. This 1921 photo by Donald McLeish survived and has been in the image collection for over 90 years.
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Photograph by Eliza R. Scidmore
In a tinted black-and-white photograph dating to around the 1910s, women pose with cherry blossoms in Japan.
Photographer Eliza Scidmore served as the National Geographic Society's first female writer and board member and played a pivotal role in bringing the now beloved cherry trees to Washington, D.C.'s Potomac Park and Tidal Basin.
Photograph by George Shiras
Two deer are seen at night on Grand Island, Michigan, in this early flash photograph by George Shiras, who pioneered both the first flashlight photos and the first trip-wire photography of animals at night.
A box of photographs that Shiras brought to National Geographic in 1905 yielded the first nighttime wildlife photographs ever published. They appeared in the July 1906 issue of the magazine.
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Photograph by Vittorio Sella
Two men look toward mountain peaks in the Caucuses in this photo by Vittorio Sella that dates to around 1896.
Sella was a mountaineer and a pioneering high-altitude photographer who captured images from many of the world s great mountain ranges.
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