Monasteries

A postcard of Mont Saint-Michel (Manche), France.

A postcard of Mont Saint-Michel (Manche), France.

Entrance or doorway view with diplomat W. Averell Harriman and his wife Marie standing on the right visiting with an older unidentified Russian woman. Believed to have been taken at the Kiev Perchersk Lavra monastery. Charles W. Thayer accompanied W. Averell Harriman as a guide and confidant on the trip which took place May 12 - June 26, 1959. Harriman went as a special foreign correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA). Trip visits included Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Yalta, etc., as well as areas in Siberia and the Urals, and ended with a meeting with Nikita Khrushchev.

Entrance or doorway view with diplomat W. Averell Harriman and his wife Marie standing on the right visiting with an older unidentified Russian woman. Woman on the left may be the interpreter. Believed to have been taken at the Kiev Perchersk Lavra monastery. Charles W. Thayer accompanied W. Averell Harriman as a guide and confidant on the trip which took place May 12 - June 26, 1959. Harriman went as a special foreign correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA).

Exterior view with diplomat W. Averell Harriman standing on the left next to a Russian monk. The location is believed to be the Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery in Kiev, Russia. Thayer's account reads: "An old monk allowed himself to be photographed with Governor Harriman." Charles W. Thayer accompanied W. Averell Harriman as a guide and confidant on the trip which took place May 12 - June 26, 1959. Harriman went as a special foreign correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA).

Exterior view which contains 4 unidentified Russian women taken in Kiev during Harriman's 1959 Russian trip. Believed to have been taken at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery. The Thayer account reads: "the courtyard was filled with old women collecting holy water in bottles..." Charles W. Thayer accompanied W. Averell Harriman as a guide and confidant on the trip which took place May 12 - June 26, 1959. Harriman went as a special foreign correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA).

Exterior view with diplomat W. Averell Harriman standing on the left next to a Russian monk. The location is believed to be the Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery in Kiev, Russia. Thayer's account reads: "After luncheon at the hotel, we went to the Pecherski Lavra, the famous monastery of Kiev on a hillside on the south of town....An old monk allowed himself to be photographed with Governor Harriman." Charles W. Thayer accompanied W. Averell Harriman as a guide and confidant on the trip which took place May 12 - June 26, 1959.

Exterior view which includes diplomat and author Charles W. Thayer wearing suit and standing in the center among a group of unidentified Buddhist monks. The location is the Gandantegchinlen Monastery located in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Charles Thayer headed a party of fourteen Americans who traveled to Mongolia on a vacation in the summer of 1963, probably in June. They arrived at Ulan Bator and during the trip visited the Gobi Desert as well as the steppes of Mongolia and the site of the ancient capital of Karakorum.

Exterior view looking down on a group of camels near St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. Charles Thayer described image as "camels collected under the walls of the Monastery waiting for our party to take us to Mt. Sinai." Photograph taken as part of a trip author and diplomat Charles Thayer and his wife Cynthia took to Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine's Monastery in March 1961. Photos intended for possible magazine article. Original negatives are in the Harry S. Truman Library collection.

View of a group of camels and guides near St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. Charles Thayer described this image as "the camels at closer quarters" waiting to take the party to the top of Mt. Sinai. Photograph taken as part of a trip author and diplomat Charles Thayer and his wife Cynthia took to Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine's Monastery in March 1961. Photos intended for possible magazine article. Original negatives are in the Harry S. Truman Library collection.