Or, to put it more accurately, from our dusty storage bin in the basement of the Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive in New York. All of the photos are taken by World Council of Churches photographers, but few of the photos record what year they were taken and, in many cases, fail to name the persons being photographed. If you know any of the faces we haven't identified, please get in touch!
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01 - Right, D.T. Niles and W.A. Visser 't Hooft
Right, D.T. Niles (1908-1970) presses a point with the first WCC general secretary W.A. Visser 't Hooft (1900-1985), probably in the late 1960s. Niles, from Sri Lanka, may be one of the WCC's most frequently quoted mission leaders: "The church exists for mission as fire exists for burning."
© WCC
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02 - Sister Corita Kent
The Christmas 1967 issue of Newsweek featured Sister Corita Kent, then considered an example of the "modern" Roman Catholic sister. The talented Corita was best known among ecumenists for her colourful art, including her design of the "modern" oikoumene logo of the World Council of Churches: 
© WCC
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04 - President Kennedy
US president John F. Kennedy, surrounded by bishops and clergy of the World Council of Churches US Conference, listens circumspectly to Archbishop Iakovos (Greek Orthodox Church in America) in the White House Cabinet Room, February 15, 1962. (John F. Kennedy Library)
© WCC
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05 - Two general secretaries: Eugene Carson Blake and R.H. Edwin Espy
Two WCC general secretaries: Eugene Carson Blake (1906-1985), Presbyterian Church (USA), who led the World Council of Churches staff from 1966 to 1972, consult with R.H. Edwin Espy, American Baptist Churches USA, who led the US National Council of Churches in the 1960s.
© WCC
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07 - Cesar Chavez and Philip Potter
Two more icons of the sixties: farm labour leader Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) meets with then-WCC general secretary Philip Potter in Potter's Geneva office. Potter, led the WCC staff from 1972 to 1984.
© WCC
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08 - Dag Hammarskjöld
United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld (1906-1961) enjoying lunch with an unidentified ecumenist wearing a World Council of Churches oikoumene button.
© WCC
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09 - U Thant and Visser 't Hooft
United Nations secretary-general U Thant (1909-1974) visited WCC general secretary Visser 't Hooft at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva in 1967.
© WCC
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10 - Jawaharlal Nehru, Visser 't Hooft and O. Frederick Nolde
Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India was on hand to greet World Council of Churches delegates to the Assembly in New Delhi in 1961. Visser 't Hooft is on the far left, and the tall man on the far right is O. Frederick Nolde, former director of the Commission of Churches in International Affairs.
© WCC
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11 - Karl Barth and Benjamin Mays
Theologians Karl Barth and Benjamin Mays hurry to meetings of the first WCC Assembly in Amsterdam, 1948. (Photos by 1948 youth delegate Al Cox).
© WCC
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13 - Robert Torbet and Philip Potter
Church history Professor Robert Torbet, then ecumenical officer of American Baptist Churches, and former WCC general secretary, Philip Potter.
© WCC
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If the former Quaker and former general was uneasy in the midst of a World Council of Churches Assembly, he didn't show it. President Dwight D. Eisenhower came to Evanston, Ill., in 1954 to worship and address the WCC's second Assembly.
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Eisenhower in Evanston 1
Here, outside the Evanston United Methodist Church, the former President Dwight D. Eisenhower is flanked on the left by his Presbyterian secretary of state, John Foster Dulles -- a founding force of the World Council of Churches -- and W.A. Visser t'Hooft, WCC general secretary. On the right are Mrs Mamie Eisenhower and and their son, Major John Eisenhower.
© WCC
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