William James Stillman

William James Stillman (June 1, 1828 – July 6, 1901) was a man of many talents. It would be difficult to characterize him by any one occupation or talent. He was educated as an artist. Subsequently he changed to journalism, especially war correspondence in Crete and the Balkans, serving as his own photographer. For a time he served as United States ambassador in Rome, then in Crete during the Cretan insurrections. He helped to train the young Arthur Evans as a war correspondent in the Balkans, remaining a lifelong friend and confidant of Evans. Later in Crete he seriously considered taking over the excavation at Knossos from Minos Kalokairinos, who had been stopped from further excavation by the Cretan Assembly. He was prevented from pursuing that goal further by a failure to obtain a firman, or permission to excavate. He wrote several books. His Autobiography of a Journalist suggests that primarily he viewed himself as a writer.