Most of the photos I have seen of the "old" corgis from the 30's and 40's are black and white and in books...however , after about 45 minutes of surfing the net i found this page for you that shows some of the older dogs, and you can see that some are a bit taller and less heavy looking than the dogs today- also not as long looking... I also am including a photo of a swedish valhund which some thought might be a descendant of the corgi as it is a very ancient breed...
http://www.angelfire.com/id/castellpwc/Oldies.html
here is the valhund
http://swedishvallhund.com/photo3.htm
Emilie