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National Geographic Society
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: National Geographic Society |
| US History Encyclopedia: National Geographic Society |
National Geographic Society, the world's largest scientific and educational organization, was founded in Washington, D.C., on 13 January 1888 by a group of thirty-three teachers, explorers, cartographers, military officers, financiers, and others. They had met to discuss creating an organization to serve their mutual interests in geography. Two weeks later, on 27 January, the National Geographic Society was officially incorporated and later that year the first issue of National Geographic Magazine was published, with an announcement stating,
The National Geographic Society has been organized to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge, and the publication of a Magazine has been determined upon as one means of accomplishing these purposes. As it is not intended to be simply the organ of the Society, its pages will be open to all persons interested in geography, in the hope that it may become a channel of intercommunication, stimulate geographic investigation and prove an acceptable medium for the publication of results.
The society's first president was Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a lawyer, financier, and philanthropist, who helped fund the experiments of his son-in-law, Alexander Graham Bell. During Hubbard's tenure as president from 1888 to 1897, membership grew to about fourteen hundred, although the society remained financially unsuccessful. Hubbard died in December 1897, and the following month, Bell took the helm as the society's second president. Bell believed that the future of the society depended on the success of the magazine.
For the first decade, the magazine was a studious, scientific journal with a dull brown cover. Bell felt that people would be more inclined to read geography if it was light and entertaining. As a first step, in 1899 he hired Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor to do editing and promote membership. Grosvenor made changes in promotion and marketing, and began rejecting articles that he considered too technical or uninteresting, even when they were approved by the editorial board. He also began to slowly change the magazine's look. He insisted upon short paragraphs, enlarged the page size, and switched to two columns of type on each page. Perhaps the most striking changes were his generous use of photographs, something that was practically nonexistent in serial publications at the time, and early use of color graphics. All of this provoked a fierce debate among the society's trustees between those who wanted to reach out to a larger audience through the popularization of the magazine and the traditionalists who felt the changes compromised the scientific scholarship. Grosvenor prevailed and won praise when the magazine, and consequently membership, began to grow. In 1905, it more than doubled from 3,400 to 11,000 members.
Grosvenor was guided by what he referred to as the "Seven Principles," which included striving for absolute accuracy, printing only what is of a "kindly nature about any country or people," and avoiding partisan or controversial issues. By the end of World War I, the National Geographic Society had become an American institution. In 1920, the circulation of National Geographic Magazine stood at 750,000.
The increased revenues allowed the society to act on its mission to increase geographic knowledge through supporting research. One of its first major awards was to Robert E. Peary for his unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole in 1906; it sponsored his eventual conquest of the pole in 1909. On the heels of Peary's success, the society helped sponsor Hiram Bingham's exploration of the lost Inca capital of Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes in 1911. Through the magazine, the society played an instrumental role in the creation of Sequoia National Park in California and Carlsbad National Monument in New Mexico in the early 1920s. Also in the 1920s, the society gave financial support to Admiral Robert E. Byrd in his successful effort to become the first person to fly over the South Pole.
In keeping with their commitment to present only what is of a "kindly nature" about countries or people, some of the articles about Europe during the late 1930s were openly sympathetic to the National Socialist agenda. However, when the United States entered World War II, the society fully backed the Allied powers. It published detailed maps of the European and Pacific theaters, and every issue of National Geographic Magazine contained at least one major article on the war. Its 1944 map of Japan was used for planning air offensives. The society was presented with an almost impossible challenge during the Cold War. Favorable portrayals of communist countries would have been unpatriotic, yet to focus on the evils of such states would have violated editorial policy. For this reason, there was absolutely no coverage of the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1959, and stories about China were rare between 1950 and 1976.
Gilbert H. Grosvenor retired as president of the society and editor of the magazine to become the chairman of the society's board in 1954, a job created for him. His son, Melville Bell Grosvenor, who had already spent thirty-three years with the society, assumed the lead role in 1957. The elder Grosvenor's philosophy remained the guiding light of National Geographic Magazine under Melville. The editorship was then handed down to his son, Gilbert Melville Grosvenor, in 1970. The Grosvenor dynasty at the magazine came to an end in 1980 with the appointment of Wilbur E. Garrett as editor, with Gilbert Melville Grosvenor becoming the society's president.
Bibliography
Abramson, Howard S. National Geographic: Behind America's Lens on the World. New York: Crown, 1987.
Grosvenor, Gilbert. The National Geographic Society and Its Magazine. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1957.
Lutz, Catherine A., and Jane L. Collins. Reading National Geographic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
| Wikipedia: National Geographic Society |
"National Geographic" redirects here. For other uses, see National Geographic (disambiguation).
| National Geographic Society | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the National Geographic Society |
|
| Abbreviation | NGS |
| Motto | "Inspiring people to care about the planet."[1] |
| Formation | Gardiner Greene Hubbard, 1888 |
| Location | Washington, D.C., USA |
| Membership | 8.5 million |
| President | John M. Fahey, Jr. (1998- ) |
| Website | NationalGeographic.com |
The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history. The National Geographic Society’s logo is a yellow portrait rectangular frame, which appears on the margins surrounding the front covers of its magazines.
Contents |
Overview
The National Geographic Society's historical mission is "to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while promoting the conservation of the world's cultural, historical, and natural resources."[2] Its President and CEO since March 1998, John M. Fahey, Jr., says National Geographic's purpose is to inspire people to care about their planet. The Society is governed by a twenty-three member Board of Trustees composed of a group of distinguished educators, leading business executives, former governmental officials, and conservationists. The organization sponsors and funds scientific research and exploration. The Society publishes an official journal, National Geographic Magazine, and other magazines, books, school products, maps, other publications, web and film products in numerous languages and countries around the world. It also has an educational foundation that gives grants to education organizations and individuals to enhance geography education.[3] Its Committee for Research and Exploration has given grants for scientific research for most of the Society's history and has recently awarded its 9,000th grant for scientific research, conducted worldwide and often reported on by its media properties. Its various media properties reach about 360 million people around the world monthly.[4] National Geographic maintains a museum free for the public in its Washington, D.C. headquarters, and has helped to sponsor popular traveling exhibits such as the "King Tut" exhibit featuring magnificent artifacts from the tomb of the young Egyptian Pharaoh, which toured in several American cities, ending its U.S. showing at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The Tut exhibit is currently in Atlanta. Another National Geographic exhibit of "The Cultural Treasures of Afghanistan" opened in May 2008 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The exhibit will travel over the next eighteen months to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. In November 2008, National Geographic opened a major retail store on Regent Street in London.
History
On January 13, 1888, 33 explorers and scientists gathered at the Cosmos Club, a private club then located on Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., to organize "a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge." After preparing a constitution and a plan of organization, the National Geographic Society was incorporated two weeks later on January 27. Gardiner Greene Hubbard became its first president and his son-in-law, Alexander Graham Bell, eventually succeeded him in 1897 following his death. In 1899 Bell's son-in-law Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor was named the first full-time editor of National Geographic Magazine and served the organization for fifty-five years (1954), and members of the Grosvenor family have played important roles in the organization since.
Bell and his son-in-law, Grosvenor, devised the successful marketing notion of Society membership and the first major use of photographs to tell stories in magazines. The current Chairman of the Board of Trustees of National Geographic is Gilbert Melville Grosvenor, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 for the Society's leadership for Geography education. In 2004, the National Geographic Headquarters in Washington, D.C. was one of the first buildings to receive a "Green" certification[5] from Global Green USA.[6] The National Geographic received the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for Communications and Humanity in October 2006 in Oviedo, Spain.
Publications
National Geographic
Main article: National Geographic (magazine)
The National Geographic Magazine, later shortened to National Geographic, published its first issue nine months after the Society was founded as the Society's official journal, a benefit for joining the tax exempt National Geographic Society. The magazine has had for many years a trademarked yellow border around the edge of its cover.
There are 12 monthly issues of National Geographic per year, plus at least four additional map supplements. On rare occasions, special issues of the magazine are also created. The magazine contains articles about geography, popular science, world history, culture, current events and photography of places and things all over the world and universe. The National Geographic magazine is currently published in 32 language editions in many countries around the world. Combined English and other language circulation is nearly nine million monthly with more than fifty million readers monthly.
Other publications
In addition to its flagship magazine, the Society publishes five other periodicals in the United States:
- National Geographic Kids: launched in 1975 as National Geographic World, it adopted its current name in 2001. It has a U.S. circulation of over 1.5 million. There are also currently 18 local language editions of NG Kids, with another half million in circulation. An Arabic edition of the children's magazine was launched in Egypt in early 2007, and more than 42,000 copies are distributed to all the public schools in Egypt, in addition to another 15,000 single copy sales. More recently, an Albanian and Polish edition were launched.
- National Geographic Little Kids: for children aged 3–6.
- National Geographic Traveler: launched in 1984. There are nine language editions of NG Traveler.
- National Geographic Adventure: launched in 1999
- National Geographic Explorer: classroom magazine launched in 2001 as National Geographic for Kids, which has grown to about 2 1/2 million circulation.
- National Geographic Green Guide: Launched in 2003, tips to consumers of how to live a "greener" life. The print version was discontinued in January 2009.[7]
- Glimpse Magazine (In Association With National Geographic)
- Treasures of the Earth a collection about Minerals and Gemstones.
The Society also runs an online news outlet called National Geographic News.
The Society previously published:
- The National Geographic School Bulletin, magazine similar to the National Geographic but aimed at grade school children, was published weekly during the school year from 1919 to 1975, when it was replaced by National Geographic World.
- During the 1980s and 1990s, it published a research journal which later closed.
The Society has published maps, atlases, and numerous books. It also lends its license to other publishers, for example to Thames & Kosmos for a line of science kits.
In October 2007, National Geographic created a new Global Media group composed of its magazine, book publishing, television, film, music, radio, digital media and maps units. Tim Kelly, 51, president and CEO of National Geographic Ventures, has been named president, Global Media.
Television
Main article: National Geographic Channel
Programs by the National Geographic Society are also broadcasted on television. National Geographic television specials as well as television series have been aired on PBS and other networks in the United States and globally for many years. The Geographic series in the U.S. started on CBS in 1964, moved to ABC in 1973 and shifted to PBS (produced by WQED, Pittsburgh) in 1975. It has featured stories on numerous scientific figures such as Louis Leakey, Jacques Cousteau, or Jane Goodall that not only featured their work but helped make them world-famous and accessible to millions. A majority of the specials were narrated by various actors, including Richard Kiley and Martin Sheen. The specials' theme music, by Elmer Bernstein, was also adopted by the National Geographic Channel. The National Geographic Channel has begun to launch a number of subbranded channels in international markets, such as Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure, Nat Geo Junior, and Nat Geo Music.
In 1997, internationally, and in 2001 in the United States, the Society launched, in part ownership with other entities like News Corporation, the National Geographic Channel, a television channel with global distribution for cable and satellite viewers.
National Geographic Films, a wholly-owned taxable subsidiary of the National Geographic Society, has also produced a feature film based on the diary of a Russian submarine commander starring Harrison Ford in K-19: The Widowmaker, and most recently retooling a French-made documentary for U.S. distribution with a new score and script narrated by Morgan Freeman called March of the Penguins, which received an Academy Award for the Best Documentary in 2006. After a record $77 million theatrical gross in the United States, over four million DVD copies of March of the Penguins have been sold. National Geographic Films launched a new feature film in July called Arctic Tale, featuring the story of two families of walrus and polar bears. Queen Latifah is the narrator of this film. Inspired by a National Geographic Magazine article, National Geographic opened in October 2007 a 3-D large format and Reality 3-D film called Sea Monsters, with a musical score by Peter Gabriel. National Geographic Films is co-producing with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt the 10-hour mini series of Steven Ambrose's award-winning Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West for HBO. The National Geographic website (nationalgeographic.com) provides a wealth of content in multimedia formats, including a recently launched site highlighting world music.
Support for research & projects
The Society has helped sponsor many expeditions and research projects over the years, including:
- Codex Tchacos - Conservation and translation of the only known surviving copy of the Gospel of Judas
- Ian Baker - Discovers hidden waterfall of the Tsangpo Gorge, Tibet
- Robert Ballard - RMS Titanic (1985) and John F. Kennedy's PT-109 (2002) discovery
- Robert Bartlett - Arctic Exploration (1925-45)
- George Bass - Undersea archaeology - Bronze Age trade
- Lee Berger - Oldest footprints of modern humans ever found
- Hiram Bingham - Machu Picchu Excavation (1915)
- Richard E. Byrd - First flight over South Pole (1929)
- Jacques-Yves Cousteau - Undersea exploration
- Mike Fay - MegaTransect (1999) and MegaFlyover (2004) in Africa
- Dian Fossey - Mountain gorillas
- Birute Galdikas - Orangutans
- Jane Goodall - Chimpanzees
- Robert F. Griggs - Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes (1916)
- Heather Halstead - World Circumnavigations of Reach the World
- Louis and Mary Leakey - Discovery of manlike Zinjanthropus, more than 1.75 million years old
- Gustavus McLeod - First flight to the North Pole in an open-air cockpit aircraft
- Robert Peary and Matthew Henson - North Pole Expedition (1905)
- Paul Sereno - Dinosaurs
- Will Steger - Polar Exploration & First Explorer-in-Residence 1996[8]
- Spencer Wells - The Genographic Project
- Xu Xing - Discovery of fossil dinosaurs in China that have distinct feathers
The Society supports many socially-based projects including AINA, a Kabul-based organization dedicated to developing an independent Afghan media, which was founded by one of the Society's most famous photographers, Reza.
The Society also sponsors the National Geographic Bee, an annual geographic contest for American middle-school students. More than four million students a year begin the geography competition locally, which culminates in a national competition of the winners of each state each May in Washington, D.C. Alex Trebek has moderated the final competition since the competition began some seventeen years ago. Every two years, the Society conducts an international geography competition of competing teams from all over the world. The most recent was held in Mexico City on July 15, 2009, and had representatives from 15 national teams. The team from Canada emerged as the winner, with teams from the United States and Poland in second and third place.
Hubbard Medal
The Hubbard Medal is awarded by the National Geographic Society for distinction in exploration, discovery, and research. The medal is named for Gardiner Greene Hubbard, the first National Geographic Society president. The Hubbard Medal has been presented 34 times as of 2000, the most recent award going posthumously to Matthew Henson, Robert Peary's fellow Arctic explorer.[9]
Toys and games
Over the years, National Geographic has released a metal detector, ant colony, and other items. It also operates a subsidiary, NGS Games, which produces computer games such as Plan It Green. The website also has browser-based games.[10]
See also
- National Geographic Magazine
- Royal Geographical Society
- Royal Canadian Geographical Society
- Maps of the United States
- National Geographic Bee
References
- ^ "National Geographic Press Room: Fact Sheet". National Geographic Society. http://press.nationalgeographic.com/pressroom/index.jsp?pageID=factSheets_detail&siteID=1&cid=1225283738357. Retrieved August 28, 2009. Also note that, as of August 28, 2009 (and likely before), the official website title is "National Geographic - Inspiring People to Care About the Planet".
- ^ "National Geographic Online". National Geographic Society. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/.
- ^ "National Geographic Education Foundation". National Geographic Society. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foundation/about.html.
- ^ "National Geographic Society". U.S. Department of State. http://www.state.gov/p/io/unesco/members/48805.htm.
- ^ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2004/04/greenbuilding.html
- ^ Global Green
- ^ http://www.foliomag.com/2008/national-geographic-discontinues-green-guide-print
- ^ Explorer-in-Residence
- ^ Allen Counter accepts Hubbard medal for Henson
- ^ [1]
Further reading
- Poole, Robert M. (2004). Explorers House: National Geographic and the World it Made. New York: Penguin. ISBN 1594200327.
External links
 |
Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- Official websites
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- National Geographic Online
- National Geographic Magazine Online
- National Geographic for Kids
- National Geographic News
- National Geographic Photography
- National Geographic Maps
- National Geographic Maps TOPO! Explorer
- MapMachine
- National Geographic Channel
- National Geographic Traveler
- National Geographic Museum at Explorers Hall
- EarthPulse - A Visual Guide to Global Trends
- Everyday Explorers
- Additional resources
-
- National Geographic Libraries & Information Services
- NGS Collectors Corner - managed by National Geographic Libraries' Archives.
- National Geographic Official YouTube Channel
- Additional information
- Photos, maps, and other images
Coordinates: 38°54′18″N 77°02′16″W / 38.9051°N 77.0379°W
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Mentioned in
- Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (American editor)
- National Geographic: Hindenberg's Fiery Secret (2000 History Film)
- Tres Zapotes (in archaeology)
- George Sluizer (Director, Writer, Thriller/Drama)
- Salmon (river, United States)
- National Geographic: Strange Creatures of the Night (1973 Nature Film)
- National Geographic: Volcano - Nature's Inferno (1990 Nature Film)
- National Geographic: Forces of Nature (2004 Nature Film)
- National Geographic Society (Private - Not-for-Profit Company)
- Alexander Graham Bell (Inventor)
- Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs (English geologist & explorer)
- Henry Gannett (American geographer)
- Adolphus Washington Greely
- National Geographic (photography)
May 18, 2005
Comets are the nearest thing to nothing that anything can be and still be something.
- National Geographic Society, on announcing the discovery of a comet visible only by telescope (1955)
