The World and All That is in It: The National Geographic Society, 1888-1918

Abstract

profession. Research was firmly embedded in universities, government, and industry, and system of education was organized to disseminate verified knowledge. A public institution such as the American Museum of Natural History viewed itself as a medium of expression between authoritative in America and the people. Bureaucrats, journalists, and foundation executives were replacing scientific amateurs as mediators between the researchers and the public. The term lost its earlier positive connotation of cultivator of science and became negative word, synonymous with ''nonprofessional.I Yet few amateur scientific organizations prospered in spite of these developments. The National Geographic Society (NGS), founded by professionals in 1888, was captured and transformed by group of amateurs in the first decade of this century. Its magazine, edited by Gilbert H. Grosvenor (1875-1966) from 1903 to 1954, soon became the most widely read source of general scientific information in America, its circulation exceeding 500,000 by 1918.2 The NGS was scientific society run by and

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