National Geographic Society

• 1. Introduction

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  On the 13th of January 1888, thirty-three explorers and scientists gathered at the Cosmos Club on Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. Their purpose: to organize a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge. What began as a club for an elite circle of academics and wealthy patrons would eventually reach more than 280 million people every month. How did a small assembly at a private club become one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world? And what happens to an institution built on exploration when the age of exploration gives way to the age of the internet?

• 2. The Founders and First Families

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  Gardiner Greene Hubbard, co-founder of AT&T, became the Society's first president after that January gathering. Two weeks after the founding meeting, on the 27th of January 1888, the organization was formally incorporated. Hubbard was eventually succeeded by his son-in-law, Alexander Graham Bell, also a co-founder of AT&T, who took the presidency in 1897. Bell was not among the original 33 founders, a distinction that is sometimes misreported. He was elected president on the 7th of January 1898 and served until 1903.

  Bell's own son-in-law, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, was named the first full-time editor of National Geographic magazine in 1899. Grosvenor was elected president of the Society in 1920 and held that role until resigning in 1954. He then served as chairman of the board until his death in 1966. It was Bell and Grosvenor together who devised the marketing idea of Society membership and pioneered the large-scale use of photographs to tell stories in print. Gilbert Melville Grosvenor, a later family member and former chairman, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 for his leadership in geography education.

• 3. The Yellow Border and the Magazine

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  National Geographic magazine published its first issue in October 1888, just nine months after the Society was founded. It began as the Society's official journal, a benefit included with membership in the tax-exempt organization. The magazine's now-famous trademarked yellow border did not appear on its covers until the February 1910 issue, volume XXI, number 2.

  Today the magazine publishes 12 monthly issues per year and appears in 40 local-language editions around the world. Combined English and other-language circulation sits at around 6.8 million monthly, with approximately 60 million readers in total. National Geographic Kids, launched in 1975 under the name National Geographic World, has a U.S. circulation of over 1.5 million, and 18 local-language editions exist alongside an Arabic edition distributed to all public schools in Egypt since early 2007. That Arabic edition also sees more than 15,000 single-copy sales monthly.

  Not all of the Society's publishing output has been without controversy. A series of books on natural remedies and medicinal herbs drew sharp criticism from medical experts. The journal Skeptical Inquirer devoted 34 pages in 2019 to examining those books. Experts including Harriet Hall, Joe Nickell, Cees Renckens, and Barry Kosmin each addressed subjects in the series. Hall's review concluded that the series author, Nancy J. Hajeski, is a fiction and nonfiction writer with no medical or scientific credentials.

• 4. Research, Medals, and the Museum

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  The Society's Committee for Research and Exploration has awarded more than 11,000 grants for scientific research and exploration since the organization's founding. Its Education Foundation provides grants to organizations and individuals working to improve geography education. The Hubbard Medal, named for the Society's first president, is awarded for distinction in exploration, discovery, and research. It has been presented 44 times; the most recent recipient is Peter H. Raven.

  The rarer Alexander Graham Bell Medal recognizes exceptional contributions to geographic research. Through mid-2011, it had been presented only twice: to Bradford Washburn and his wife Barbara Washburn in 1980, and to Roger Tomlinson and Jack Dangermond in 2010.

  The National Geographic Museum sits at 1145 17th Street NW in Washington, D.C. Its permanent exhibits include the camera Robert Peary used at the North Pole and pottery that Jacques Cousteau recovered from a shipwreck. The museum closed for major renovation in early 2023 and is scheduled to reopen on the 26th of June 2026 under a new name: the National Geographic Museum of Exploration.

• 5. Films, Television, and the Screen

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  The National Geographic television series began on CBS in 1964, moved to ABC in 1973, then shifted to PBS in 1975, where it was produced by WQED in Pittsburgh. From 1975 to 1985, Gulf Oil Corporation sponsored the specials. After the oil company merged with rival Chevron, sponsorship continued until the series moved to NBC in 1995, returned to PBS in 2000, and finally moved to National Geographic Channel in 2005. The specials' theme music, composed by Elmer Bernstein, was later adopted by the National Geographic Channel as its own signature.

  Through its film division, the Society backed productions ranging from submarine thrillers to nature documentaries. March of the Penguins, released in 2005, grossed more than $125 million worldwide, distributed by National Geographic Films and Warner Independent. Arctic Tale in 2007 documented two families of walrus and polar bears and was narrated by Queen Latifah. Sea Monsters, also from 2007, was a 3D large-format film with a musical score by Peter Gabriel, inspired by a National Geographic Magazine article.

  In 2008, National Geographic Films and Image Nation formed a $100 million fund to develop, produce, finance, and acquire 10-15 films over five years. The first film that fund invested in was The Way Back. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Society partnered with Pfizer to produce a sponsored documentary chronicling the development of the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

• 6. Corporate Transformation and Staff Losses

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  On the 9th of September 2015, the Society announced it would reorganize its media properties into a new for-profit company called National Geographic Partners, with 21st Century Fox holding a 73% stake. The consequences were immediate. On the 2nd of November 2015, the Society and 21st Century Fox announced that approximately 180 people, or 9 percent of National Geographic's 2,000 employees, would be laid off. It was the largest staff reduction in the Society's history.

  The Walt Disney Company later assumed 21st Century Fox's share following the completion of Disney's acquisition of most 21CF assets on the 20th of March 2019. Disney now holds a 73% stake in National Geographic Partners; the Society retains 27%.

  The most recent wave of cuts came on the 29th of June 2023, when National Geographic laid off the remaining staff writers for its magazine and announced that its publications would no longer be sold at physical newsstands in the United States in 2024. A spokesperson confirmed the company would continue publishing a monthly magazine through freelance writers and the few remaining editors on staff. That same year, the Society had also faced a 2013 federal investigation for a possible violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act related to its association with an Egyptian government official responsible for antiquities.