The first issue of "National Geographic" is published - September 22nd, 1888

On this day in 1888, "National Geographic Magazine" began publication as the official journal of the National Geographic Society.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that flips through the pages of history to deliver
old news in a new way. I'm Gay, Blues Yay,
and today we're celebrating the birth of National Geographic, a

(00:21):
magazine whose vivid photo features and thoughtful journalism have been
revealing new aspects of our world for more than one
hundred and thirty years in counting. The day was September
twenty second, eighteen eighty eight. National Geographic Magazine began publication

(00:45):
as the official journal of the National Geographic Society. The
group had been founded just nine months earlier as a
nonprofit devoted to the quote increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge.
The societ Diciety's goal with the magazine was to use
the proceeds to fund expeditions and research projects around the world.

(01:07):
Although the word magazine was initially part of the title,
the name was later shortened to just National Geographic, and
now sometimes it shortened even further to just Nat Geo.
It went on to become one of the world's best
known and most respected periodicals, easily identified by the distinctive
yellow border running around the edge of its cover, and

(01:29):
renowned for its stunning photographs of exotic locales, natural phenomena,
and wildlife. The thirty three men who established the National
Geographic Society in Washington, d c. Were an eclectic assortment
of geographers, teachers, military officers, map makers, and financiers. The

(01:49):
majority were not scientists by trade, but they all shared
a natural curiosity and were fascinated with science and exploration. Moreover,
they all all felt supremely lucky to be living in
the age they did, a time when innovations and transportation
and communication had made it easier than ever to travel

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to faraway places, document what you find there, and then
share it with the world. With that in mind, they
wrote up a constitution and formed a nonprofit corporation to
help further mankind's understanding of the natural world. Nine months
into that endeavor, the Society launched its own official journal,

(02:30):
National Geographic Magazine, Volume one, Number one was printed in
New Haven, Connecticut, and carried a cover price of just
fifty cents. At first, the magazine was rather unadventurous in
terms of both its appearance and its content. There was
no bright yellow border or jaw dropping cover photo to
lure in readers. Instead, the cover was just plain chestnut

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brown paper with the magazine's title and a little logo
of a map at the center. There weren't any photos
inside the magazine either, just ninety eight pages of sedate,
scholarly writing. The six articles featured in the inaugural issue
had begun life as research papers presented at the bi
weekly meetings held by the Society. They weren't written with

(03:17):
a public audience in mind, and were therefore rather formal
and academic in tone. The liveliest read came from founding
member Everett Hayden and detailed the devastating great storm that
had struck the Atlantic coast of the US earlier that March.
The dullest content, on the other hand, had to be
the Survey and Map of Massachusetts by Henry Gannett, another

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founding member and future Society president. As the title suggests,
the article described the process of how the state of
Massachusetts was topographically mapped, including a breakdown of what all
was covered in the mapping, such as post offices and
public canals, as well as what was excluded fences and
field crops. As he can tell, it was a real

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page Turner. The National Geographic Society had hoped their magazine
would appeal to people from all walks of life, and
not just to the highly educated, But since most of
the content dealt with technical subjects and lacked illustrations of
any kind, there really wasn't much there for the layman.
The magazine fared well enough in its early years and

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eventually became a monthly publication in eighteen ninety six, but
its readership wouldn't truly thrive until three years later, when
Gilbert H. Grovener took over as the first full time editor.
On his watch, National Geographic ditched the stuffy, jargon heavy
articles that had limited its appeal and started focusing more

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on general interest topics accompanied by photographs. The first issue
with a photo feature hit news stands in January of
nineteen o five and gave readers an exclusive look at
the Buddhist temples of Lasa, Tibet. As a result of
this and other changes, including the addition of that snappy
yellow border in nineteen ten, Grovenor was able to boost

(05:08):
the magazine's circulation from one thousand to well over a
million by nineteen twenty six. Grovenor's leadership didn't just improve
the magazine's accessibility and esthetics, It also broadened the scope
of its coverage. Instead of focusing mostly on the United
States as it had done before, the magazine now featured

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stories from even the most remote corners of the world,
and to help bring those places to life for the reader,
National Geographic pioneered new techniques in natural photography and became
one of the first magazines to publish full color photographs.
By nineteen o eight, roughly half the magazine was composed
of photos, many of which gave readers their first glimpse

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of people, places, and animals that they never knew existed.
And although the magazine stumbled here and there, it mostly
lived up to its own gentlemanly pledge that quote, only
what is of a kindly nature is printed about any
country or people, everything unpleasant or unduly critical being avoided.

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One of the main reasons for the magazine's creation was
to help finance the Society's scientific expeditions, and it achieved
that goal in eighteen ninety, just two years into its run.
The proceeds from the magazine's sales allowed the Society to
embark on a mission led by explorer Israel Russell to
map the Saint Elias Mountains in North America. Since then,

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National Geographic has sponsored thousands of other explorer led expeditions
and research projects, including Robert Pieri's journey to the North Pole,
Richard Byrd's flight over the South Pole, Jane Goodall's study
of wild chimpanzees, and Jacques Cousteau's exploration of the under
sea world. A great deal has changed in the one

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hundred and thirty plus years since nat Geo's debut, both
in the world at large and in the magazine business.
If you haven't noticed, print media ain't what he used
to be, and as a result, control of National Geographic
has changed hands twice in the past decade, first in
twenty fifteen when it was acquired by twentieth Century Fox,

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and then in twenty nineteen when Fox was acquired by
the Walt Disney Company. That means you're much more likely
to encounter the NAT Geo banner on Disney Plus than
that a newstand. But purists shouldn't worry just yet. The
venerable magazine is still going strong, with a monthly circulation
of just under two million copies. So even though we

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live in a volatile time in a volatile world, you
can still count on National Geographic to deliver the beauty, complexity,
and wonder of that world, all within a familiar yellow frame.
I'm Gabe Luesier and hopefully you now know a little
more about history today than you do yesterday. If you

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enjoyed today's episode, you might want to keep up with
us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show,
And if you have any feedback you'd like to share,
feel free to get in touch by writing to This
Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for
producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see

(08:22):
you back here again soon for another day in History class.