Gardiner Greene Hubbard was elected the first president of the National Geographic Society. When he died in 1897, his son-in-law, Alexander Graham Bell was forced to become president of the Society in order to save it.
To improve the popularity of the magazine, Alexander Graham Bell hired Gilbert Grosvenor as an editor. Grosvenor rejected articles that he felt were too technical or difficult to understand. He also increased the number of photographs that were included in the magazine. It was under the leadership of Gilbert Grosvenor that National Geographic was turned into a publication with a circulation of over 5,000,000 distributed in many parts of the
The intrigue that surrounds National Geographic is based on the idea of discovery. Discovery, especially of the unusual or obscure, appealed to many generations of National Geographic's western audience. National Geographic's editors had to balance the magazine between being educational and being marketable. The editors found this balance by emphasizing the exotic aspects of the world. National Geographic has been criticized, however, for sensationalizing cultures to sell magazines.
National Geographic's portrayal of the unusual has evolved over the years of its existence. Specifically, the portrayal of indigenious people has changed to match the worldview of its audience.
A specific example of the changes can be seen in the photographs from a September 1929 article on Papua New Guinea compared to photographs from a July 1994 article on the Trobriand Islands, which are off the coast of Papua New Guinea.
The New Guinea family in 1994 (right) does not appear as exotic as the family shown in 1929 (left), although specifically Trobriand symbols are found in the photograph, such as the hanging shell "kula" article. The 1929 photograph is more exotic because the family is not wearing much clothing and the clothing that can be seen is very non-western. The family in the 1994 photograph, however, does not appear as primitive. The natives are clothed, their clothing is relatively similar to western clothing and they are shown in a very comfortable pose.
Similarities did exist between the articles, however. The following photographs present indigenious men in ceremonial dress. Although the inclusion of these images in both articles presents a similar depiction of the indigenious people, the photograph on the left was included with the caption "His nose ornament, made from a big clamshell, is worn only in ceremony-not while he is pursuing his occupation of chauffeur". Whereas the caption for the photograph on the right mentions the man's full name and information about the ceremony.
It was the title to each article, however, that made the clearest distinction. The September 1929 article was titled "Into Primeval Papua by Seaplane, Seeking Disease-resisting Sugar Cane, Scientists Find Neolithic Man in Unmapped Nooks of Sorcery and Cannibalism".
The July 1994 issue introduced the Trobriands with the title "Under the Spell of the Trobriand Islands" and the picture below:
October 1995 National Geographic Photograph
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