On January 27, 1888, the National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C., for “the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge.”
The 33 men who originally met and formed the National Geographic Society were a diverse group of geographers, explorers, teachers, lawyers, cartographers, military officers and financiers. All shared an interest in scientific and geographical knowledge, as well as an opinion that in a time of discovery, invention, change and mass communication, Americans were becoming more curious about the world around them. With this in mind, the men drafted a constitution and elected as the Society’s president a lawyer and philanthropist named Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Neither a scientist nor a geographer, Hubbard represented the Society’s desire to reach out to the layman.
Nine months after its inception, the Society published its first issue of National Geographic magazine. Readership did not grow, however, until Gilbert H. Grosvenor took over as editor in 1899. In only a few years, Grosvenor boosted circulation from 1,000 to 2 million by discarding the magazine’s format of short, overly technical articles for articles of general interest accompanied by photographs. National Geographic quickly became known for its stunning and pioneering photography, being the first to print natural-color photos of sky, sea and the North and South Poles.
The Society used its revenues from the magazine to sponsor expeditions and research projects that furthered humanity’s understanding of natural phenomena. In this role, the National Geographic Society has been instrumental in making possible some of the great achievements in exploration and science. To date, it has given out more than 1,400 grants, funding that helped Robert Peary journey to the North Pole, Richard Byrd fly over the South Pole, Jacques Cousteau delve into the sea and Jane Goodall observe wild chimpanzees, among many other projects.
Today, the National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions. National Geographic continues to sell as a glossy monthly, with a circulation of around 9 million. The Society also sees itself as a guardian of the planet’s natural resources, and in this capacity, focuses on ways to broaden its reach and educate its readers about the unique relationship that humans have with the earth.
Also on this day, 1785
Georgia incorporates the first state university
On this day in 1785, the Georgia General Assembly incorporates the University of Georgia, the first state-funded institution of higher learning in the new republic.
The previous year, the assembly had set aside 40,000 acres from which they planned to earn the money they would need to endow such an institution. In 1786, the future university’s board of trustees met for the first time in Augusta, Georgia, choosing Yale University alumnus Abraham Baldwin as president and drafting the school’s charter. In 1801, John Milledge, future governor of Georgia, donated 633 acres along the Oconee River in what is now Athens to serve as the site of the new university. Three years later, the school graduated its first class.
In its first incarnation, the new institution was named Franklin College, in honor of the ubiquitous Benjamin, and modeled in architecture and pedagogy after Baldwin’s alma mater, Yale. An important distinction existed, however, in the founding of the two institutions. Yale was founded by Congregationalist ministers on explicitly theological grounds, while the University of Georgia–a religiously tolerant institution founded in a more religiously tolerant age–remained purposely independent of any theological affiliation.
Reflecting the trajectory of the nation as a whole, it took an additional century and a half for the university to complete a shift from religious tolerance to gender equity and racial integration. The university began admitting women in 1918, the same year President Woodrow Wilson gave his support to a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. In 1961, after a three-year legal battle, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes became the first African-American students to enroll at the University of Georgia.
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