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Abstract
Geography in America is inseparably entwined with popularization: historically from its inception, structurally in its composition, and functionally in its mission. Despite its centrality to geography, the role of popularization remains largely ignored and therefore is poorly understood. To put popularization into a conceptual and historical context, I explore two public debates about popularization: one structural, involving the rationale for the separation of the National Geographic Society and the Association of American Geographers, and the other functional, involving conflicts between the popular intellectual and academic geographic reviewers of a popular text, Van Loon's Geography. Using analytical frameworks taken from the history and sociology of science and communication studies, I show how issues of demarcation, authority, and authenticity have, through debates about popularization, shaped the history and current structure of the geographic enterprise.
En Norteamérica, la geografía está inseparablemente entrelazada con la popularización: históricamente desde sus inicios, estructuralmente en su composición y funcionalmente en su misión. No obstante lo central que es para la geografía, el papel de la popularización permanece en gran medida ignorado y, en consecuencia, poco comprendido. Para colocar la popularización en un contexto conceptual e histórico, en este artículo fijo mi atención en dos debates públicos sobre popularización: uno estructural, que implica la exposición de razones para la separación de la Sociedad Geográfica Nacional [National Geographic Society] y la Asociación de Geógrafos Americanos [Association of American Geographers]; el otro funcional, que entraña una situación de conflicto entre lo que piensan los intelectuales populares y los geógrafos académicos al reseñar un texto popular, Van Loon's Geography. Valiéndome de marcos analíticos tomados de la historia y la sociología de la ciencia, y de estudios de la comunicación, muestro cómo los temas de demarcación, autoridad y autenticidad, a través de debates sobre popularización, han configurado la historia y actual estructura de la actividad geográfica.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Susan Friedman, Deryck Holdsworth, Lynn Liben, and the editor and anonymous reviewers for their comments on the various drafts of the article. My thanks also to Valerie Sebestyen for producing the graphics, and she, along with Owen Dwyer and Jennifer Adams, did invaluable library research.
Notes
1. Alwin's (1984) “Work of prostitutes or missionaries: Producing popular regional geographies” exemplifies the tenor of debates.
2. CitationDriver (1992) saw popularization as a complex and largely neglected process in the history of geography. The last eighteen years have reaffirmed his trenchant observation.
3. I distinguish between geographers, those with specialized training and professional interests for whom geography is of central concern, and the public, those for whom geography is of varying degrees of interest: K–12 students taking courses, readers of National Geographic Magazine, viewers of television programs with geospatial technology as part of the plot, travelers using Global Positioning System units, readers of newspapers, users of Google Earth, and so on. The distinction reflects differences in degree of knowledge, training, expertise, identification, and commitment.
4. For a detailed discussion of Guyot's role in geography education, see CitationKoelsch (2008).
5. There is an extensive literature on the origins and development of both organizations. For an overview of the NGS, see G. H. CitationGrosvenor (1957), CitationPauly (1979), Abramson (1987), CitationBryan (1987), CitationLutz and Collins (1993), CitationRothenberg (1994), and CitationPoole (2004). For an overview of the AAG, see CitationJames and Martin (1978), Blouet (1981), the Geography in America Timeline (http://www.gwu.edu/~geog/gat/gat.html), and CitationKoelsch (2001).
6. CitationWithers (2001) showed a similar process of coevolution in Great Britain as the Institute of British Geographers developed in the 1930s in contrast to the Royal Geographical Society.
7. Bryan (1987, 22–25) provided a painting of the meeting, listing those in attendance. They included geologists, geographers, meteorologists, naturalists, explorers, and educators, and represented a cross-section of the scientific elite in Washington, DC.
8. Gardiner G. Hubbard (1822–1897) was a lawyer and investor who provided financial and emotional support for his son-in-law, Alexander Graham Bell. Hubbard was a director of the Bell Company and shaped federal policy on the postal telegraph system and the railway mail transportation system.
9. Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) was a scientist and inventor credited with the invention of the telephone. Through his daughter's marriage to Gilbert H. Grosvenor, Bell became a patron of the fledgling NGS, recommending Grosvenor for an editorial position and providing financial support to the Society.
10. Gilbert H. Grosvenor (1875–1966) edited the NGS Magazine for fifty-five years, pioneering the use of black-and-white and then color photography in photojournalism. He was president and chairman of the board of the NGS.
11. Bryan's book is an NGS-sponsored and sanctioned depiction, presenting the Society's side of the picture—but that is exactly why it is valuable. The framing is in terms of one side of the debate. A more nuanced and revealing side is found in Rothenberg's (1999) superb dissertation,“National Geographic's world: Politics of popular geography, 1888–1945.” It provides a detailed analysis of correspondence among Davis, Grosvenor, and other figures central to the NGS. Although our themes overlap, my interests are specifically on the links among Davis, the NGS, and the AAG in terms ofpopularization.
12. J. Russell Smith (1874–1966) trained in economics (PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 1903) and taught economics and geography at the Wharton School. In 1919 he became chair of the economic geography program at Columbia University's School of Business. He was a prolific author of university-level textbooks and of grade- and high-school textbooks.
13. By 1924, only four women had been admitted to AAG membership; see tables 1 and 2 in CitationMonk (2004). Monk (2004, 5–6) provided correspondence indicating that Davis was more welcoming to women becoming members of and participating in AAG activities than were some of his colleagues.
14. Lee (1958, 26) discussed book distribution: “In 1930 the figure was one [bookstore] for every 30,000. Only 60% of the people in places with populations between 10,000 and 25,000 were then being served—and 32% of the whole United States public were without direct access to any bookstores whatever.” The Club brought the book to a spatially dispersed audience.
15. In the 1930s, van Loon had competitors: CitationHillyer (1929) and CitationMitchell (1934) wrote successful popular geographies. Academic geographers embarked on the same path: CitationSauer (1939) wrote Man in nature, an illustrated first book in geography.
16. Ellsworth Huntington (1876–1947) received a doctorate in Geography from Yale in 1909. His career involved faculty and research positions in addition to significant periods of independent scholarship. Renowned for work on environmental determinism, Huntington was one of the most visible geographers of the early twentieth century (see G. Martin 1973 for a biography).
17. Fanny Butcher (1888–1987) was the literary editor of The Chicago Tribune for forty years and was famous for her book reviews (see CitationButcher 1972)
18. Carl Clinton Van Doren (1885–1950) was a literary critic who taught at Columbia University, wrote a Pulitzer prize-winning biography of Benjamin Franklin, and was literary editor for The Nation and Century Magazine, editor for the Literary Guild, and managing editor of The Cambridge History of American Literature.
19. Ironically, in January 1932, CitationHuntington (1932a) had written about the queerness of America: “In spite of all our geographical instruction, the average American fails to appreciate the fact that in most respects it is we who are queer and not the people of China, India, Japan, or even Russia” (254). America's uniqueness was such that “we well deserve to be called queer.”
20. Despite Huntington's scorn for van Loon's work, their careers showed interesting parallels:
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The time-consuming task of earning money had slowed Huntington enormously. Living geography had not provided the income he had anticipated. For three years Huntington edited and rewrote children's “geography drama” radio manuscripts for the Columbia Broadcasting Corporation; throughout the decade he reviewed a substantial number of books for pay, chiefly for The Saturday Review of Literature. He gave talks for pay; sold “interviews” and written pieces of work to newspapers wherever possible; and accepted an editorial post with an education film-making company. (G. Martin 1973, 221)
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Huntington engaged in activities that fitted under the rubric of popularization. Living geography was a school text published in February 1932.
21. Beulah Amidon (1894–1958) was a reporter and associate editor for The Survey, covering topics in labor, industry, and education.
22. Alistair McKay contributed two book reviews to the Bookman in the early 1930s.
23. Ernest Gruening (1887–1974) had multiple careers as a medical doctor, reporter, editor for two New York newspapers, and politician (senior administrator for Franklin D. Roosevelt and governor and then senator for Alaska).
24. Charles E. Cooper was a geography professor at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.
25. Wallace Atwood (1872–1949) received a doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1903. After serving as a geologist in the United States Geological Survey, he taught at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and Clark University, where he became president. He was a prolific author and wrote numerous K–12textbooks.
26. Robert Luther Duffus (1903–1971) was a New York-based writer who contributed essays and books on topics ranging from the arts and the theater to travel in the United States.
27. Frank E. Williams (1877–1960) was a professor of geography at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1922 Williams coauthored a business geography text with Ellsworth Huntington, was vice president (1930) and secretary (1932–1935) of the AAG and twice was president of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia.
28. Frederic Thompson was Literary Editor of the Catholic journal, Commonweal, and a frequent contributor to that journal during the 1920s and 1930s.
29. In his analysis of Joseph Conrad's essay on exploration and geography, CitationDriver (1992) used “historical impressionism” to characterize Conrad's picture of the history of geography.
30. The 1930s debate had long-lasting reverberations. In appealing to scholars to understand the needs of students in writing textbooks, Tyson-Bernstein (1988, 197) quoted an AAG member who “recalled some exciting geography books of the 1920s and 1930s—Van Loon's geography, for example.” His final comment is telling: “Van Loon would be laughed out of the academy today.” With sales of more than 350,000 and in the face of persistent geographic ignorance, who has had the last laugh: van Loon, writer of a popular book, or realgeographers such as Huntington, guardians of authenticgeography?