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National Geographic Society

Founded in Washington, D.C., in 1888 with the object of fostering the development and dissemination of geographic knowledge, the National Geographic Society has made a significant contribution to archaeology through its publications and its Committee of Research and Exploration. Between 1912 and 1915 the society funded the work of Hiram Bingham at machu picchu, and between 1938 and 1946 it supported eight expeditions by Matthew Stirling that culminated with his excavation of the olmec site of la venta. Other highlights have been the work it supported at chichén itzá, the exploration of pueblo bonito by Neil Judd beginning in 1921, and the excavation of the Hellenistic site of Aphrodisias in turkey by Kenan Erim.

Notwithstanding its strong support of the archaeology of more recent periods, the society has made its greatest impact in the field of paleoanthropology. The most famous recipients of society funding since 1959 were louis leakey and mary leakey and, through Louis Leakey’s influence, the primatologists Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey.

National Geographic magazine and other society publications have also played an important role in reporting archaeological research to the public. As the society rightly acknowledges, the act of disseminating geographic knowledge has the capacity to make some archaeologists internationally famous. However, the magazine’s greatest impact on archaeology may well derive from the ways in which its staff writers and artists have sought to communicate the sense of archaeological research to nonspecialist audiences.

Tim Murray

See also

Maya Civilization

References

Bryan, C.D.B. 1997. The National Geographic Society: 100 Years of Adventure and Discovery. 2d ed. New York: Abrams.

National Museum of Slovenia

The National Museum of Slovenia (Narodni Muzej Slovenije) was founded in Ljubljana as the Krainisch Ständisches Museum by provincial orders of the Austrian province of Carniola in 1821. The museum’s name was changed to Krainisches Landesmuseum after confirmation by the Austrian Emperor Franz I in 1826, and its collections were opened to the public in 1831. After 1882 the name was changed to Krainisches Landesmuseum Rudolphinum (after the Austrian Archduke Rudolph, the heir to the throne). The museum was transferred to a new building in 1888, the most expensive building ever built for any cultural institution in the province of Carniola. After World War I and the formation of the kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (known as the kingdom of Yugoslavia after 1929), the museum was officially renamed Narodni Muzej (National Museum) in 1921. The museum has been called by its present name, Narodni Muzej Slovenije (National Museum of Slovenia) since 1997.

The museum was to be the central cultural and scientific institution in the province of Carniola, so it therefore embraced several functions: museum, exhibition place, research center, public library, gallery, public archive. It was meant to cover all the major fields representative of the province of Carniola: natural history,