National Geographic Virtual Library — OSU Library Research Database

Wall of National Geographic Magazines Covers with a photographer in front. dark picture and the yellow edging on the covers glow

Do you know someone with a houseful of magazines with a yellow border on the cover?  If they grew up without easy access to the internet, it’s quite possible.   But how can you find a specific topic?

Today, National Geographic is published both in paper format and online.  It has been published continuously since the founding of the National Geographic Society in 1888.  Starting out as a text oriented publication, the first pictures arrived 1905 (Tibet) and had become a trademark by 1910 as photography techniques improved.  The Cartographic Division was added in 1915 with the first supplement map arriving in May 1918 showing the “Western Theatre of War”.  And at times, the U.S. government has needed to use National Geographic maps. President Roosevelt’s WWII Map Room was filled with them.

The National Geographic Virtual Library has pulled together all of the issues of the National Geographic Magazine from 1888 to 1994.  It offers a searchable index of maps, books, images and videos on Anthropology, Earth Science,  Geography, Atmospheric Sciences, Natural Resources, Environment and Maps.

The database has the usual search boxes but also allows visitors to specifically search the magazines or the images.  It is possible to search by term frequency as well and that provides a graph of documents by year.  All of the searches can be limited by year.

Picking any magazine from the Browse Magazine list will show the cover.  A menu contains the list of articles in the magazine as well as advertisements and supplements.  There is a source citation and related topics as well.

On all pages, there are easy citation tools and a screen reader under the “Listen” button.  It reads text but does not handle the maps.  Advertisements can be confusing for it.

So, open up the laptop, or grab a tablet and discover how much space can be reclaimed from your parent’s house.

***PLEASE NOTE:  This database is for OSU faculty, staff, students, and users in library ONLY***