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TRIVIA RESULTS:
THE QUESTION: What were the only two issue (dates) which contained two months.
THE ANSWER: July/Augest 1897 and Nov./Dec. 1917.
Second TRIVIA RESULTS:
The Question: What is the only early issue which reverted to a previous cover Motif after a definitive change?
The Answer: April 1905. A second run of the issue was ordered because the first run was
entirely sold out. The issues' success was due to the photo article on the
Philippines which proved to be very popular. Discontinued left over "wine
colored" cover stock was used for the 2nd printing. The last time this
stock had been used was with the December 1903 issue.
THIS IS A LIST OF MEMBERSHIP COUNT, INFO, AND SOURCES starting with this 1900 (Oct. issue) graph which matches and verifies all but the 1899 end of year (EOY) data that follows it. Clearly the Society growth has been extraordinary, but there have been reversals (most notably in 1930-4 and 1988 to present). Be aware that exact counts are hard to determine with many publishers not documenting their sources. Any data to fill missing years or hard data for authintication is cheerfully accepted. Note many figures appear to be rounded. (suspect! - as are yearly figures that seem to grow upward when there is conflicting data). National Geographic's figures (1998 research shown in white is very diverse from other data at the turn of the century) stop in 1988 when a decline starts that still has not recovered.
(Count starts at 0 and ranges in 100 members per division thru 2500 at the top)
YR MEMBR. #'s 1998 NG Figures SOURCE OF INFORMATION
1888 Founding 165 Index 1935:xvi.
1888 Oct. # 205 Named on PG. 94-8
1888 210 Buxbaum 1971:38; October 1888 issue list 205 members as of then # 1:94-98
1889 April 209 VI# 4:165-66 (founder James Stevenson died, reducing members to 209 rather than 210 memberships paid by EOY 1888).
1889 229 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1890 392 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1891 430 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1892 693 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1893 813 Interpretation of Graph in Oct. 1900 pg. 402
1894 955 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1895 May 31, 1178 VI #9
1896 1200 Bryan 1987:36 GGH dies – Bell Begins
1897 EOY 1140 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1898 EOY 1400 Byran 1987:36.
1899 1400 1000 Bauxbaum 1971:38. June 1899 pg. 221 says 1600 (vs this and 1900 graph)
1900 2462 2200 Buxbaum 1971: 38
1901 2661 2300 XIII #2:80; Bryan 1987:297 lists 2570 when Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor was hired.
1902 2570
1903 2000 2895 Bryan 1987:95; XXIV #1:126( EOY).
1904 3662 3662 Bryan 1987:95
1905 10,000 11,479 XVI #12:586; Bryan 1987:95 lists 11,479 members in 1905, which could be correct EOY rather than earlier paid memberships reported as a round number in the December 1905 issue.
1906 19,237 19,237 Bryan 1987:121.
1907 31,272 31,272 XXIV #2:252
1908 38,698 38,698 XXIV #2:252.
1909 53,333 53,333 XXIV #2:252.
1910 74,018 74.018 XXIV #2:252.
1911 102,051 102.051 XXIV #2:252. Mar. 1912:272 says 107,000 A/O Jan. 1912
1912 160,565 160,565 XXIV #2:252.
1913 January 170,000 Buxbaum 1971: ; the April 1913 issue's 289,180 statistic is erroneously and reported expectations for between 285,000 and 300,000 membership proved inflated. Compare XXIV #4:468-70 with XXIV #7:back cover.
1913 July 225,000 XXIV #7:back advertisement
1913 EOY 234,284 234,284 XXVII #3:320; Bryan 1987:133.
1914 mid yr 285,000 Bryan 1987:133. April 1914 pg
1914 EOY 337,446 337,446 Bryan 1987:133; March 1915 statistics are given XXVII#3:320.
1915 424,000 424,477 Bryan 1987:133.
1916 559,978
1917 625,000 627,786 Bryan 1987:135 (fiscal-end-of-year statistics for October of each year are reported in the following entries from this date).
1918 650,000 656,086 April 1918 pg. 348
1919 668,174 668,174 Bryan 1987:135.
1920 713,208 713,208 Bryan 1987:135.
1921 647,341 647,341 Bryan 1987:162.
1922 750,000 718,064 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1923 809,973
1924 894,734
1925 990,000 953.750 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1926 1,019,026
1927 1,099,424
1928 1,164,034
1929 1,212,173 1,212,173 Bryan 1987:175.
1929 1,300,000 Buxbaum 1971: (probably slightly inflated)
1930 1,246,983 1,246,983 Bryan 1987:175.
1931 1,202,621 1,202,621 Bryan 1987:202.
1932 1,034,046 1,034,046 Bryan 1987:202.
1933 882,498 882,498 Bryan 1987:202. Possibly as low as 872,000 – Vol 130 #4:476
1934 950,000 922,772 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1935 1,008,694 1,027,012 Index 1935:14 (figure is for May 1935 membership).
1936 1,090,279
1937 1,100.131
1938 1,081,430
1939 1,093,578 1,093,578 Bryan 1987:219.
1940 1,100,000 1,104,546 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1941 1,192,248
1942 1,192,248
1943 1,199,738
1944 1,250,000 1,238,202 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1945 1,215,260
1946 1,246,938 1,469,718 Restored to 1930 level of membership; Carey 1998:bb; Bryan 1987:219
1947 1,600,000 1,619,236 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1948 1,700,000 1,727,706 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1949 1,831,588 1,831,588 Bryan 1987:261.
1950 1,950,000 1,889,965 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1951 1,971,161
1952 2,000,000 2,022,033 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1953 2,091,503 2,091,530 Bryan 1987:305 (December 1953 membership may have been higher).
1954 2,150,000 2,100,009 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1955 2,135,387
1956 2,134,123 May 1956 membership stated in NGS & It’s Mag. 1957:156.
1956 2,144,704 2,144,704 Bryan 1987:305.
1957 2,175,000 Buxbaum 1971: (probably start of year).
1957 2,178,040 2,178,040 Bryan 1987:351 (EO FY, October 1957).
1958 2,257,553 2,257,553
1959 2,399,152
1960 2,500,000 2,517,846 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1961 2,800,000 2,798,188 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1962 3,087,458
1963 3,500,000 3,492,187 124#10:585 (EO FY, October 1963).
1964 3,970,000 3,971,540 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1965 4,550,000 4,568,608 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1966 5,030,000 5.044,802 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1967 5,607,457 5,607,457 Bryan 1987:351 (EO FY, October 1967).
1968 6,060,000 6,077,806 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1969 6,365,000 6,402,674 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1970 6,800,000 6,869,797 Buxbaum 1971:38.
1971 7,260,179
1972 7,729,571
1973 8,276,668
1974 8,868,656
1975 9,039,374
1976 9,350,123
1977 9,756,312 9,756,312 Bryan 1987:399.
1978 10,134,530
1979 10,413,639
1980 10,711,886
1981 10.850,000 10,861,186 Dec. 1981 pg. 848
1982 10,610,000
1983 10,626,224
1984 10,500,000 10,392,548 Presidents Report
1985 10,549,349
1986 10,764,998
1987 10,498,594
1988 10,500,000 10,574,562 174 # 3:289 (September 1988).
1993 9,700,000 July 1993 Presidents Report
1998 7,900,000 (to be verified)
Thankx to Bill Cole and Paul Crist for help with data finds in many of the years.
JCarey4NGs@CS.com
The page was last updated: Friday, May 07, 1999