Author: Amy Cox Hall
E-mail: achall22@gmail.com
Institution: UNC-Charlotte
Title: Imagining Discovery: Hiram Bingham's photographs of Machu Picchu in
National Geographic (1913)
Abstract:
In 1911 Hiram Bingham and the Yale Peruvian Expedition (YPE) first photographed
Machu Picchu. Bingham and his team were avid and conscientious photographers,
eventually taking over 9,000 photographs over the course of their three expeditions
to Peru. The documentary, framing, and reproducible nature of photography were
critical both for the science of the YPE and the subsequent invention of Machu
Picchu as a national logo and global icon. This paper addresses the early publication
of photographs of Machu Picchu to examine the YPE imaginary that was initially
crafted and continues to be perpetuated around Machu Picchu. Through a reading of
the images and text of the 1913 edition of National Geographic, “In the Wonderland
of Peru” as well as the photographic re-iteration of that narrative in today’s touristic
image experience, I examine the ways in which the taking and circulation of
photographs shape(d) enduring global and national images and understandings of
the archaeological monument.