Hiram Bingham

Hiram Bingham was an American explorer, politician, and academic notable for publicizing the 1911 expedition to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu and for serving as a United States Senator from Connecticut. His career spanned roles in Yale University, the Panama Canal Zone, and Republican politics during the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Bingham’s life intersected with figures and institutions across Harvard University, Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, and South American governments.

Early life and education

Born in Honolulu when the islands were the Kingdom of Hawaii, he was the son of Charles H. Bingham and Claire L. Bingham and grew up amid contacts with Queen Liliʻuokalani and the aftermath of the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He attended Phillips Andover Academy before matriculating at Yale College where he was affiliated with Skull and Bones and graduated into the milieu of Yale University scholars influenced by professors like William Graham Sumner and the collegiate networks of Elihu Yale. He then studied at Harvard University and trained at the École libre des sciences politiques in Paris, incorporating continental scholarship connected to figures in French archaeology and the intellectual circles of Cambridge University and Oxford University.

Political career

Bingham served as the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut and later was elected as a United States Senator from Connecticut representing the Republican Party during the era of Progressive Era politics that included alliances and rivalries with politicians such as Robert M. La Follette and interactions with presidential administrations including Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding. During his tenure he engaged with congressional committees paralleling work in territories like the Panama Canal Zone and policy debates influenced by the Monroe Doctrine. He was involved in state politics alongside figures such as Marcus H. Holcomb and connected to national organizations like the American Red Cross and the National Geographic Society.

Exploration and discovery of Machu Picchu

Bingham led a 1911 expedition to the Cusco Region of Peru financed in part by Yale University and supported by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. On that expedition he publicized the site known as Machu Picchu to Western scholarship, working in the context of contemporaneous explorations by Ernest Shackleton, Howard Carter, and archaeological debates standing alongside discoveries at sites such as Tikal and Chichén Itzá. His expedition made agreements with the Peruvian government and figures like President Augusto B. Leguía and collaborated with local guides and scholars connected to the National University of San Marcos. Accounts of the expedition fed into popular narratives appearing in outlets tied to the National Geographic Magazine and institutions like the American Geographical Society, while also intersecting with antiquities issues later involving the Ministry of Culture (Peru) and legal discussions paralleling cases involving the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Academic and professional work

After his expeditions he returned to academia at Yale University as a lecturer and later a professor, contributing to the collections of the Peabody Museum and publishing works that engaged peers at Harvard, Columbia University, Princeton University, and the University of Chicago. His scholarship was part of broader archaeological discourse including comparisons to work by Alfred Maudslay, John Lloyd Stephens, Paul Rivet, Julio C. Tello, and curatorial practices in museums such as the Field Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. He participated in scientific societies including the American Philosophical Society and the Royal Geographical Society, and his correspondence involved personalities from Percy Fawcett to Thornton Burgess and administrators in cultural heritage debates akin to those addressed by the League of Nations and later UNESCO.

Later life and legacy

In later years Bingham remained engaged in writing, public speaking, and advising institutions like the Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society, and the Peabody Museum. His legacy is debated across scholarship from historians at Yale and critics in Peru associated with the Ministry of Culture (Peru) and scholars such as John Hemming, Gavin Menzies, and María Reiche who examined Andean heritage. Discussions of repatriation and cultural patrimony link his collections to controversies similar to those involving Elgin Marbles and repatriation cases heard in forums like the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Commemorations include references in media produced by PBS, coverage in outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, and entries in encyclopedias maintained by institutions like the Library of Congress and the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Category:1875 births Category:1956 deaths Category:United States senators from Connecticut Category:Yale University faculty Category:Explorers of South America