With a background in journalism and a passion for history, hosting National Geographic’s America’s Lost Treasures is a dream job for Kinga Philipps. “My father is a geologist. History, culture and travel are ingrained in me,” Philipps explains. “Broadcast journalism gave me the opportunity to go out and explore the world.”

Filmed in museums in 10 different cities, the America’s Lost Treasures program gives locals an opportunity to bring family heirlooms, garage sale bargains and found objects to be evaluated by Philipps and co-host Curt Doussett. Philipps says Savannah was one city everyone from the show agreed on visiting. “We were really looking for the flavor of the country. Each city is a representative of the country as a whole while having a distinct character of its own. Savannah is one of the few places that exist in real life exactly the way I envisioned.”

The logo for the National Geographic Society is a yellow, rectangular border, an image which has become internationally synonymous with the popular magazine and cable television channel that share the society’s name.

Simple, linear, all right angles and straight lines.

Shaped like a portraitframe, it’s also the prism through which National Geographic has told thousands of stories in advancement of its motto of “inspiring people to care about the planet.”

It’s that same aperture, providing a window to the world, that brought the National Geographic Channel this week to Savannah to begin filming an episode of America’s Lost Treasures, a new series set to debut in 2012. The cast and crew are being hosted by the Coastal Heritage Society, with filming to take place at the CHS-curated Savannah History Museum and adjacent Georgia State Railroad Muesum.