American Geographical Society

Obituary: Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (1875-1966)Author(s): Alexander WetmoreSource: Geographical Review, Vol. 56, No. 4 (Oct., 1966), pp. 598-599Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/213065 .

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S98 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

tinued to write, to devise new methods of geographical teaching, and to follow with sym- pathetic interest the careers of his former staff and pupils until the day of his death.-J. W. and D. WRIGHT

GILBERT HOVEY GROSVENOR (1875-1966). The story of the years of Gilbert Gros- venor is the history of the National Geographic Society, the organization with which he was associated throughout his adult life.

Gilbert Grosvenor was born of American parents on October 28, 1875, in Istanbul (then called Constantinople), Turkey, where his father, Edwin Augustus Grosvenor, served as professor of history at Robert College. In 1891 the family returned to the United States. The elder Grosvenor joined the staff of Amherst College, and here in due course the son enrolled as a student. In 1897 young Gilbert graduated as a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude. Studies continued toward a Master's degree (received in 1901) as for a period he followed his father's profession of teaching. In 1900 he married Elsie May Bell, daughter of Alexander Graham Bell, scientist, inventor of the telephone, and friend of the Grosvenor family.

The National Geographic Society had been founded in 1888, for "the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge." To further this aim, the society, small in membership, published a journal, but in the beginning years it encountered financial difficulties. Dr. Bell, interested in the organization, asked Gilbert Grosvenor to undertake editorship of the Society's journal. When Grosvenor, on April 1, 1899, undertook this work, he found his headquarters con- sisted of half of a rented room on the fifth floor of an office building in Washington, D. C. Here he began what was to be his work for the rest of his active life.

In the beginning Bell contributed one hundred dollars monthly toward expenses, a sum that paid the new editor's salary. Grosvenor was convinced that the organization should be self-supporting and cast about for improvements in the presentation of geographic knowl- edge. These he sought tlhrough study of standard works on geography for clues that might be of assistance. Through this search he finally developed a procedure in presentation, based on accurate, eyewitness accounts presented in simple language-in his own words, "writing that sought to make pictures in the reader's mind." In that early day Grosvenor not only edited the contents of his first issue but placed the printed magazine in envelopes. These he addressed

by hand to the subscribers, then carried them to the post office and mailed them. From the beginning Grosvenor was convinced of the value of pictures to supplement

words. Suitable illustrations were difficult to find, and he began to take photographs pertinent to his articles. A first endeavor showed the experiments of Bell in raising men into the air

in his specially designed tetrahedral kites. These photographs, and others that followed as

modest illustration of his subjects, were immediately popular. At the end of 1904 Grosvenor in his makeup of the magazine found himself in a situation familiar to editors of small

journals-he lacked copy, in this instance to the extent of eleven pages. As he considered his predicament he received by mail a parcel of excellent photographs of ancient Lhasa, the almost legendary city of Tibet, known to the Western world mainly as a land forbidden to travelers. The pictures, taken by Russian explorers, were so extraordinary that Grosvenor, though with some trepidation, ran them to complete the issue. His fears were groundless, for the innova- tion was received with enthusiasm. A few days later his board of managers (now called

trustees) elected him unanimously to their membership. Photographs became a regular part of each number of the magazine, and in time (1910)

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GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD 599

illustrations in color were added as a further innovation. Maps were another standard addi- tion. Soon some of the articles were amplified to book form, a presentation that has become increasingly popular. These and other editorial practices steadily attracted additions to the membership. By 1907, under the leadership of this active-minded, forward-looking man, funds of the organization permitted modest grants toward geographic research. The first was a subscription of one thousand dollars toward the expenses of the Robert E. Peary expedition to the North Pole.

From its early years many of the members of the Society were resident in Washington. For them Grosvenor began a lecture series with speakers who were famous for their travels, exploits, and public accomplishments-Peary, Stefanssson, Roy Chapman Andrews, The- odore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, William Howard Taft, GeneraljohnJ. Pershing, and a host of others.

By 1917 the Society had half a million members, had established medals to recognize outstanding achievement in the increase of geographic knowledge, and was housed in a commodious building at a convenient location on Sixteenth Street in Washington. The staff of writers and photographers traveled over the world to obtain material, and the photo- graphic files expanded steadily, all this under the leading hand of Gilbert Grosvenor. In 1920

he was elected president of the Society, a position he occupied until his retirement in 1954. Then he became chairman of the Board of Trustees, a title he held until his death.

The physical aspects of the world and its human and other inhabitants were the constant preoccupation of this quiet, keen-eyed scientist-editor. Among these an absorbing interest in natural history, especially in birds, but including other living creatures, was constant. His home, Wild Acres, north of Washington, was a bird sanctuary he delighted to display to friends. Short articles on natural-history subjects appeared regularly in the magazine, illus- trated in the beginning by paintings but as methods improved, by photographs. These he re- garded properly as a part of the broad science of geography, in many cases one of special attraction.

For firsthand experience he traveled widely, often to far places of the earth, and on many of his journeys he was accompanied by Mrs. Grosvenor. In 1952, after their golden wedding anniversary, they devoted three months to Africa injourneys that covered more than thirty thousand miles. In the following year, at the age of seventy-seven, Dr. Grosvenor satisfied one of hlis great ambitions, a view of the North Pole, from an Air Force plane.

He was the recipient of many honors, among them the Order of Saint Olav, bestowed by the King of Norway; Officer of the Legion of Honor from France; and Commander, Order of Leopold IL, from Belgium. In 1952 he was awarded the Samuel Finley Breese Morse Medal of the American Geographical Society. He was elected to honorary member- ship in geographic societies throughout the world, and also to many other scientific and civic societies. These included the Cosmos Club of Washington, where he was past president, the Explorers Club of New York, the National Press Club, and the Alfalfa Club. Honorary degrees came to him from Georgetown University, George Washington University, Amherst, the University of Miami, the South Dakota State School of Mines, and others.

His death, at the age of ninety, came on February 4, 1966, at his summer home, Beinn Bhreagh, at Baddeck, Nova Scotia. A lasting monument to Gilbert Grosvenor is the con- tinuance of his name on the masthead of each number ofthe National Geographic.-ALEXANDER WETMORE

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