Grosvenor, Gilbert H.

Gilbert H. Grosvenor, in full Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, (born Oct. 28, 1875, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]—died Feb. 4, 1966, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Can.), American geographer, writer, and long-time editor of the National Geographic Magazine and president of the National Geographic Society.

A graduate of Amherst College, Grosvenor was hired by the president of the National Geographic Society, the inventor Alexander Graham Bell, as an editorial assistant for the National Geographic Magazine. He married Bell’s daughter Elsie May in 1900 and became editor-in-chief of the magazine in 1903. Grosvenor transformed the National Geographic from a dull scholarly journal with a circulation of only 900 into an interesting and superbly illustrated magazine with a circulation of more than 2,000,000.

Grosvenor was elected president of the National Geographic Society in 1920. During his administration, greatly increased revenues enabled the society to send out numerous expeditions to the North and South poles, into the stratosphere, and to the ocean depths and to conduct a myriad of other investigations. Grosvenor resigned as editor and president in 1954 and became chairman of the society’s board, serving in that capacity until his death. Besides the many articles and photographs he contributed to the National Geographic, he also wrote a history of the society. His other books include Young Russia (1914) and Discovery and Exploration (1924). He was long a leader in the conservation and protection of wildlife.