First Day on the Job, April 1, 1899

[Cathy Hunter]

On this day in 1899, a quiet revolution took place at the Geographic. The Society, founded in 1888, was still a small, mostly local, organization and struggling mightily to stay afloat. All of that would change after Alexander Graham Bell took charge. And his most significant move after becoming its president quite likely was hiring a particular young man to handle the day-to-day affairs of the Society…

And so, on April 1, 1899, 23-year-old Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor reported to work as the Society’s first full-time employee. He stayed until 1954 and made National Geographic magazine into a household name, credited with being “its principle architect and master builder.” When Grosvenor married Bell’s daughter Elsie May the following year, they embarked on “a shared and joyous labor, the building of the National Geographic Society and its journal, a magazine whose very name would become synonymous with the romance of travel, exploration, and the unending quest of knowledge.”

[Marts]

Thanks Cathy, such history is always most facinating....

[Jim]

And, as they say, "The rest is history".

[Scott T. Shier]

Particulary sentimental to reflect on this now, THIS April, Cathy...

 

It was with regret (not unexpected) that I found out that Gilbert M. Grosvenor finally stepped down from top-level, active leadership December 31st. It's truly now in 2011 the first time since 1899 that a Grosvenor has not been in one of the top executive positions of the Society.

 

We really do owe everything that it is, and has been, to the Hubbard-Bell-Grosvenors.

 

 

- Scott

[Marts]

if it wasn't for them we won't even have ths discussion site!

[Scott T. Shier]

True, Marts !