When I was growing up, one of my favorite magazines to grace our living room coffee table was the National Geographic. When that recognizable, golden-yellow bordered publication arrived, I was lured to look inside.
Designed and produced as a slim, tight volume with a rigid edge, these magazines begged to be saved, which my father dutifully did for decades in built-in bookcases next to the fireplace. The rows of yellow grew over the years affording me countless opportunities to cull them for history, science or geography school projects. No worries; I never took scissors to the richly produced photographs.
For me, as well as, I am sure, for countless of others, the flagship National Geographic magazine that many of us grew up with offered windows to the world—from explorations of space to ocean depths, not to mention the adventures of explorers like Sir Edmund Hillary reaching the summit of Mount Everest or Jacques-Yves Cousteau navigating the mysteries beneath the sea.
Looking through these cherished volumes was exhilarating; many of the photographs took your breath away.
19th-Century Influencers
A business that saw its creation more than 100 years ago on a January evening in 1888 when 33 men met at Washington, D.C.’s Cosmos Club to establish the National Geographic Society; their flagship magazine would soon follow.One of those present, boasting a long white beard, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, served as the Society’s first president. His daughter Mabel would wed a young inventor, Alexander Graham Bell.
They, in turn, would have a daughter Elsie who married Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor. Their eldest son, Melville Bell Grosvenor, was the father of the author, Gilbert Melville Grosvenor. Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor was the first full-time editor of the National Geographic magazine, and Melvin Bell Grosvenor was president of the National Geographic Society and editor of the magazine.
His memoir of growing up in the “Geographic” family to eventually become its president is unflinchingly told, giving readers a rare opportunity to have an inside look at the hearts and minds of a media dynasty.
Grosvenor is blessed to be born into wealth with all the advantages that can come with power and influence. Yet he struggles to find his way and initially isn’t sure that following in his father’s footsteps with the National Geographic is his path.
Several adventures armed with a camera sparks his passion and after college and a few years in the Army, he begins his 60-year career taking him from light tables and page layouts to being editor-in-chief and eventually president and chairman.
Leaving Your Mark
Written in an easy, first-person narrative style, Grosvenor, in his searing honesty, shares his likes, loves, and perhaps most tellingly, his sense of duty to preserving a legacy started by his great-great-grandfather.
He is passionate about making the world a better place and inspiring others to do the same. Geography, knowing and appreciating the unique places in the world and our relationship to them, is ever on his radar screen whether it’s backing the solo voyage of a young sailor, Robin Lee Graham, who set out to sail around the world in 1965 or Robert Ballard who discovered the location of the Titanic in 1985.
The characters in Grosvenor’s memoir are charismatic, colorful and history making. Readers will meet the seemingly frail Jane Goodall when she gets her first modest grant to work with gorillas.
Looking to Africa for the origins of man, the father-son team of Louis and Richard Leakey relied on the Society for financial and philosophical support as they explored the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.
The National Geographic Society was instrumental in the creation of the Redwood National Park in 1968. That same year, then President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and the National Trails System Act both influenced by work done by National Geographic.
Not without a sense of adventure himself, Grosvenor has his share of exploits whether perched on a rope walk to photograph the making of palm wine in Sri Lanka or plunging into a dive hole at the North Pole.
Over the years, more and more products were added diversifying offerings from maps to atlases, books, films and television programming along with the flagship magazine. Grosvenor ushered in enhanced geography education including national teacher workshops and curriculum materials for students.
It seemed to happen before he realized it was happening: the end of a bygone era where editorial once ruled. This gave way to a shift from a nonprofit, family-focused business to one that is profit-driven with a corporate bottom line.
Taking readers into his retirement years, Grosvenor relates a poignant journey, the complexities of helming a media empire, the desire to keep discovery alive, and, above all, to leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
