page_title: Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor
section_title: National Geographic Society
hierarchical_section_title: Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor / Career / National Geographic Society
caption_attribution_description: English: National Geographic Magazine editor, Gilbert H. Grosvenor at work at the National Geographic Headquarters in Washington D.C., 1914.Photograph by Leet Brothers, National Geographic Creative
context_page_description: Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, father of photojournalism, was the first full-time editor of National Geographic. Grosvenor is credited with having built the magazine into the iconic publication that it is today.
  As President of the National Geographic Society, he assisted its rise to one of the world's largest and best known science and learning organizations, aided by the chronicling in its magazine of ambitious natural and cultural explorations around the globe.
context_section_description: Grosvenor was hired in 1899 as the first full-time employee of the National Geographic Society by Alexander Graham Bell, the Society's President at the time.  He eventually was named Director, and later was elected President of the Society in 1920 after the death of Rear Admiral John E. Pillsbury, and remained editor of National Geographic magazine until 1954.
  Grosvenor advocated policies of neutrality and positive, upbeat journalism through two world wars, the Great Depression, and the beginning of the Cold War. This style was seen as innovative in the opening years of the 20th century. However, by the 1950s, Grosvenor's style was criticized as being ossified and dated. He and his staff (most of whom were in their late 60s and 70s) were criticized as being conservative, complacent, and unwilling to modernize, and the National Geographic's subscription base fell as a consequence. After 50 years at the helm, he stepped down in 1954 at the age of 78.
caption: Hovey at work at the National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. (1914)
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