Edwin Augustus Grosvenor (August 30, 1845 – September 15, 1936) was a historian, author, chairman of the history department at Amherst College, and president of the national organization of Phi Beta Kappa societies from 1907 to 1919.[1] Grosvenor was called "one of the most cosmopolitan of Americans" by author and abolitionist Thomas Wentworth Higginson.[2] His son, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, was the first employee and longtime editor of National Geographic Magazine.
Edwin A. Grosvenor | |
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| Born | Edwin Augustus Grosvenor August 30, 1845 |
| Died | September 15, 1936 (aged 91) |
| Education | Brown High School |
| Alma mater | Amherst College |
| Spouse |
Lilian Hovey Waters (m. 1873) |
| Children |
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| Parents |
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| Signature | |
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Early years
editGrosvenor was born in 1845 in West Newbury, Massachusetts, the son of Dr. Edwin Prescott Grosvenor and the author Harriet Sanborn Grosvenor.[3]
He prepared at Brown High School in Newburyport, and graduated from Amherst College in 1867 as class poet and salutatorian.[4] After graduating, he served as a tutor at Robert College in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). After returning to the U.S., he obtained an M.A. from Amherst College and was ordained as a minister in Newburyport in 1872.
Career
editIn 1872, Edwin Grosvenor returned to Robert College with his young wife and began teaching. Grosvenor then taught at Amherst College from 1892 to 1914, and was professor emeritus until his death in 1936.
His two volume Constantinople was "the most important treatise ... that has yet appeared in English," wrote a reviewer in the Springfield Republican. "One of the books of the year."[5] The New York Times said that Grosvenor was "uniquely suited to the task."[6] Grosvenor was President of the United Chapters Phi Beta Kappa from 1907 to 1919 and a frequent commencement speaker, often talking on the subject of "the love of wisdom is the guide of life … knowledge applied to right uses and to the service of man."[7]
Grosvenor received honorary degrees from Wabash College, Alfred University, Marietta College, and the College of William & Mary. Grosvenor was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1896.[8] He was a member of the Authors' Club, and numerous other societies.
Personal life
editOn October 23, 1873, Grosvenor married Lilian Hovey Waters (b. 1852), of Millbury. Lilian was the daughter of Col. Asa Holman Waters and the granddaughter of the gunsmith Asa Waters. Together, Edwin and Lilian resided for a number of years in the Waters Mansion in Millbury.[9] Just over two years later, the couple gave birth to twins on October 28, 1875:[10]
- Editor/President of the National Geographic Society Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (1875–1966), married Elsie May Bell (1878–1964), the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell.[11]His grandson Edwin S. Grosvenor is editor in chief of American Heritage.
- Edwin Prescott Grosvenor (1875–1930), who married Thelma Somerville Cudlipp (1891–1983) in 1918. After his death, she married Charles Seymour Whitman, the former Governor of New York.[12]
Grosvenor died in Amherst on September 15, 1936.[13]
Bibliography
editBooks
edit- The Hippodrome of Constantinople: and Its Still Existing Monuments, 1889, 62 pages
- Constantinople, Volume 1 and 2, Roberts Brothers, 1895 LCCN=04022752. With an introduction by General Lew Wallace.
- Andronike, the Heroine of the Greek Revolution, by Stephanos Theodoros Xenos, translated from the Original Greek by E.A. Grosvenor, Boston, Mass., 1897.
- Permanence of the Greek Type, American Antiquarian Society, 1898.
- Contemporary History of the World, Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1899
- A General History of the World, Volumes 1 to 4, with Victor Duruy and Louis Edwin Van Norman, The Review of Reviews Co., 1912
Selected articles
edit- "Address for the United Chapters," in Addresses at the Presentation of the Chapter Rooms in Morris Pratt Memorial Library, Phi Beta Kappa, 1913
- "Constantinople and Sancta Sophia," National Geographic, May, 1915, pp. 459–482.
- "Evolution of Russian Government," National Geographic, July, 1905, pp. 309–332.
- "Growth of Russia," National Geographic, May, 1900, pp. 169–185.
- "Last Night of the Misolonghi," published in the New Century Speaker, a collection of extracts by Prof. Henry Allyn Frink, Ph.D., Ginn & C., Boston, 1898, page 52.
- "Races of Europe," National Geographic, December, 1918, pages 441–553.
References
edit- ^ Woolley, Mary Emma and D.P. Kingsley (January 1926). "Women in Phi Beta Kappa". The Phi Beta Kappa Key. 6 (6): 375–383. JSTOR 42914699.
- ^ Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (1902). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Cambridge: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. p. 3.
- ^ "Amherst Prof 50 Years Wed". The Boston Globe. Amherst. October 21, 1923. p. 31. Retrieved March 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Hills, William Henry; Luce, Robert (January 1896). "Sketches of Writers: Professor Edwin A. Grosvenor". The Writer Magazine. IX: 9–11. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
- ^ "Advertisement for the book Constantinople". The Literary News: A Monthly Journal of Current Literature. 17. February 1896.
- ^ "The City of Constantine; Constantinople. By Edwin A. Grosvenor, Professor of European History at Amherst College". The New York Times. December 25, 1895. p. 14. Retrieved March 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Phi Beta Kappa. Alpha of New York (Union College) (1917). The Centenary of Alpha of New York of Phi Beta Kappa: Celebrated at Union College June 11 and 12, 1917. Schenectady, N.Y.: Gazette Press. p. 3.
- ^ American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
- ^ "History of the Asa Waters Mansion". Archived from the original on August 15, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
- ^ "Descendants of John Grosvenor". Genealogy.com. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
- ^ "Dr. Gilbert H. Grosvenor Dies. Head of National Geographic, 90. Editor of Magazine 55 Years Introduced Photos, Increased Circulation to 4.5 Million". The New York Times. February 5, 1966. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
Baddeck, N.S., Feb. 4, 1966 (Canadian Press) Dr. Gilbert H. Grosvenor, chairman of the board and former president of the National Geographic Society and editor of the National Geographic magazine from 1899 to 1954, died on the Cape Breton Island estate once owned by his father-in-law, the inventor Alexander Graham Bell. He was 90 years old.
- ^ "Ex-Gov. Whitman Engaged To Marry. Betrothal To Mrs. Thelma S. C. Grosvenor, Widow Of Lawyer, Is Announced. Fiance Formerly Judge Served As District Attorney Of New York County His Daughter To Be Wed In June". The New York Times. April 5, 1933. p. 23.
- ^ "Dr. E. A. Grosvenor, Educator, is Dead; World Traveler and Authority on European History Long Taught at Amherst, Ex-Professor in Turkey; Filled Chair of Robert College, Istanbul – Author of Many. Books and Articles" (PDF). The New York Times. September 16, 1936. p. 25. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
Further reading
edit- Poole, Robert M. Explorers House: National Geographic and the World it Made. New York: Penguin, 2004. ISBN 1-59420-032-7
- The Writer magazine, "Sketches of Writers: Professor Edwin S. Grosvenor," Vol. IX. January, 1896. Pages 9–11.