Melville Bell Grosvenor

Melville Bell Grosvenor (November 26, 1901 – April 22, 1982) was an American magazine editor who was the president of the National Geographic Society and editor of The National Geographic Magazine from 1957 to 1967. He was the grandson of telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell.

A photography enthusiast, he increased the size of printed photographs in the magazine, and initiated the practice, that continues to this day, of opening articles with a two-page photo feature. He reduced the name of the publication from The National Geographic Magazine to National Geographic. Under Grosvenor's tenure, National Geographic also began to branch out from land expeditions to cover investigations into space and the deep sea.

Grosvenor expanded the scope of the society's operations, branching into the production of documentaries bearing the National Geographic name, which began airing on television. Four of these were produced per year. Among the features produced during Grosvenor's presidency were documentaries covering the first American expedition to Mount Everest and Jacques Cousteau's underwater exploits.

Early life Young Melville Grosvenor is held by his father, Gilbert H. Grosvenor, first Editor of the National Geographic Magazine, 1902.thumb Melville Grosvenor's mother, Elsie May Bell Grosvenor (right), and grandparents, Mabel and Alexander Graham Bell, visit him at the U.S. Naval Academy. Grosvenor was a member of the Class of 1923.

Grosvenor was born in Washington, D.C., on November 26, 1901. His parents were Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, the first editor of The National Geographic Magazine, and Elsie May (née Bell) Grosvenor, the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell. The year following his birth, he was present at the laying of the cornerstone of the National Geographic Society's first building, Hubbard Hall, while in his grandfather's arms.

In 1919, Grosvenor enrolled in the U.S. Naval Academy. On June 8, 1923, he graduated from the academy with the Class of 1923, which included his lifelong friend, Admiral Arleigh Burke.

Career After his graduation from the Naval Academy in 1923, Grosvenor was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy.

In 1924, Grosvenor resigned from the Navy and joined the staff of the National Geographic Society as a picture editor. Grosvenor is credited with taking the first color aerial photograph when he took a shot of the Statue of Liberty by circling the monument in a Navy Airship ZM C2. The photograph was published in the September 1930 issue, leading the Society to adopt the Finlay process, then the newest method for producing color photographs. He also took early aerial color photographs of Washington, D.C., which appeared in the magazine.

Accomplishments Melville Grosvenor looks on as President Kennedy awards a NGS Gold Medal to Jacques Cousteau, who received one of his first grants from the Society. After he became President of the Society and Editor of The National Geographic Magazine in 1957, Melville Grosvenor initiated major changes which are credited with resuscitating the organization and increasing membership from 2.1 million to 5.5 million. In 1947, she was engaged to Robert Clement Watson Jr. Alexander Graham Bell Grosvenor (1927–1978), a naval officer Captain who was married to Marcia Braman (1930–2002). Gilbert Melville Grosvenor (born 1931), who was editor of National Geographic from 1970 to 1980 before becoming president of the National Geographic Society, which he served until 1996. He was married to Mary Helen Wiley Jarman in 1979.

Grosvenor's second wife, Anne Elizabeth Revis, whom he married in 1950, was a longtime photographer for National Geographic. Together, they were the parents of:

Grosvenor died on April 22, 1982, at his winter home in Miami. He was buried in Rock Creek Cemetery.