Grinnell, George Bird, 1849-1938

George Bird Grinnell was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on 20 Sept. 1849. His father prospered after the Civil War with a wholesale dry goods business. He eventually developed an investment firm in which he hoped his son would develop an interest. While a student at Yale University, however, young Grinnell went on a fossil and dinosaur expedition to the west led by Professor O.C. Marsh. By 1874 Grinnell dissolved the investment firm his father had founded and moved to New Haven, Conn., to work with Marsh at the Peabody Museum. In 1880 he earned a Ph.D. in paleontology. Thereafter Grinnell devoted his professional energies to the West, exploring its land, people, customs, birds, and animals. He wrote books and articles, explored the land, lobbied governments, and researched topics of importance to the conservation and preservation of the West. He convinced his father to invest in Field and Stream Magazine, which George edited from 1876 to 1911. In 1885 Grinnell visited for the first time the beautiful, glaciated part of northwest Montana. For decades he worked to preserve the area now known as Glacier National Park, which was officially established as a national park in 1910. George Bird Grinnell married Elizabeth Curtis Williams in 1902 and she convinced him to write about his early expeditions to the West (1870-1881) for their nieces and nephews. George Bird Grinell died in New York City on 11 Apr. 1938.

From the description of George Bird Grinnell papers, 1915-1921. (Montana Historical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 70972289

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