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Edwin S. Grosvenor

Edwin S. Grosvenor is the Editor-in-Chief of American Heritage and Invention & Technology Magazines, and President of the National Historical Society. He is also the editor of twelve anthologies of essays that appeared in American Heritage including Men of the Revolution, HamiltonLincolnThe Civil War, The Old West  New York, World War I, Roosevelt, Churchill, and The Vietnam War, as well as anthologies from HORIZON Magazine including The Middle Ages and History's Great Confrontations.

Mr. Grosvenor co-authored a biography of his great-grandfather, Alexander Graham Bell: The Life and Times of the Inventor of the Telephone, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc., and is also the co-author of 299 Things Everyone Should Know About American History.

Previously, Mr. Grosvenor was the President and Editor of Portfolio Magazine, the highest circulation fine arts publication in the U.S. at the time according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, and a nominee for the National Magazine Award for General Excellence. 

From 1991 to 1995, Mr. Grosvenor was the publisher of the literary magazine, Current Books, which published such authors as Norman Mailer, Bill Moyers, Garrison Keillor, David McCullough, Anne Tyler, and Vaclav Havel. Current Books was distributed in over 4,000 outlets making it the most widely distributed book-related publication in bookstores at the time. 

The Grosvenor family founded the National Geographic Society, where Mr. Grosvenor worked as a photographer with assignments in such countries as Belize, Canada, France, Greece, Iceland, Kenya, Spain, Tonga, Turkey and the U.S.

Mr. Grosvenor received the President's Award from Historic Deerfield for contributions to history, and serves as the Historian of the Literary Society of Washington. He obtained his MBA and his MS (Journalism) degrees from Columbia University, and his BA from Yale University, where he was a member of the Wolf's Head Society.

Articles by this Author

A sad footnote to the horrific shootings in Broward county Florida is the soiling of the name of the environmental pioneer for whom the Parkland high school was named.
Members of the Maryland Forces guard the memories of the dramatic history at Fort Frederick, the best-preserved fort from the former English colonies in America. 
A special issue of American Heritage offers excerpts from seven books nominated for the prestigious George Washington Prize.
When the Army arrested a chief of the Ponca Tribe in 1878 for leaving their reservation, he sued the federal government and won — the first time courts recognized that a Native American had legal rights.
More than 600 donors chipped in to help fund the re-launch of the magazine.
The Trump Administration has proposed massive cuts to history programs whose mission is to teach Americans what made their country great
Tall ships and U.S. Navy vessels sailed into Baltimore Harbor past Fort McHenry to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812.
The first medical report on Lincoln's assassination has been uncovered.
Editor's Letter, Summer 2012 | Vol. 62, No. 2
Over 3.9 million images of the 1940 U.S. census are now available online at the National Archives website and Archives.com.
Editor's Letter, Spring 2012 | Vol. 62, No. 1
Editor's Letter, Fall 2011 | Vol. 61, No. 2
Editor's Letter, Spring 2011 | Vol. 61, No. 1
A preeminent author recalls his experience as one of America's first combat historians, among a handful of men who accompanied soldiers into the bloodiest battles to write history as it was being made.
Editor’s Letter, Winter 2011 | Vol. 60, No. 4
Editor's Letter, Fall 2010 | Vol. 60, No. 3
At five critical junctures in American history, major political compromises have proved that little of lasting consequence can occur if the entrenched sides don't make serious concessions.
Editor’s Letter, Summer 2010 | Vol. 60, No. 2
Editor’s Letter, Spring 2010 | Vol. 60, No. 1
The Wild West and Remembering Robert H. Smith
Alexander Graham Bell was able to invent the telephone in 1875 after Thomas Watson tweaked a reed that transmitted sounds to the next room.
Editor’s Letter, Winter 2010 | Vol. 59, No. 4
Editor’s Letter, Fall 2009 | Vol. 59, No. 3
Editor’s Letter, Summer 2009 | Vol. 59, No. 2
Editor’s Letter, Spring 2009 | Vol. 59, No. 1
Editor’s Letter, Winter 2009 | Vol. 58, No. 6
Editor’s Letter, Fall 2008 | Vol. 58, No. 5

"WEB ONLY STORIES" BY THIS CONTRIBUTOR

Sure, parades and picnics can be fun. But the best way to remember sacrifices made for the freedoms we cherish is to read about and remember what those heroes actually accomplished. That's an important part of what American Heritage has done for 70 years: tell those important stories. Here are some…
It's ironic that compromise has become a dirty word for many of the same politicians who profess such reverence for the Constitution and Founding Fathers. We are a nation conceived in compromise, whose very existence was saved at least three times by deals cobbled together by politicians bitterly…