George Bird Grinnell

George Bird Grinnell (September 20, 1849 – April 11, 1938) was an American anthropologist, historian, naturalist, and writer. Originally specializing in zoology, he became a prominent early conservationist and student of Native American life. Grinnell has been recognized for his influence on public opinion and work on legislation to preserve the American bison. Mount Grinnell in Glacier National Park in Montana is named after him.

Early life and education

Grinnell was born on September 20, 1849, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of George Blake and Helen Lansing Grinnell.

The family moved when he was seven to Audubon Park, the section of Washington Heights in Manhattan which was developed from the estate after noted ornithologist John James Audubon's death in 1851.

Grinnell graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in 1870 and a Ph.D. in 1880.

Scientist and naturalist

Grinnell had extensive contact with the terrain, animals and Native Americans of the northern plains; after receiving his degree, Grinnell obtained a position in 1870 with an expedition of the Peabody Museum at New Haven to collect vertebrate fossils in the West for six months.

He became friendly with, and was able to take part in the last great hunt of the Pawnee in 1872.

He spent many years studying the natural history of the region.

As a Yale graduate student, he accompanied Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's 1874 Black Hills expedition as a naturalist. (He later declined a similar invitation for the ill-fated 1876 Little Big Horn expedition.)

In 1875, Colonel William Ludlow, who had been part of Custer's gold exploration effort, invited Grinnell to serve as naturalist and mineralogist on an expedition to Montana and the newly established Yellowstone Park.