George Bird Grinnell

George Bird Grinnell , 1849-1938, American naturalist and student of Native American life, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Yale (B.A., 1870; Ph.D., 1880). He accompanied Custer's Black Hills expedition as naturalist (1874), was with William Ludlow's expedition to Yellowstone Park (1875), and was a member of the Harriman Alaska expedition in 1899. He was editor (1876-1911) of Forest and Stream and was prominent in preservation of wildlife and in conservation movements. He organized the first Audubon Society and was an organizer of the New York Zoological Society. In 1885 he discovered the glacier in Montana that now bears his name and was influential in legislation that led to the establishment (1910) of Glacier National Park. He is best known, however, for his books on the Plains culture area, such as Pawnee Hero Stories (1889), The Story of the Indian (1895), The Fighting Cheyennes (1915), and The Cheyenne Indians (1923).

Bibliography: See his selected papers ed. by J. F. Reiger (1972).

Grinnell, George Bird (1849–1938), naturalist and ethnologist, accompanied Custer to Dakota, visited Yellowstone Park (1875), was an explorer in Alaska (1899), and made many expeditions in the western U.S. He edited Forest and Stream (1876–1911), was prominent in the conservation movement, and wrote books which include Pawnee Hero Stories (1889), The Story of the Indian (1895), The Fighting Cheyennes (1915), and The Cheyenne Indians (2 vols., 1923).