Henry Gannett
Born(1846-08-24)August 24, 1846
Bath, Maine, U.S.
DiedNovember 5, 1914(1914-11-05) (aged 68)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma materHarvard University
Harvard University School of Mining and Practical Geology
OccupationGeographer
Employer(s)United States Geological Survey
United States Census
Organization(s)American Association of Geographers
Cosmos Club
National Geographic Society
Known forFather of mapmaking in America

Henry Gannett (August 24, 1846 – November 5, 1914) was an American geographer who is described as the "father of mapmaking in America."[1][2][3][4] He was the chief geographer for the United States Geological Survey essentially from its founding until 1902.[2]

He was a founding member and president of the National Geographic Society, a founder of the American Association of Geographers, and a co-founder and president of the Twenty Year Club or Twenty Year Topographers which was formed at the U.S.G.S. Topographic Division. He was also a founder and president of the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C.

Gannett also was the geographer of the 10th United States Census in 1880, 11th Census in 1890, and the 12th Census in 1900. He was the assistant director of the 1899 Census of the Philippines and Puerto Rico, the 1902 Census of the Philippines, and the 1906 Census in Cuba.

Early life

Gannett was born in Bath, Maine, on August 24, 1846.[3] He was the son of Hannah Trufant (née Church) and Michael Farley Gannett.[3][5] He attended local schools, before going to Harvard for college.[3] He graduated with a B.S. from the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University in 1869 and received an M.E. at the Hooper Mining School (aka the Harvard University School of Mining and Practical Geology) in 1870.[5][3] Later, he trained in topographic mapping at Cambridge under Josiah D. Whitney and Charles F. Hoffman.[4]

Career

U.S. Geological Survey cartographers with Gannett, c.1890-1900
Supervisors for the Puerto Rican Census, 1899
Review of Peary's Records: Gilbert Grosvenor, Otto H. Tittman, Willis L. Moore, Commander Peary, Gannett, C. M. Chester

From 1870 to 1871, Gannett was an assistant at the Harvard College Observatory.[5] In 1871, he participated in a Harvard expedition to Spain to observe a solar eclipse.[3][4]

In 1871 he declined a position as an astronomer with Charles Francis Hall's ill-fated Polaris Expedition to the North Pole.[4][5][3] Instead, with the encouragement of Charles Hoffman, he accepted the position of topographer with Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden's survey of Yellowstone National Park, working on western territories surveys from 1872 through 1879.[5][2][3][4] On July 26, 1872, while climbing the then-unnamed highest mountain in the Gallatin Mountains, he and his party experienced electric shocks following a lightning event near the summit. He named the mountain Electric Peak.

In 1879, Gannet was among those lobbying to centralize the mapping functions into one government agency. Previously individual mapmakers and agencies had to compete for money from Congress for project funds. He suggested calling the new organization "United States Geological and Geographical Survey" although the name United States Geological Survey (USGS) would officially be approved. He also assisted in planning the work of the USGS.[2]

Gannet was appointed to the USGS on October 8, 1879, under director Clarence King.[4][6] He was immediately transferred served as the geographer of the 10th United States Census in 1880.[5][4] He laid out 2,000 enumeration districts with such precision that for the first time, each census enumerator knew in advance the metes and bounds of his particular district. The completion of this work on July 1, 1882, is considered the start of true topographical work in the United States and the birth of the quad.

On July 1, 1882, John Wesley Powell appointed Gannett as the chief geographer in charge of the topographic mapping division of the USGS, a position he held until 1896.[5][4] Around 1884, he persuaded various organizations doing the surveys, including the railroads, to begin using similar datums so the data could interconnect. As the chief geographer, he oversaw work on the topographical atlas of the United States.[5] He also served as a geographer for the 11th Census in 1890 and the 12th Census in 1900.[2][3]

In 1890, he and Thomas Corwin Mendenhall of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey campaigned to establish the United States Board on Geographic Names to create official names for locations in the United States.[2] He was named to the newly created Board on Geographic Names by President Benjamin Harrison in Executive Order No. 28. In 1896, his last year with the USGS, he started the use of the benchmark.

In 1899, he was invited on the Harriman Alaska Expedition. In 1899, he was appointed the assistant director of the Census of the Philippines and Puerto Rico, the Philippines again in 1902, and Cuba in 1906.[2][4][7] In 1909 he was named chairman of a special committee to examine and verify the records of Robert E. Peary in the controversy with Frederick Cook over who was the first to reach the North Pole.

Gannett's published works are geographical and statistical.[5] He wrote more than fifty USGS Bulletins and Annual Reports.[8] He issued a gazetteer for eleven states and was a contributor to Baedecker's Guide to the United States, Encyclopedia Britannica, and The New International Encyclopedia.[9][3] He also was the author books for general readers and. statistical atlases. He wrote articles for The National Geographic Magazine, Science, Nature, Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, and other journals. Although he did not write many works in geomorphology and physical geology, he offered valuable suggestions.[3] For example, he recognized hanging valleys and their importance in interpreting a geological setting.[3] Later his in career, he ofter wrote about American forests, and the importance of conservation.

National Geographic Society members, 1909
Gannet Peak and Gannett Glacier in Pinedale, Wyoming
Mount Gannett in the Chugach Mountains, Alaska

Professional affiliations

In 1888 Gannett was one of six founding members of the National Geographic Society.[10][2][4] He served as its first secretary, and later as treasurer, then vice–president, and president, in 1909.[7][2] He was also Chair of the Society's Research Committee, organizing expeditions to Alaska, La Soufriere, Mount Pelee, Peru, and the Polar Seas.[3]

From 1897 to 1909, he was a vice president of the American Statistical Association.[11][7] In 1904 he was among the founders of the American Association of Geographers.[3] Also in 1904, he was secretary of the 8th Geographic Congress.[3] He was also a member of the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Royal Geographical Society of London, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and the Philadelphia Geographic Society..[12][2][13][9][14][3][10][4]

Gannett was a co-founder and president of the Twenty Year Club or Twenty Year Topographers which was formed at the United States Geological Survey Topographic Division in the winter of 1910–1911.[4] Eligibility was serving twenty years or more as a topographer with the U.S.G.S.[4]

Honors

Gannett received an honorary LL.D from Bowdoin College in 1889.[5][14]

Gannett Peak, the highest peak in Wyoming, and the related Gannett Glacier was named for him in 1906.[15] In 1911, Lawrence Martin named Mount Gannett, a 10,000 feet (3,000 m) peak in the Chugach Mountains of eastern Alaska, for Henry Gannett.[16]

The USGS National Geospatial Program presents the Henry Gannett Award for outstanding efforts in advancing and promoting mapping and geospatial sciences in the United States.[8]

Personal

Gannett married Mary E. Chase of Waterville, Maine on November 24, 1874.[3] They had a son, Farley Gannett who was an engineer for the Water Supply Commission of Pennsylvania.[2][9] Their daughters were May Gannett (Mrs. G. T. Backus) and Alice Gannett; the latter was a noted social reformer and settlement house worker.[9][14]

Gannett was one of the ten founding members and president of the Cosmos Club.[4]

Gannett died at his home in 1840 Biltmore Street, Washington, D.C. on November 5, 1914, after being ill for about a year with Bright's Disease.[1][2][9][14] His funeral service was given by Rev. U. G. B. Pierce of All Soul's Unitarian Church.[14] The day of his funeral, the National Geographic Society closed its offices and draped the building in mourning.[2]

Sierra Club trek with John Muir, Gannett and others at the General Sherman Tree, 1902

Selected publications

Books

Monographs

Articles

References

  1. 1 2 "Henry Gannett's Funeral Takes Place Tomorrow". Evening Star (Washington, D.C.). November 7, 1914. p. 8. Retrieved February 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Henry Gannett is Dead". Harrisburg Daily Independent (Harrisburg, PA). November 6, 1814. p. 4. Retrieved February 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Darton, N.H. (January 1917). "Memoir of Henry Gannett". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 7: 68–70. doi:10.1080/00045601709357056. hdl:2027/inu.30000053670869. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Evans, Richard Tranter; Frye, Helen M. (2009). "History of the Topographic Branch (Division)" (PDF). U.S. Geological Survey Circular. 1341. ISBN 978-1-4113-2612-5.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Johnson, Rossiter; Brown, John Howard (1904). "Henry Gannett". The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans ... Biographical Society. p. 70.
  6. ↑ Penry, Jerry (October 27, 2007). "The Father of Government Mapmaking: Henry Gannett". The American Surveyor. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 Colby, Frank Moore; Williams, Talcott (1917). "Henry Gannett". The New International Encyclopædia. Dodd, Mead.
  8. 1 2 "The Henry Gannett Award". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Great Geographer of Country is Dead pt 2". Harrisburg Telegraph (Harrisburg, PA). November 16, 1914. p. 16. Retrieved February 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. 1 2 "Census.gov › History › Agency History › Notable Alumni › Henry Gannett". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  11. ↑ North, S.D.N. (1915). Henry Gannett, President of the National Geographic Society, 1910-1914. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. hdl:2027/mdp.39015039793479.
  12. ↑ List of members, officers, and committees, corrected to March 16, 1914. Washington, D.C.): Washington Academy of Sciences. 1916. p. 5. hdl:2027/wu.89100016302.
  13. ↑ "Funeral for Henry Gannett". The Washington Times. November 8, 1914. p. 8. Retrieved February 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 "Funeral on Sunday for Henry Gannett". The Washington Times. November 6, 1914. p. 6. Retrieved February 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Gannett Peak". Britannica. February 25, 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Mount Gannett". Alaska Guide. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
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