| LC control no. | n 50017344 |
|---|---|
| Descriptive conventions | rda |
| Personal name heading | Gannett, Henry, 1846-1914 |
| Variant(s) | Gannett, Henry, 1846- |
| Associated country | United States |
| Birth date | 1846-08-24 |
| Death date | 1914-11-05 |
| Place of birth | Bath (Me.) |
| Field of activity | Geography Cartography Topographic maps |
| Affiliation | Geological Survey (U.S.) National Geographic Society (U.S.) Harvard University |
| Profession or occupation | Geographers Cartographers |
| Found in | LCCN gs06-543: His Meteorological observations during the year 1872, 1873 (hdg.: Gannett, Henry, 1846- ; usage: Henry Gannett) WwW in Am. (Gannett, Henry, geographer; b. Aug. 24, 1846; d. Nov. 5, 1914) Wikipedia, viewed April 3, 2023: Henry Gannett (Henry Gannett (August 24, 1846 - November 5, 1914) was an American geographer who is described as the "father of mapmaking in America." He was the chief geographer for the United States Geological Survey essentially from its founding until 1902. He was also a founding member and president of the National Geographic Society. Gannett was born in Bath, Maine, son of Hannah Trufant (nee Church) and Michael Farley Gannett. He attended local schools, before going to Harvard for college. 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. From 1870 to 1871, he was an assistant at the Harvard College Observatory. In 1871, he participated in a Harvard expedition to Spain to observe a solar eclipse. In 1871 he declined a position as an astronomer with Charles Francis Hall's ill-fated Polaris Expedition to the North Pole. Instead, 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. Gannett was trained in topographic mapping at Cambridge by Josiah D. Whitney and Charles F. Hoffman, who encouraged him to work with Hayden. 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 was to name the mountain Electric Peak.) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Gannett> Wikipedia, viewed April 3, 2023: Henry Gannett (Gannet was appointed to the USGS on October 8, 1879, under director Clarence King. 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. 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. 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.) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Gannett> |
| Associated language | eng |
 |  |  |
View this record in: MARCXML | LC Authorities & Vocabularies | VIAF (Virtual International Authority File)
