It’s a sad thing when a family member or friend begin to lose their memory, when they no longer recognize people close to them or understand what’s going on around them. The other day I was wondering what would happen if our nation began to lose its collective memory. What would happen if America’s next generation doesn’t understand how our country came to be and what it stands for.
One person who’s worried this may be happening to us right now is Edwin Grosvenor, the editor of the revered history magazine, American Heritage. Grosvenor comes by his interest in history naturally – his family founded National Geographic 126 years ago, and ran it for most of the years since. It was Grosvenor’s grandfather Gilbert who explored Yosemite with John Muir and Stephen Mather and subsequently played a key role in establishing the National Park Service almost 100 years ago.
Ed Grosvenor recently started a nonprofit organization, the American Heritage Society based in Washington DC, to take over the 65 year old magazine and to transform it into a “National Geographic for history,” to help educate Americans, especially our youth, about our country’ exceptional history. Grosvenor is inspired by the generations of contributors to American Heritage, including President John F. Kennedy, who have gone before him and created a rich archive of articles for the American heritage website. President Kennedy, took the time while he was in the White House to pen an essay for the magazine on why Americans should know about the past, pointing out that “history is the means by which a nation establishes its sense of identity and purpose.”
Join correspondent, Tom Wilmer, Host of Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer–the Lowell Thomas Award winning audio travel show–for a conversation with Ed Grosvenor as he shares his passion for American history and his concern about the demise of federally funded history projects and educational components: Check out this episode!
History Education – Fourscore (4score.org)
Magazine – AmericanHeritage.com