As a child, Grosvenor would read to her grandfather and act as his secretary, taking dictation on his observations about genetics. Her father, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, was the first full-time editor of National Geographic Magazine, and her mother, Elsie May Bell, was the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell, the scientist and inventor of the telephone. Grosvenor spent much of her childhood in Beinn Bhreagh, the estate where she was born, and also in her parents’ home near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Mabel, who was the inspiration behind the invention of the telephone. Born in Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia on July 28, 1905, she was the third of seven children born to Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, the father of photojournalism, and Elsie May Bell, the first child of Alexander Graham Bell and Mabel Gardiner Hubbard.
Mabel Harlakenden Grosvenor, the last living person to have known and worked with Alexander Graham Bell, lived a life full of history, discoveries and leadership.
