Book launch and signing with Dr. Sandra E. Bonura, featuring rare archival images on Belle Benchley, with lunch and autographed copies available.
Dr. Sandra E. Bonura is launching her new book, The Zoo Lady: How Belle Benchley Built the San Diego Zoo, at the San Diego History Center on Tuesday, October 6. It's a book launch and signing, and the session runs from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM.
The book tells the story of Belle Benchley, the San Diego Zoo's first female director and the first woman to lead the National Zoo Association (now the AZA). In 1925, she took a temporary bookkeeping job at the struggling four-year-old zoo and stayed for thirty years, turning it into a world-class institution and reshaping global conservation long before figures like Jane Goodall or Dian Fossey. While Harry Wegeforth founded the zoo, it was Benchley who made it what it became—including leading the historic cross-country giraffe trek that inspired the bestseller West with Giraffes. Bonura, an award-winning author and historian, reconstructs her life through rare archival images.
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At the event, Bonura will present the book and share those archival images, and she'll be signing copies afterward. Lunch is included in the session, and there will be autographed copies of the book available at a special author's discount. The History Center is at 1649 El Prado, Suite #3, in Balboa Park, and the event is free.
