Picture History : Anniversaries

Anniversaries

To illustrate the depth one can access in our collections, we have compiled relevant archival imagery to frame a diverse cultural, political and chronological retrospective of noteworthy anniversaries. Be sure to bookmark this section as the calendar is a work in progress and will continue to expand.

August	Year	Anniversary	Event
1	1852	157th	San Francisco Methodists open the first black church in the U.S. - Zion Methodist.
1	1867	142nd	African Americans vote for the first time in a southern state.
1	1942	67th	Jerry Garcia, rock and roll musician from the Grateful Dead, is born.
2	1832	177th	Chief Black Hawk is defeated in Iowa by the U.S. Army, ending the Black Hawk War.
2	1832	177th	Captain Abraham Lincoln belongs to 1,300 state militia who defeat the Sac and Fox Indians in Illinois.
2	1887	122nd	Rowell Hodge patents spur barbed wire, which begins the end of the open range on the U.S. frontier.
3	1492	517th	Half an hour before sunrise, Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos, Spain, heading for the "Indies," in the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria
3	1852	157th	Harvard beats Yale by 4 lengths in the first U.S. intercollegiate rowing race, before a crowd that includes Gen. Franklin Pierce, future president.
3	1967	42nd	LBJ announces he will send 45,000 more soldiers to Vietnam.
4	1792	217th	Percy Bysshe Shelley, British poet who will marry writer Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, is born.
4	1862	147th	Due to heavy war expenses, the U.S. collects its first official income tax, with the Internal Revenue Act of 1862, designed by Justin Morrill.
4	1942	67th	Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Cairo for international meetings about the war.
5	1962	47th	Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her home, apparently of an accidental drug overdose.
5	2002	7th	The gun turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor is raised from the ocean floor.
6	1787	222nd	The first draft of the Constitution is debated in Philadelphia, the nation's capital, by the Constitutional Convention.
6	1862	147th	When the Confederate ironclad "Arkansas" runs aground, its crew blows up the newly made ship to prevent its capture by the USS Essex.
7	1742	267th	Nathanael Greene, American Revolutionary War general, is born to Quaker parents.
7	1782	227th	George Washington creates the Purple Heart Award, soon forgotten but reinstated by Gen. MacArthur in 1932.
7	1912	97th	Teddy Roosevelt is nominated the Bull Moose Party presidential candidate, opposing William Taft (R) and Woodrow Wilson (D).
8	1942	67th	Six Nazi saboteurs, convicted by a military tribunal authorized by FDR, are executed by electrocution in Washington, DC.
8	1972	37th	First Lady Pat Nixon asks actress Jane Fonda to give up her activism against the war in Vietnam.
9	1862	147th	At the Battle of Ced Mountain, Confederates Stonewall Jackson and Ambrose Hill narrowly beat Union generals Pope and Banks.
9	1877	132nd	In the Battle of Big Hole, Col. John Gibbon attacks the sleeping band of Nez Perce who are attempting to flee to Canada.
9	1902	107th	Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, is crowned England's King Edward VII, upon the death of his mother Queen Victoria.
10	1962	47th	Silver, gold's rival throughout history, gets more precious as its price climbs to $1.08, the highest since the start of the century.
10	1972	37th	North Vietnamese forces attempt to cut off Saigon.
11	1807	202nd	David Atchison, proslavery senator from Missouri and rival of antislavery Missouri Sen. Thomas H. Benton, born.
11	1967	42nd	U.S. pilots are cleared to bomb Hanoi-Haiphong area.
12	1827	182nd	William Blake, British poet and painter, dies.
12	1862	147th	Confederate general and raider John Hunt Morgan captures a Federal garrison at Gallatin, cutting off supplies to Union Gen. Don Carlos Buell.
12	1877	132nd	Thomas Edison writes down the fundamentals of the phonograph and gives the instructions to his assistant.
13	1732	277th	"Zaire," a tragedy by French Enlightenment thinker Voltaire, premieres in Paris, after Voltaire's return from exile.
13	1792	217th	After storming the Tuileries Palace, French revolutionaries imprison their queen, Marie Antoinette, preparing for the guillotine.
13	1932	77th	Hitler refuses Paul von Hindenburg's offer of the position opf vice-chancellor of Germany and demands to become chancellor.
14	1842	167th	The second Seminole War, in which Zachary Taylor uses bloodhounds to attack the Indians - ends as the Seminoles are removed from Florida.
14	1862	147th	Confederate Gen. E. K. Smith begins the invasion of Kentucky (a Northern state), to pull Union Gen. D. C. Buell away from Tennessee.
14	1862	147th	At the White House, Lincoln receives 5 free black clergymen, the first African American group to meet with a U.S. president on policy issues.
14	1942	67th	Gen. Eisenhower is named commander for the invasion of North Africa by the Combined Chiefs of Staff.
14	1947	62nd	India is granted independence from the British Commonwealth.
15	1877	132nd	Thomas Edison gains sudden fame by making the first ever phonograph recording, reciting "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
15	1892	117th	British Prime minister Gladstone, a constant thorn in the side of Disraeli and Queen Victoria, forms his 4th and final government.
16	1812	197th	Gen. William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit to the British without a fight, for which he's denounced by Lewis Cass, but saved from execution by Pres. Madison.
16	1967	42nd	Pres. Lyndon Johnson's Tonkin Gulf Resolution is challenged by Sen. Fulbright, who opposes LBJ's escalation of the Vietnam War.
16	1977	32nd	Elvis Presley, rock and roll singer, dies as a result of his barbiturate addiction.
17	1862	147th	Daring General J. E. B. Stuart receives command of all cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
17	1862	147th	The Dakota Uprising begins in Minnesota, where the Dakota face starvation, and John Pope is sent to put it down.
17	1877	132nd	A teenager called Billy the Kid commits his first murder, shooting blacksmith Frank Cahill in Arizona.
17	1962	47th	East German troops kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he tries to cross the Berlin Wall, triggering widespread violence.
18	1807	202nd	The first workable U.S. steamboat, Robert Fulton's "Clermont," starts its maiden voyage from New York City up the Hudson River.
18	1862	147th	Gen. "Jeb" Stuart's famous plumed hat is captured by Union cavalrymen in an embarassing early morning surprise attack.
19	1812	197th	The USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides," defeats the British ship HMS Guerriere near Nova Scotia in the War of 1812.
19	1862	147th	The Santee of Minnesota, under Chief Little Crow, bypass Fort Ridgely and attack white settlers.
19	1972	37th	Democratic presidential candidate Sen. George McGovern attacks Nixon's Vietnam policy.
20	1667	342nd	British poet John Milton publishes "Paradise Lost," his epic about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
20	1862	147th	Horace Greeley's "Prayer of Twenty Millions" attacks Lincoln for his lenience with Northern slaveholders and demands emancipation.
20	1862	147th	The National Labor Union unsuccessfully calls on Congress for an 8-hour workday (which won't happen until FDR is president).
21	1972	37th	The first hot air balloon flight over the Alps is accomplished by Donald Cameron.
21	1987	22nd	The Dow peaks at 2772.4 points after a record-breaking 6 years, but Wall Street is soon engulfed in scandal.
22	1862	147th	Pres. Lincoln replies to Horace Greeley's fiery abolitionist editorial, "The Prayer of Twenty Million."
22	1962	47th	Pres. Kennedy reports a stalemate in Vietnam, as the numbers of Viet Cong grow despite South Vietnamese victories.
23	1857	152nd	The Stock Market of 1857 ends an economic boom, plunging Eastern cities into unemployment and hunger.
23	1862	147th	At Big Hill, in the Confederate invasion of Kentucky, Union Gen. Nelson fails to repel Gen. Kirby Smith's invading troops.
24	1662	347th	When Cromwell's reign ends, the Act of Uniformity reinstates Episcopalian rule and the Book of Common Prayer.
24	1787	222nd	Wolfgang Amdeus Mozart completes his Violin Sonata in A Major.
24	1912	97th	The District of Alaska becomes Alaska Territory and is incorporated in the U.S.
24	1932	77th	Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly nonstop across the U.S., which she does in just over 19 hours.
25	1967	42nd	Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara concedes that the bombing of Vietnam is not succeeding.
26	1847	162nd	Liberia is proclaimed an independent republic.
26	1862	147th	The 2nd Bull Run Campaign begins as Fitzhugh Lee's men capture Manassas, looting and destroying Gen. Pope's supply depot.
26	1957	52nd	The USSR announces it has tested an IBM and JFK accuses Pres. Eisenhower of falling behind in the arms race.
27	1942	67th	Transport No. 24 departs from Paris deporting French Jews to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Nazi Germany.
27	1952	57th	McCarthyism dominates U.S. politics as the presidential race between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson heats up.
28	1862	147th	After 2 days scouring Manassas for Stonewall Jackson, Pope is suddenly attacked by Jackson's men, who've been hiding in the woods.
28	1917	92nd	Ten suffragettes are arrested for picketing Pres. Wilson in front of the White House.
28	1967	42nd	Sen. Mike Mansfield presents the Senate with a proposal to bring a Vietnam peace plan before the United Nations.
28	1972	37th	Pres. Nixon, campaigning for re-election, announces that the military draft will end by July of 1973.
29	1862	147th	Lee delivers a stunning blow to Pope at 2nd Bull Run, where Union troops are decimated.
29	1862	147th	Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian Nobel Prize winning poet and playwright, is born.
29	1877	132nd	Brigham Young, an early Mormon leader, dies in Utah.
29	1962	47th	U.S. poet Robert Frost embarks on a goodwill tour of the USSR.
30	1862	147th	At the Battle of Richmond, KY, Gen. Wright's inexperienced Union troops suffer complete defeat at the hands of E. Kirby Smith.
30	1967	42nd	Thurgood Marshall is conformed by the U.S. Senate to become a Supreme Court Justice, the first African American to do so.
31	1887	122nd	Thomas Edison patents his "Kinetoscope" or "Kinetograph."
31	1967	42nd	Criticizing Robert McNamara, a Senate committee demands more bombing of N. Vietnam and LBJ yields to the "Hawks."