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.

NovemberYearAnniversaryEvent
11897111stThe first Library of Congress building opens in Washington DC.
21772236thSamuel Adams heads up the first Committees of Correspondence in Massachusetts.
21887121stJenny Lind, Swedish opera singer managed by P. T. Barnum in the U.S., dies.
2196741stLBJ meets with the Wise Men: Sec. of State Acheson, Gen. Bradley, Ambassador Harriman, and Henry Cabot Lodge.
31777231stGen. George Washington hears of Thomas Conway's secret plan to replace him with Gen.Horatio Gates after several military defeats.
41842166thAbraham Lincoln and Mary Ann Todd wed in the Springfield home of Ninian Edwards, after a tempestuous courtship.
41847161stGerman composer Felix Mendelssohn, grandson of Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, dies.
41862146thLincoln's Republican Party maintains House control and gains Senate seats, a sign of support for the Emancipation Proclamation.
41862146thRichard Gatling patents the machine gun.
4192286thThe U.S. Postmaster General orders all homes to get mailboxes if they want mail delivery.
4192286thIn Egypt's Valley of the Kings, British archaeologist Howard Carter finds the entrance to King Tutankhamen's tomb.
4195256thRepublican Dwight Eisenhower is elected the 34th president of the U.S., defeating Democrat Adlai Stevenson.
51862146thLincoln removes the fearful McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac after his weak pursuit of Lee following Antietam
51862146thIn Minnesota, 300 Santee Dakota are sentenced to hang for the "Sioux Revolt."
51872136thSusan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the presidential election.
5191296thIn a landslide, Woodrow Wilson is elected 28th president of the U.S., defeating Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.
6193276thIn Germany's general elections, the Nazis emerge.
6194761st"Meet the Press" premieres on TV and will one day become the oldest program still on television.
71637371stRev. John Cotton banishes Anne Hutchinson, first female religious leader in the colonies, from the Mass. Bay Colony.
71867141stMarie Sklodowski Curie, German Nobel Prize-winning physicist, is born.
7191791stVladimir Lenin overthrows Alexander Kerensky in Russia' Bolshevik Revolution.
7196246thEleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady, activist and social reformer, dies at age 78.
7196246thRichard Nixon loses the race for California governor, saying "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore" in a press conference.
7197236thRepublican Richard Nixon wins the presidency in a landslide victory over Democrat George McGovern.
81837171stMount Holyoke Seminary, women's college founded by Mary Lyon, opens in South Hadley, MA.
8193276thNY Governor Franklin Roosevelt is elected U.S. president, defeating incumbent Herbert Hoover.
8194266thUnder Gen. Eisenhower, U.S. and British forces invade North Africa.
91862146thAmbrose Burnside reluctantly becomes head of Army of the Potomac after Lincoln removes McClellan from command.
91872136thThe Fire of 1872 rips through Boston, destroying nearly 800 buildings.
10194266thFollowing victory in Egypt, Churchill says it's "not the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning" of WWII.
111852156thLouisa May Alcott publishes her first story.
111872136thMaude Adams, U.S. actress famous for light comedy, is born.
11196741stThe Viet Cong of North Vietnam release U.S. prisoners of war.
121867141stRethinking its unsuccessful wars against the Dakota and Cheyenne, the U.S. begins a conference at Fort Laramie.
12192781stJosef Stalin takes over the Soviet Union.
13196741stPres. Johnson receives an optimistic report on the Vietnam War from Gen. William Westmoreland.
141732276thThe Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by Benjamin Franklin to be a library for Congress, hires its first librarian.
141862146thLincoln approves Burnside's plan to capture Richmond, VA, the Confederate capital.
151777231stThe Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation (eventually the Constitution) after 16 months of debate.
151837171stIsaac Pitman's shorthand system is published as "Stenographic Sound-Hand."
15191791stGeorges Clemenceau becomes French prime minister.
161827181stCharles Eliot Norton, U.S. scholar, is born.
161907101stCongress joins Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory, admitting Oklahoma as the 46th state of the Union.
171777231stThe Articles of Confederation (eventually the Constitution) are submitted to the individual American states.
171862146thGeorge Randolph, Confederate general, resigns as Confederate Secretary of War.
171877131stGilbert & Sullivan's third joint opera, "The Sorcerer," opens in London starring Rutland Barrington and Isabelle Hill (Mrs. Paul)
181787221stLouis-Jacques Daguerre, French scientist and painter who invents the daguerreotype photograph, is born.
191802206thSolomon Foot, U.S. senator from Vermont, is born.
191887121stEmma Lazarus, poet who wrote "Give me your tired, your poor" from "The New Colossus," engraved on the Statue of Libery, dies.
20196246thJFK agrees to lift U.S. blockade of Cuba when the USSR removes its missiles, ending the Cuban missile crisis.
20197731stEgyptian president Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to visit Israel.
211877131stThomas Edison announces his first major invention, the phonograph.
22196741stGen. Westmoreland claims U.S. victory at Dak To and affirms the Communists are losing the war.
231862146thGilbert Parker, Canadian novelist who becomes a Member of Parliament in England, is born.
23197236thParis peace talks between Henry Kissinger and North Vietnam deadlock pushing Nixon to order the "Christmas bombings."
241807201stMohawk Chief Joseph Brant dies.
251817191stJohn Bigelow, U.S. statesman, abolitionist, editor of "New York Evening Post" and author, is born.
251878130thJohn Douglas Sutherland Campbell, married to Queen Victoria's 4th daughter, Princess Louise, becomes Gov. General of Canada.
25195751stPresident Eisenhower suffers a slight stroke.
261607401stJohn Harvard, clergyman and scholar whose money will be used to established Harvard College, is born.
261792216thSarah Moore Grimke, U.S. abolitionist and women's rights activist, born.
261832176thMary Edwards Walker, one of first female physicians in U.S. and women's rights leader, born.
281582426thWilliam Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway pay 40 pounds for their marriage license.
281757251stWilliam Blake, British poet, is born.
281777231stMassachusetts politician John Adams replaces Silas Deane as ambassador to France.
281862146thAt the Battle of Cane Hill, Union General Blunt defeats Confederate Gen. Marmaduke, driving him back into the mountains.
291832176thLouisa May Alcott, U.S. writer, author of "Little Women," is born.
29196741stMcNamara resigns as U.S. secretary of defense.
301782226thThe U.S. and Britain sign preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.