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.
| April | Year | Anniversary | Event |
| 1 | 1972 | 38th | North Vietnam launches an offensive to hurt Nixon's reelection chances |
| 1 | 1987 | 23rd | Pres. Reagan announces that AIDS is "public health enemy No.1" |
| 2 | 1792 | 218th | Congress passes the Coinage Act, founding the U.S. Mint |
| 2 | 1872 | 138th | Samuel F. B. Morse, U.S. inventor, dies |
| 2 | 1877 | 133rd | First White House Easter Egg Roll, under Rutherford Hayes |
| 2 | 1917 | 93rd | Jeannette Rankin sworn in as first woman in the U.S. House of Representatives |
| 2 | 1917 | 93rd | President Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany |
| 3 | 1837 | 173rd | John Burroughs, U.S. nature writer, is born |
| 3 | 1882 | 128th | Jesse James, notorious bank robber, dies, shot in back |
| 3 | 1922 | 88th | Joseph Stalin named general secretary of the Communist Party in the USSR |
| 4 | 1812 | 198th | President Madison slaps an embargo on Great Britain |
| 4 | 1967 | 43rd | Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks against the Vietnam War, linking Civil Rights and pacifism |
| 5 | 1792 | 218th | George Washington casts the first presidential veto (against apportioning representatives among states) |
| 5 | 1827 | 183rd | James Hackett becomes the first U.S. actor to appear abroad - at Covent Garden |
| 5 | 1862 | 148th | The Siege of Yorktown, Virginia, begins |
| 6 | 1862 | 148th | Battle of Shiloh begins in Tennessee |
| 6 | 1917 | 93rd | U.S. enters World War I, declaring war on Germany |
| 6 | 1947 | 63rd | Henry Ford, early car manufacturer, dies |
| 8 | 1892 | 118th | Mary Pickford, Academy-Award-winning actress, is born Gladys Smith |
| 8 | 1942 | 68th | War Production Board orders a halt to all production not necessary to WWII |
| 8 | 1952 | 58th | Pres. Truman takes control of the steel mills in Youngstown, Ohio |
| 9 | 1682 | 328th | French explorer Robert la Salle reaches the lower Mississippi River |
| 9 | 1942 | 68th | U.S. surrenders the Philippine island of Luzon to Japan |
| 10 | 1847 | 163rd | Joseph Pulitzer, publisher and newspaperman, is born in Hungary |
| 10 | 1912 | 98th | The RMS Titanic sets sail from Southhampton, England, on its ill-fated voyage |
| 10 | 1932 | 78th | Adolf Hitler comes in second to German president von Hindenburg in national elections |
| 11 | 1962 | 48th | JFK angrily criticizes steel industry for jacking up prices |
| 11 | 1972 | 38th | U.S. B-52s begin bombing North Vietnam |
| 11 | 1972 | 38th | Charlie Chaplin receives an Oscar at the Academy Awards |
| 12 | 1777 | 233rd | Henry Clay, U.S. senator and statesman, born |
| 12 | 1862 | 148th | Fort Pulaski, GA, falls to the Federals after two days of bombardment |
| 12 | 1877 | 133rd | The catcher's mask first used in baseball |
| 12 | 1937 | 73rd | U.S. Supreme Court upholds National Labor Relations Act, protecting workers' rights |
| 13 | 1777 | 233rd | British attack the Continental Army at Bound Brook, New Jersey |
| 13 | 1852 | 158th | F.W. Woolworth, merchant who founded a chain of stores, born. |
| 14 | 1912 | 98th | The British RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic |
| 15 | 1912 | 98th | The "unsinkable" RMS Titanic sinks and about 1,500 passengers and crew drown |
| 15 | 1947 | 63rd | Jackie Robinson becomes baseball's first black major-league player |
| 16 | 1862 | 148th | Pres. Lincoln abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia |
| 16 | 1867 | 143rd | Wilbur Wright, aviator and inventor, born |
| 16 | 1917 | 93rd | Vladimir Lenin returns to St. Petersburg to take control of the Russian Revolution |
| 17 | 1492 | 518th | Christopher Columbus signs a contract to seek a new route to the Indies |
| 17 | 1837 | 173rd | John Pierpont Morgan, industrialist and financier, born |
| 18 | 1857 | 153rd | Clarence Darrow, attorney and champion of the underdog, born |
| 18 | 1917 | 93rd | Leon Trotsky calls for the overthrow of Joseph Stalin |
| 19 | 1782 | 228th | The Netherlands officially recognizes the U.S. as a nation |
| 19 | 1882 | 128th | Charles Darwin, British scientist, dies |
| 20 | 1777 | 233rd | New York adopts a state constitution |
| 20 | 1902 | 108th | Marie and Pierre Curie isolate radium |
| 20 | 1792 | 218th | France declares war on Austria and the French Revolutionary Wars begin |
| 21 | 1777 | 233rd | The British attack Danbury, CT, and go on a rampage, nearly destroying the town |
| 22 | 1972 | 38th | Antiwar demonstrations coordinated across America protest U.S. bombings of Vietnam |
| 23 | 1867 | 143rd | The Zoetrope, forerunner of the motion picture projector, patented |
| 23 | 1992 | 18th | Smithsonian Museum acquires the Miller racing car for display |
| 24 | 1792 | 218th | France's national anthem, "La Marseillaise," is composed by Claude Rouget de Lisle |
| 24 | 1862 | 148th | Union Admiral David Farragut leads a flotilla past two Confederate forts |
| 24 | 1967 | 43rd | Gen. Westmoreland asserts the U.S. antiwar movement is encouraging North Vietnam |
| 25 | 1792 | 218th | The guillotine is first used, in Paris |
| 25 | 1862 | 148th | The Fall of New Orleans |
| 26 | 1607 | 403rd | Captain John Smith and a group of British colonists go ashore at Cape Henry, Virginia |
| 26 | 1822 | 188th | Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect who designed NY's Central Park, born |
| 27 | 1667 | 343rd | John Milton sells the copyright to his famous epic, "Paradise Lost." |
| 27 | 1822 | 188th | Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War general and 18th U.S. president, is born |
| 28 | 1952 | 58th | Gen. Eisenhower resigns as supreme commander of U.S. armed forces |
| 29 | 1862 | 148th | The Union Army occupies New Orleans |
| 30 | 1917 | 93rd | The U.S. begins massive enlistment for World War I |
| 30 | 1947 | 63rd | President Harry Truman changes the name of Boulder Dam to Hoover Dam |