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.

MayYearAnniversaryEvent
11672336thJoseph Addison, writer and journalist, born in England.
1196741stElvis Presley marries 21-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, in Las Vegas
21862146thConfederates evacuate Yorktown during the Peninsular campaign
2195751stSenator Joseph McCarthy, who led the witchhunt against Communists, dies
2197236thJ. Edgar Hoover, FBI director, dies.
31802206thWashington DC incorporated as a city.
3193771stMargaret Mitchell receives a Pulitzer Prize for her novel, "Gone with the Wind"
3194761stJapan's new constitution strips Hirohito of all but symbolic power
41872136thA. Mitchell Palmer, US Attorney General, anti-Communist, born
4197731stJournalist David Frost interviews Richard Nixon about corruption in his administration
51847161stThe American Medical Association is founded in Philadelphia
51862146thUnion troops force a Confederate retreat at the Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia
51877131stSitting Bull leads his people into Canada, fleeing the U.S. Army
61862146thHenry David Thoreau, U.S. poet and philosopher, dies.
61862146thThe Confederates withdraw from Williamsburg and Union troops occupy the town
61882126thCongress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring Chinese immigrants from the US
6195751stSenator John F. Kennedy wins a Pulitzer Prize for his book, "Profiles in Courage"
71812196thRobert Browning, British poet, born.
71862146thConfederate forces attack at Eltham's Landing during the Peninsular Campaign
8197236thNixon's mining of North Vietnam's harbors, Operation Pocket Money, begins
91502506thChristopher Columbus leaves Spain on his final trip to the New World
91887121stBuffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens in London for Queen Victoria
9197731stPresident Carter tackles Social Security
101832176thWilliam Grace, businessman, New York City mayor, and "Pirate of Peru," born in Ireland
101837171stThe devastating Panic of 1837 wipes out U.S. banks, small businesses, and farmers
101862146thUnion victory at the Battle of Plum Run Bend, near Ft. Pillow
101872136thVictoria Woodhull is first woman nominated for U.S. president, with Frederick Douglass as VP
101877131stPresident Rutherford Hayes installs the first telephone in White House
111852156thCharles Warren Fairbanks, Teddy Roosevelt's vice-president, born
121902106thJohn Mitchell calls for a mineworkers strike by the United Mine Workers
1220026thJimmy Carter is the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since Castro's 1959 revolution
131607401stJamestown, an English colony, is founded in Virginia
131737271stWilliam Petty-FitzMaurice, first marquess of Landsdowne and prime minister of England, born.
131792216thPope Pius IX born.
131842166thArthur S. Sullivan, British composer of fourteen Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas, born.
141787221stU.S. Constitutional Convention delegates begin to assemble in Philadelphia
141842166thAlfred, Lord Tennyson, publishes his popular "Poems"
141897111stGuglielmo Marconi sends the first wireless telegraph
14194266thU.S. Women's Auxiliary Army Corps established
151602406thBritish navigator Bartholomew Gosnold lays claim to Cape Cod
151862146thU.S. Department of Agriculture created by Congress and Pres. Lincoln
151882126thPres. Arthur forms a commission to investigate protectionist tariffs
161897111stThe Vitagraph company shoots its first fiction film, "The Burglar on the Roof"
16197236thU.S. bombing of North Vietnam destroys main fuel line
171792216thNew York Stock Exchange founded by brokers meeting under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street
171827181stFuture president Andrew Johnson (age 18) marries Eliza McCardle (age 16)
18191791stCongress passes the Selective Service Act, drafting soldiers to fight in World War I
191897111stOscar Wilde released after two years of jail for "homosexual practices"
201862146thThe Homestead Act passed by Congress and signed by President Lincoln
20192781stThe "Spirit of St. Louis," Charles Lindbergh's plane, takes off for Paris
211832176thThe first Democratic National Convention held at the Athenaeum in Baltimore
21192781stThe "Spirit of St. Louis," Charles Lindbergh's plane, lands in Paris
221802206thMartha Dandridge Custis Washington, First Lady, dies
22194761stTruman Doctrine is enacted, appropriating aid for Greece and Turkey
23193771stThe fabulously wealthy John D. Rockefeller dies
251787221stConstitutional Convention called to order in Philadelphia
251862146thStonewall Jackson defeats Nathaniel Banks at the First Battle of Winchester
25192781stFord Motor Company announces the end of the Model T, replaced by the Model A
261837171stWashington Roebling, who succeeded his father as chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge, born
26193771stViolence breaks out at Ford Motors
271647361stFirst execution of a U.S. woman as a witch, Achsah Young, in Massachusetts
271837171stJames Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, U.S. frontier marshal, born
27193771stGolden Gate Bridge opens
281807201stLouis Agassiz, Swiss-American zoologist and biologist, born
281892116thSierra Club founded by John Muir
28195751stBaseball owners vote to allow the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers to move to California
291877131stJohn Lothrop Motley, U.S. historian and diplomat, is born
29191791stJohn F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. president, is born
29193276thThe Bonus Marchers arrive in Washington DC
301862146thConfederate Gen. Beauregard abandons Corinth, but tricks Halleck into thinking he's still there
30192286thFormer Pres. William Taft dedicates the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC
311862146thMcClellan drives back Confederate Gen. Johnston at the Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks), VA