Today In History

There are days when my curiosity just cannot be contained and I have to go snooping. This morning I decided to see what happened today in history. The History Place is one of my favorite Internet sites and here's what I found:

• In 1666 on this date, the first experimental blood transfusion took place in England, utilizing two dogs. (Wonder if they were trying to save them, or one, or just experimenting?)
• In 1889, newspaper reporter Nellie Bly (pen name for Elizabeth Cochrane) set out from New York to beat the record of Jules Verne's imaginary hero Phileas Fogg, who traveled around the world in 80 days. (Have you read that book?) Bly returned 72 days later to a tumultuous welcome in New York. (Talk about fast!)
• On this day steamboat developer Robert Fulton (1765-1815) was born in rural Pennsylvania. (Had some relatives in Pennsylvania at one time.)
• And this is the day that French painter Claude Monet (1840-1926) was born in Paris. He pioneered the impressionist style in his landscapes including the Haystacks, Poplars, and Rouen Cathedral series. (Impressive impressionist!)
• Today was the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru (most everybody just called him Nehru), who was born in Allahabad, India (1889-1964). He spent over 20 years working with Mahatma Gandhi (most everybody just called him Gandhi; funny, but no one calls George W. Bush just Bush). Following independence in 1947, Nehru became India's first prime minister, serving until his death in 1964.
• American composer Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was born on this day in Brooklyn, New York. He created a quintessential American music style in his ballets, film scores, and orchestral works including Fanfare for the Common Man, Rodeo, and Appalachian Spring (all my favorites!) for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. His film score for The Heiress won an Oscar.

So, there you are. . .important dates, important people, important events. All at the website www.historyplace.com where there's even more interesting news. Check it out on one of the library's 20 Dell computers which are available for public use. Just takes a library card to get online.

Today In History

Occasionally, I get curious about what happened years ago on the day in which I presently live. There's a good website I enjoy that tells me what I want to know. It's The History Place at http://www.historyplace.com/.
Today it had a ton of stuff that was interesting, such as:

• The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed, ending the Franco-Spanish war of 1648-59. (That was an eleven-year war! I hope the one we're in now doesn't last that long.)
• General William H. Harrison led 1,000 Americans in battle, defeating the Shawnee Indians at the Battle of Tippencanoe Creek near Lafayette, Indiana. (Another war!)
• A pro-slavery mob attacked and killed American abolitionish Elijah Lovejoy at his printing works in Alton, Illinois. (I used to live 3 hours from Alton!)
• Canada's first transcontinental railway, the Canadian Pacific, was completed in British Columbia. (Rode a train one time all the way to Texas. Had an amazing time!)
• Russian Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky in Petrograd. (Exactly where is/was Petrograd? I'll have to look that one up.)
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented fourth term, defeating Thomas E. Dewey. (I once saw the huge headlines in the newspapers about this. Was in a genealogy library somewhere.)
• Richard Nixon told news reporters in Los Angeles "...just think how much you're going to be missing. You won't have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." (Do you think they knew what he was going to say before he said it?)
• The East German government resigned after pro-democracy protests. (What can I say?)
• L. Douglas Wilder became the first African American governor in U.S. history, elected governor of Virginia. (Progress at one level, anyhow.)
• Mary Robinson became Ireland's first female president. (Progress at another level.)

This day, November 7, was also the birthday of Polish chemist Marie Curie who with her husband received the Nobel Prize for physics for their discovery of the element Radium. And it's also the birthday of Christian evangelist Billy Graham, who was born near Charlotte, North Carolina in 1918.

Great website, huh? You can check it out on one of the library's 20 Dell computers that we have for your use anytime you're in the library. Only takes your library card to get online. . . .

Today In History

President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation designating the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. (Talk about planning ahead. He did this in October! Most of us would have done it the day before Thanksgiving Day!)
(Source: The History Place at www.historyplace.com)