Category: Today In History

Kurt Vonnegut 1713 – Peace of Utrecht; France cedes Maritime provinces to Britain – English, Prussian, Savoois, Portuguese & French peace treaty 1775 – The last execution for witchcraft in Germany takes place. Records show that Anna Maria Schwiigel was the last legally executed person in Bavaria for the crime of believing in a competing...

Walker Evans          ‘Love Before Breakfast’ 1710 – The first law regulating copyright is issued in Great Britain 1790 – Robert Gray is first American to circumnavigate the Earth 1841 – New York Tribune begins publishing under editor Horace Greeley 1849 – Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt; sold rights for $400...

Muybridge “Spashing Nude” 1667 – First public art exhibition at the Palais-Royale, Paris 1682 – Robert La Salle claims lower Mississippi (Louisiana) for France 1833 – First tax-supported public library in Peterborough, New Hampshire 1865 – General Robert E. Lee and 26,765 troops, surrender at Appomattox Court House in Virginia to US Lieutenant General Ulysses...

The Gutenberg Bible was among the earliest books printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe and marked the start of the age of printed books in the West. 451 – Attila’s Huns plunder Metz 529 – First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (“Body of Civil Law“) is issued by order of Justinian I, Eastern...

An 1850s painting of John Rolfe and Pocahontas 1566 – Two-hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrick van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Seventeen Provinces. 1614 – In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe. 1621 –...

1887 Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States pictured here with her husband 1460 – University of Basle in Swizerland forms 1660 – English king Charles II sends Declaration of Breda (freedom of religion) 1686 – English king James II publishes Declaration of Indulgence 1687 – King...