April 14 in Pop Culture History

Noah Webster was an American lexicographer, writer, and teacher best known for publishing the first American Dictionary of the English Language. He was born in West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1758 and grew up during the American Revolution.

Webster was a prolific writer and educator who believed that America needed its own distinct form of language and culture. In 1806, he published his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language. However, he was unsatisfied with this work and began work on a more comprehensive dictionary that would reflect American English.

In 1828, Webster published his most famous work, An American Dictionary of the English Language, which contained over 70,000 entries and was the first dictionary to include American spellings of words. Webster’s dictionary was a groundbreaking work that helped to standardize American English and establish it as a distinct form of the language.

Webster’s dictionary was also notable for its inclusion of Americanisms and its emphasis on American history and culture. The dictionary included entries for American plants, animals, and cultural references, and it promoted the use of American words over their British counterparts.

Webster’s dictionary was widely praised for its accuracy and usefulness, and it became a standard reference work for writers, educators, and scholars. Today, “Webster’s Dictionary” refers to any authoritative or comprehensive dictionary. Webster’s influence on American language and culture is still felt today, and his dictionary remains an important landmark in American literature and education history.

1775 – The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage was organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.

1828 – Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language.

1863 – The US Patent (No. 38,200) for a continuous-roll printing press was issued to William Bullock, enabling two sides of a newspaper to be printed simultaneously. It was first used by the New York Sun.

1865 – John Wilkes Booth fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play (Our American Cousin) at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC.

1881 – Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight occurred on El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas. Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire accounted for three fatalities with his twin .44 caliber Colt revolvers.

1912 – RMS Titanic hit an iceberg, killing 1514 people that evening and the next day.

1933 – Jack Mackay and his wife reported seeing the Loch Ness Monster – ‘Nessie’, although the earliest report was in 565 AD when St. Columbia turned away a giant beast threatening a man in the Ness River, which flows into the lake.

1935 – ‘Black Sunday Storm’ – the worst dust storm of the US Dust Bowl, hit from the Oklahoma Panhandle and Northwestern Oklahoma to the Texas Panhandles. The Duststorm of April 14th, 1935, is immortalized in the Woody Guthrie song Dusty Old Dust aka “So long been good to know you.”

1939 – The Viking Press first published the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

1953 – The CIA started to give unwitting subjects LSD in a search for a mind-controlling drug.

1961 – The man-made element 103 – Lawrencium (Lw), was produced in the US by Albert Ghiorso, Torbjørn Sikkeland, Almon Larsh and Robert M. Latimer.

1969 (Tornado) East Pakistan, Pakistan

1969 – Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter) and Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl) tied for Best Actress Oscar.

1979 – #1 Hit April 14, 1979 – April 20, 1979: The Doobie Brothers – What a Fool Believes

1984 – My Little Pony premiered in syndication

1990 – #1 Hit April 14, 1990 – April 20, 1990: Tommy Page – I’ll Be Your Everything

1990 – In Living Color premiered on FOX

1992 – Guys and Dolls (Broadway Musical) Opened on April 14, 1992, and closed on January 8, 1995 (revival)

1994 – The 24-hour movie channel Turner Classic Movies made its debut.

1995 – Stuart Saves His Family was released in theaters.

2000 – 28 Days, American Psycho and Keeping the Faith debuted in theaters.

2001 – April 14, 2001 – June 1, 2001: Janet Jackson – All For You

2003 – The Human Genome Project was completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.

2006 – The Notorious Bettie Page, Scary Movie 4, Kinky Boots, and The Wild were released in theaters.