(Proclamation Given October 3, 1863)
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful …
November 28 in Pop Culture History
2348 BC – A supposed comet , under divine guidance, passed near Earth, causing the Great Flood, in the opinion of Anglican priest and mathematician, William Whiston. They did not know much about comets in 1696.
1582 – William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway (not the ‘our’ Anne Hathaway)
1717 – Blackbeard attacked a French merchant vessel called La Concorde, which he captured and renamed as the Queen Anne’s …
November 27 in Pop Culture History
1703 – The first Eddystone Lighthouse was destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703.
1826 – Chemist John Walker invented the friction match in England.
1834 – The direct current (DC) electric motor was invented by Thomas Davenport.
1896 – Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss was first performed.
1910 – Pennsylvania Station opened, called so because the Pennsylvania Railroad trains began using it November 27, 1910.
1924 – …
November 26 in Pop Culture History
1703 – The Great Storm – more than 8,000 people perished and the first Eddystone Lighthouse (Winstanley’s lighthouse) was totally destroyed overnight.
1716 – First African lion was exhibited in America (in Boston). It was just a single lion, which supposedly later joined a “menagerie” which was basically a traveling circus of exotic animals.
1789 – First (unofficial) national Thanksgiving in USA recognized by the new government. The 1621 …
Every year before the Thanksgiving holiday, the President chooses a turkey or two who will be spared from ending up on your dining room table. In a ceremony that takes place at the White House one official turkey is pardoned as well as the occasional alternate gobbler, both presented by National Turkey Federation.
Some say that this tradition started with Harry Truman in 1947*, but it became official in 1989, with President G.W. Bush.…
November 25 in Pop Culture History
1792 – The Old Farmer’s Almanac first published by Robert B. Thomas. He added “Old” to the title in 1832 because there was so much competition in the Farmer’s Almanac business.
1884 – The patent (#308,422) for the process of evaporated milk was issued to John Meyenberg, of St Louis, Missouri.
1920 – The Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade is the oldest in the US, started on this date.
1937 …
November 24 in Pop Culture History
1639 – First observation of transit of Venus by Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree – helped establish the size of our Solar System.
1859 – Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. A first printing sells for around $100,000 today.
1874 – The patent (#157,124) for barbed wire was issued to Joseph F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois.
1877 – Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty is published.
1896 – …
November 23
1644 – John Milton published Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship.
1874 – A paper by Ferdinand Braun was published in the Annalen der Physik und Chemie describing his discovery of the electrical rectifier effect, the first semi-conductor.
1889 – Debut of the first jukebox, the ‘nickel-in-the-slot phonograph’, at the Palais Royale Saloon, San Francisco. It could only be loaded with one cylinder (song) at a time.
1897 – The patent (#594,114) for …
For those born on November 22, 1989 you have a special birthday in the year 2033.
Why? On 11/22/33 you’re turning 44!
November 22 in Pop Culture History
1809 – The (#1168) patent was issued in the U.S. for a metallic writing pen was issued to Peregrine Williamson.
1858 – Denver, Colorado was founded.
1891 – (Born) Edward Louis Bernays (November 22, 1891 − March 9, 1995) referred to in his obituary as “the father …
The Great American Smokeout is held on the third Thursday of November. Its purpose is to inspire people to stop smoking and educate the public on the dangers of smoking cigarettes.
The Great American Smokeout had a small beginning in 1970 and then slowly blossomed out. The day marked its full debut November 16, 1977. The day is sponsored by The American Cancer Society.
The original idea of the day was to give up smoking …
November 21
164 BC – Judas Maccabeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restored the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.
1783 – Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis Francois Laurant d’Arlandes became the first men to make a free flight. Their hot-air balloon lifted off from La Muettte, a royal palace in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris. Ben Franklin was among the witnesses.…
November 20
1866 – US patent (#59,745) for a yoyo, called a “Whirligig” or “Bandalore” in the paperwork, was issued to James L. Haven and Charles Hittrick of Cincinnati, Ohio.
1866 – The US patent (#59,918) on a rotary crank bicycle was issued to Pierre Lallemont of Paris, France.
1888 – Willard LeGrand Bundy was issued the first U.S. patent (#393,205) for a time recording clock. His company went on to help start TCR in …
