Today's reading: "The Botticellian Trees" by William Carlos Williams from SELECTED POEMS, published by New Directions.
It's the birthday of Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, born in 1678.
The first U.S. Congress convened today in New York City in 1789.
Today is known as Old Inauguration Day, the day which presidents took their oath of office up until 1933.
Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated in 1801, the first time this event took place in Washington, D.C.
Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th president in 1861.
Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana, was the first woman to serve in Congress. She joined the House of Representatives in 1917.
Today is the birthday of British author and playwright, Alan Sillitoe, born in 1928.
Today's reading: "Bad Influence" and "Success Story" by Terence Winch from THE GREAT INDOORS, published by Story Line Press.
Today is the Jewish holiday Purim.
The Boston Massacre took place on this day in 1770.
Today is the birthday of playwright and actress, Anna Cora Mowatt, born in France in 1819.
Irish playwright Dame Isabella Augusta Gregory, co-founder of Dublin's Abbey Theatre, was born in County Galway in 1852.
It's the birthday of novelist Frank Norris, born in Chicago in 1870.
Today is the birthday of Jerrie Cobb, the first woman to pass NASA's tests for space flight. She was born in 1931 in Norman, Oklahoma.
Today's reading: "Adam and Eve in Later Life" by Howard Nemerov from COLLECTED POEMS, published by University of Chicago Press.
Michelangelo was born on this day in Caprese, Italy in 1475.
Today is the birthday of poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, born near Durham, England in 1806.
The Siege of the Alamo took place on this day in 1836.
The Supreme Court made its Dred Scott ruling on this day in 1857.
Sports writer Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was born in Niles, Michigan in 1885.
The first automobile to drive the streets of Detroit was driven on this day in 1896.
Aspirin was patented on this day in 1896 by chemist Felix Hoffman.
It's the birthday of Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Love in the Age of Cholera), born in 1928.
Today's reading: "Civilized Atmospheres" by Terence Winch from THE GREAT OUTDOORS, published by Story Line Press.
Joseph Niepce, the first to produce a photograph from nature, was born in 1765.
It's the birthday of plant breeder Luther Burbank, born in Lancaster, Mass in 1849.
Educator Helen Parkhurst was born in Durand, Wisconsin in 1887.
The first jazz recording, by Nick La Rocca & his Original Dixieland Jazz Band, was issued on a phonograph recording in 1917.
Today's reading: "The Snow is Deep on the Ground" by Kenneth Patchen from COLLECTED POEMS OF KENNETH PATCHEN, published by New Directions. "I Am No Good at Love" lyric by Noel Coward from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's book, ART & LOVE, published by Bulfinch Press.
Today is International Women's Day, commemorating the 1857 march and demonstration in New York City by female garment and textile workers.
The Rattlesnake Roundup takes place in Sweetwater, Texas beginning today.
The Rough River Humor Festival starts today in the Falls of Rough, Kentucky.
Today is the birthday of the great dissenter, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., born in Boston in 1841.
Scottish author Kenneth Grahame (The Wind in the Willows) was born in 1859.
Today's reading: "Poema Del City 2" by Ron Padgett from TOUJOURS L'ARMOUR, published by Sun Press.
Today is Sheep to Shawl day in Savannah, Georgia, with shearing and spinning demonstrations.
The Highland County Maple Festival takes place this weekend in Virginia.
The man for whom America was named, Amerigo Vespucci, was born on this day in 1451.
Napoleon Bonaparte wed Josephine on this day in 1796.
General Ulysses Grant was named General-in-chief of the Union Forces in 1864.
Novelist, poet Vita Sackville-West was born in Kent, England in 1892.
Composer Samuel Barber was born on this day in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1910.
It's the birthday of Mickey Spillane, born in Brooklyn, New York in 1918.
Today's reading: "Digging" by Seamus Heaney from SELECTED POEMS 1966-1987, published by Noonday, a division of Farrar Straus & Giroux.
Educator Hallie Quinn Brown was born on this day around 1845 in Pittsburgh.
It's the birthday of jazz musician, Leon Bix Beiderbeck, born in Davenport, Iowa in 1903.
Author Kathryn McLean (Forbes) who wrote Mama's Bank Account, was born in 1909 in San Francisco.
Writer and veterinarian, James Herriot, was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1916.
Playwright David Rabe was born in Dubuque, Iowa in 1940.
Zelda Fitzgerald died on this day in 1948 when a fire broke out at the Highland Hospital.
