There have been many significant historical events on this date in history. As a learning exercise I used the “list” feature to put together a “Topic Guide” in our new Bibliocommons catalog highlighting a number of the historical events that have occurred on April 4th. The Topic Guide ties the following historical events to items in our catalog and to our historical databases.
- 1581: Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.
- 1818: Congress adopts the United States flag with thirteen red and white stripes and a star for each state.
- 1917: The U.S. Senate voted 90 to 6 to enter World War I on the Allied side.
- 1964: The Beatles become the first act to hold all of the top five positions on the US Billboard charts.
- 1967: Johnny Carson quit “The Tonight Show.” He returned three weeks later after getting a raise of $30,000 a week.
- 1968 : Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the age of 39.
- 1974:Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth’s Major League Baseball home-run record with 714.
- 1984: Winston Smith (protagonist in Orwell’s “1984”) begins his secret diary.
- Continue your historical exploration with these databases, available to Princeton Public Library cardholders: History Reference Center and American History Online
To see the books, DVDs, CDs, ebooks, and databases in our collection that connect with these historical events, check out the “On This Day: April 4th” Topic Guide in Bibliocommons.
For more information on creating and sharing your own list, see this helpful FAQ.