Calendar

Feb 1 – 29.  Since 1964, The American Heart Association has sponsored a month long public awareness and education campaign in February. At that time, over half the deaths in America were caused by cardiovascular[...]

On the first day of each month, the genealogy community is urged to back up their genealogy data and all computer data.   Image courtesy of Pixabay.com, CC0.

Feb 1– 29. Traditionally the month containing Abraham Lincoln’s birthday (Feb 12) and Frederick Douglass’s presumed birthday (Feb 14). Observance of a special period to recognize achievements and contributions by African Americans dates from February[...]

13th Amendment Feb 1, 1865. Anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s approval of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution (abolishing slavery): “1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the[...]

Brigid of Kildare, a patron saint of Ireland, founded several monasteries, including one in Kildaire, Ireland. Also known as Imbolc, her feast day celebrated the coming of longer days and warmer weather as the first[...]

Feb 1, 2003. Minutes before space shuttle Columbia was due to land after a successful 16-day scientific mission, it disintegrated 40 miles above the state of Texas, killing its seven-member crew. Commander Rick Husband, pilot[...]

Candlemas – Feb 2. Observed in many Christian churches, Candlemas commemorates presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the purification of Mary 40 days after his birth. Also known as the Feast of the Presentation of[...]

Groundhog Day, USA.  According to legend, if a rodent named Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow on the 2nd of February, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his[...]

Feb 2, 1848. The war between Mexico and the US formally ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in the village for which it was named. The treaty provided for Mexico’s cession to the[...]

Elizabeth Blackwell’s birthday – Feb 3, 1821. First woman physician. Born near Bristol, England, she and several other members of her family were active abolitionists, women’s suffrage advocates and pioneers in women’s medicine. Her family[...]

The 15th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified 3 February 1870. “The right of citizens to vote and not denied based on race, color or previous condition of servitude.” Image courtesy of wikimediacommons.org.

Feb 4, 1921. The co-founder and first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) was born Bettye Naomi Goldstein at Peoria, IL. She was an outspoken feminist who spent her entire career crusading for[...]

Feb 4, 2004. Mark Zuckerberg and fellow Harvard students Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin launched “TheFacebook” as a social networking site. Facebook, later dropping “The,” quickly became an Internet sensation, reaching 901 million[...]

Feb 4, 1913. Born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, AL, Rosa Parks was a seamstress who was active with the NAACP. On a fateful day in Montgomery, AL, in 1955, a time when African Americans[...]

Annually, Feb 4. An international observance that seeks to take a positive and proactive approach to the fight against cancer, highlighting that solutions do exist across the continuum of cancer, and that they are within[...]

(Día de la Constitución)  is a public holiday in Mexico which celebrates the anniversary of Mexico’s current constitution, which was promulgated on February 5, 1917.

Feb 5, 1788. English Tory statesman, born at Bury, Lancashire, England, who twice served as prime minister (1834–1835; 1841– 1846). As chief secretary for Ireland (1812), Peel established the Irish constabulary known as the “Peelers.”[...]

Weatherperson’s Day. Commemorates the birth of one of America’s first weathermen, John Jeffries, a Boston physician who kept detailed records of weather conditions, 1774– 1816. Born at Boston, MA, Feb 5, 1744, and died there[...]

Feb 6 – Anniversary of the birthday of Queen Anne:  Queen Anne was the last of the Stuart monarchs. She was not regarded as a strong leader although she tried to be, relying on the[...]

SAFER INTERNET DAY promotes more responsible use of online technology and cell phones, especially among younger people.  More information is available at https://www.saferinternetday.org/. Image courtesy of Pixabay.com user Geralt.  

The signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840 – signed with Maori and European settlers allowed development of New Zealand under British Crown.

Feb 7, 1812. English novelist, publisher and social critic, born at Portsmouth, England. Among his most successful books: Oliver Twist, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield and[...]

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder, born 7 February 1867 at Pepin, Wisconsin, was an American writer, most notably the author of the Little House series of children’s novels based on her childhood in a pioneer family.[...]

Feb 8, 1910. The Boy Scouts of America was founded at Washington, DC, by William Boyce, based on the work of Sir Robert Baden-Powell with the British Boy Scout Association. Image courtesy of wikimediacommons.org.  

Feb 8, 1587. Mary Stuart, the queen regent of Scotland, was beheaded at Fotheringhay, England, after being accused of plotting Queen Elizabeth I’s death. Mary, the daughter of James V of Scotland by his second[...]

Feb 9 – The premier international team event in men’s tennis was started in 1899 by four members of the Harvard University tennis team who challenged the British to a tennis competition. The cup was[...]

Celebrated on Feb. 9  – The first pizzeria opened in Naples, Italy in 1738, but now pizza is popular all over the world. Pizza is especially popular in the US where Americans consume on average[...]

Created In 1938 by Alfred Mosher Butts, Scrabble had a slow start. However, the board game with letter tiles is now sold in 121 countries and is available in 29 languages. Roughly one-third of American and[...]

Feb 9, 1964. British pop phenomenon The Beatles began the “British Invasion” of America with their appearance on America’s top television variety show. They performed five songs before a screaming studio audience of 728. The[...]

Feb 10, 1824. A day to remember Samuel Plimsoll, “the Sailor’s Friend,” a coal merchant turned reformer and politician, who was elected to the British parliament in 1868. He attacked the practice of overloading heavily[...]

Feb 10, 1763. Known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War, this conflict ranged from North America to India, with many European nations involved. In North America, French expansion in the Ohio River Valley in[...]

Feb 11 – WORLD DAY OF THE SICK is a feast day of the Roman Catholic Church, instituted in commemoration of Our Lady of Lourdes.   It is a time to pray for the sick, for[...]

Feb 11, 1847. American inventive genius and holder of more than 1,200 patents (including the incandescent electric lamp, the phonograph, the electric dynamo and key parts of many now-familiar devices such as the movie camera[...]

Feb 12, 1809. Author and naturalist, born at Shrewsbury, England. Best remembered for his books On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for[...]

Feb 12, 1909. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded by W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida Wells-Barnett, among others, to wage a militant campaign against lynching and other forms of racial[...]

Clean out your computer day is a day to delete those programs you never use and duplicate files. Read more. Image courtesy of pexels.com.

Dresden, Teilansicht des zerstörten Stadtzentrums über die Elbe nach der Neustadt. In der Bildmitte der Neumarkt und die Ruine der Frauenkirche. Feb 13, 1945. Dresden, Germany. Allied firebombing caused a firestorm that destroyed the city[...]

Since 2012, a global observance celebrating radio: why we love it and why we need it today more than ever. A day to remember the unique power of radio to touch lives and bring people[...]

Ferris Wheel Day marks the 14 February 1859 birth of George Washington Gale Ferris, American engineer and inventor, at Galesburg, Illinois. Among his many accomplishments as a civil engineer, Ferris is best remembered as the[...]

On 14 February 1920, while meeting in Chicago, Illinois, to celebrate the imminent ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, leaders of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) approved the formation of a[...]

Feb 14 – Library Lovers Day provides communities the opportunity to celebrate the importance of libraries in building community and supporting local culture. Read more at  https://www.alia.org.au/events/16480/library-lovers-day-2018. Image courtesy of Pixabay.com, CC0.

ORGAN DONOR DAY is a time to increase awareness about organ donation and the lives that can be saved through five types of donations: organs, tissues, marrow, platelets, and blood.  Read more at https://www.donoralliance.org/?post_type=event&p=3495. Image[...]

St. Valentine’s Day celebrates the feasts of two Christian martyrs of this name. One, a priest and physician, was beaten and beheaded on the Flaminian Way at Rome, Italy, Feb 14, AD 269, during the[...]

On 15 February 1564, physicist and astronomer who helped overthrow medieval concepts of the world, born at Pisa, Italy. He proved the theory that all bodies, large and small, descend at equal speed and gathered[...]

Anniversary of ancient Roman fertility festival. Thought by some to have been established by Romulus and Remus, who, legend says, were suckled by a she-wolf at Lupercal (a cave in Palestine). Goats and dogs were[...]

The new Canadian national flag was raised at Ottawa, Canada’s capital, on 15 February 1965. The red-and-white flag with a red maple leaf in the center replaced the Red Ensign flag, which had the British[...]

Susan B. Anthony Day honors one of the first women’s rights advocates, working especially for the right to vote. Anthony was born on 15 February 1820 at Adams, Massachusetts. She died 13 March 1906, at[...]

Salesperson Day was established to recognize the value of the professional salesperson. Read more at https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/salesperson-day/.   Image courtesy of wikimedia commons

Founders’ Day is a reminder of the substantial role that the PTA has played locally, regionally and nationally in supporting parent involvement and working on behalf of all children and families. It honors the PTA’s[...]

Battery Day marks the birthday of the inventor Alessandro Volta on 18 February 1745. Image courtesy of Pixabay.com, CC0.

Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona on 18 February 1930. It was given the name of the Roman god of the underworld. It was considered the ninth[...]

On 19 February 1942, as a result of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, some 110,000 Japanese Americans living in coastal Pacific areas were placed in concentration camps in remote areas of Arizona, Arkansas, inland[...]

American photographer, known for his photographs of Yosemite National Park, was born at San Francisco, California on 20 February 1902. Adams died at Monterey, California on 22 April 1984. View images at http://anseladams.com/. Image courtesy[...]

World Day of Social Justice is an initiative of the United Nations General Assembly to promote efforts to solve those major problems that all countries face such as poverty, exclusion, and unemployment.  Read more at[...]

Celebrate your native language or that of an immigrant ancestor during International Mother Language Day. Image courtesy of Pixabay.com, CC0.

On 21 February 1965, just as he began a speech to his newly formed Organization of Afro-American Unity, black activist leader Malcolm X was gunned down by several men standing among the 400-plus crowd in[...]

Mardi Gras is the Christian festival season of Carnival celebrations,usually running from the last night of Christmas to Ash Wednesday, but the actual number of days varies from country to country and city to city. “Mardi[...]

PANCAKE DAY or SHROVE TUESDAY is the day before Ash Wednesday, celebrated in some countries with feasting on pancakes. The word “shrove” is a form of the word “shrive” which means to be forgiven of[...]

On 22 February 1879 the first chain store, F.W. Woolworth, opened at Utica, New York. In 1997 the closing of the chain was announced. Read more at http://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/aboutwoolies.html. Image courtesy of wikimediacommons.org

On 22 February 1980 the US Olympic hockey team upset the team from the Soviet Union, 4– 3, at the Lake Placid Winter Games to earn a victory often called the “Miracle on Ice.” Led[...]

Girl Scouts and Girl Guides think about their sisters in other parts of the world by learning about other countries and cultures and becoming aware of global concerns.  Read more at https://www.wagggs.org/en/what-we-do/world-thinking-day/badge/. Image courtesy of[...]

23 February is Curling Is Cool Day. Offer up a worldwide embrace for an Olympic sport the entire family can play! If you don’t get it, you ain’t cool. Image courtesy of wikimediacommons.org

On 23 February 1893, Rudolf Diesel received a patent in Germany for the engine that bears his name. The diesel engine burns fuel oil rather than gasoline and is used in trucks and heavy industrial[...]

On 23 February 1945, the US flag was raised on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima by US Marines. Almost 20,000 American soldiers lost their lives before the island was finally taken from the Japanese[...]

On 24 February 1912, 12 members of the Daughters of Zion Study Circle met at New York City under the leadership of Henrietta Szold. A constitution was drafted to expand the study group into a[...]

Open That Bottle Night. A night to finally drink that bottle of wine that you’ve been saving for a special occasion that never seems to come. Annually, the last Saturday in February. Image courtesy of[...]

On 25 February 1841, the Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste Renoir was born at Limoges, France. Renoir’s paintings are known for their joy and sensuousness as well as the light techniques he employed in them. In[...]

On 26 February 1919, by an act of Congress, the Grand Canyon National Park was established. An immense gorge cut through the high plateaus of northwest Arizona by the raging Colorado River and covering 1,218,375[...]

On 27 February 2006, President George W. Bush signed a proclamation declaring a seven-acre plot at the corners of Duane and Elk streets in Lower Manhattan, New York, to be a national monument. From the[...]

On 27 February 1897, opera singer Marian Anderson was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Anderson’s talent was evident at an early age. Her career stonewalled by the prejudice she encountered in the US, she moved to[...]

On 28 February 1983, after concluding a run of 255 episodes, this 2 ½-hour finale of M*A*S*H was the most-watched television show at that time: 77 percent of the viewing public was tuned in. The[...]

28 February is National Tooth Fairy Day. Why shouldn’t the tooth fairy have her own day? Every kid in the country knows about her and every parent is her assistant. Celebrate the hard work she[...]

Rare Disease Day is celebrated on the last day of February to raise awareness among the general public and decision-makers about the impact of rare diseases. Most rare diseases have no cure and many go[...]