"Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney and then go on their way."
Quote in his Letter (no. 155), June 1880.
~Vincent van Gogh, born #OTD in 1856.
Van Gogh's letters are available online at:
https://vangoghletters.org/
Books by Van Gogh at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Vincent+van+Gogh&submit_search=Search
#OTD in 1885.
Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published in the US for the 1st time, in New York by Charles L. Webster, illustrated by E. W. Kemble, the 1st impression having been delayed for replacement of an unauthorized obscene alteration to one of the illustrative plates. Its first-person narrative in colloquial language is initially controversial but ultimately influential in the development of realism in American literature.
#OTD in 1930.
While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto, making it by far the first known object in the Kuiper belt. It was immediately hailed as the ninth planet.
However, its planetary status was questioned when it was found to be much smaller than expected. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formally redefined the term planet to exclude dwarf planets such as Pluto.
"The name of the one was Obstinate and the name of the other Pliable."
#OTD in 1678.
The first part of English nonconformist John Bunyan's Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress, partly written while he was imprisoned for unlicensed preaching, is published in London.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%27s_Progress
The Pilgrim's Progress at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/131
Andrew Lang (1844–1912) was born #OTD, 31 March. An extraordinarily prolific anthropologist, writer & literary critic, he is best remembered today for collecting & editing fairy stories from around the world
A 🎂 🧵
1/6
#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #kidlit #fairytale #AndrewLang
James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) was born #OTD, 13 June. As a physicist, he ranks alongside Newton & Einstein (“He achieved greatness unequalled”—Max Planck; “I stand on the shoulders of Maxwell”—Albert Einstein).
Maxwell also wrote poetry: “Rigid Body Sings” is based on “Comin’ Through the Rye” by Robert Burns
#Scottish #literature #poetry #19thcentury #Victorian #Scots #Scotslanguage #Physics #science #physicist
#OtD 27 Apr 1763 Native American leader Pontiac spoke at a council meeting to try to encourage other tribes to join him in attacking British forces. Over the next 3 years Pontiac's rebellion forced the colonists to recognise areas of Indigenous land https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/products/500-years-of-indigenous-resistance-gord-hill
#OtD 27 Apr 1981 9 US and Canadian white supremacists were arrested as they prepared to invade Dominica. The racists, including founder of neo-Nazi website Stormfront, planned to establish a white dictatorship in the 99% non-white nation https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9877/operation-red-dog-foiled
#art #history: imagine being such a gifted author that one of your most radical & inventive novels was mainly a product of automatic writing? best known, perhaps, for providing the screenplay that would become alain resnais' 'hiroshima mon amour' - which is not a bad place to start if you've not yet become acquainted with marguerite duras (born #otd in 1914) - she largely escaped acclaim outside of france. this is regrettable. (threadish)
#margueriteDuras #literature #illustration #france
George Reeves directing an episode of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, which aired its finale #OTD in 1958.
#NationalSuperheroDay #Superman #GeorgeReeves
I couldn’t touch a stop and turn a screw,
And set the blooming world a-work for me,
Like such as cut their teeth—I hope, like you—
On the handle of a skeleton gold key…
—“Thirty Bob a Week”, by the 19th-century poet, playwright & novelist John Davidson (1857–1909) – born #OTD, 11 April. A 🎂 🧵
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Page images from THE YELLOW BOOK vol. 2, 1894 – available on @gutenberg_org
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/41876/41876-h/41876-h.htm#Page_99
#Scottish #literature #poetry #19thCentury #Victorian #Modernist #Modernism #workingclass
#OtD 11 April 1945 expecting the arrival of US troops, the resistance in the Buchenwald concentration camp rose up and seized control of it. This delayed the Nazi evacuation of the camp which helped save many lives. US forces arrived later that day. More: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/11244/liberation-of-buchenwald
#OtD 13 Apr 1890 Black Philadelphia docker and IWW member, Ben Fletcher, was born. Joining the IWW in 1913, he organised a multiracial union on the Philadelphia docks when many unions were still segregated. Learn more in our podcast: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e73-ben-fletcher/
#OtD 6 May 1933 Nazis raided the Institute of Sex Research in Berlin. It was a pioneering org which supported LGBT rights, and equality for women. It employed numerous trans workers and pioneered gender affirmation surgery. Its library was then burned https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10648/nazis-raid-sex-institute
#OtD 15 Apr 1797 sailors of the Royal Navy mutinied in Spithead near Portsmouth, England, demanding better pay and conditions and the removal of some unpopular officers. After a month they won, and it sparked a wave of mutinies across the navy https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8633/spithead-mutiny
#OtD 21 May 1979 the White Night riots took place in San Francisco. LGBT people rose up when the killer of Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials, was not convicted of murder. 500 people fought police and burned police cars https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9418/white-nights-riots
#OTD "The Countess Cathleen" by W. B. Yeats is performed for the first time in 1899 at the The Irish Literary Theater in Dublin.
In the play Countess Cathleen sells her soul to the devil so that her tenants can be saved from a famine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Countess_Cathleen
"The Countess Cathleen" at PG
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5167
William Butler Yeats by William Rothenstein
#OtD 19 Apr 1943 the Warsaw ghetto uprising broke out in earnest when Jews fought back against Nazi attempts to deport them to the Treblinka extermination camp. Although defeated after 27 days it was the biggest armed Jewish rebellion of the Holocaust https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9062/Warsaw-Ghetto-Uprising
#OnThisDay, 20 Apr 1902, Maria Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie refine radium chlorine. The discovery leads to Marie being the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903.
The Academy originally planned to award only Pierre and Henri Becquerel. Pierre insisted that Marie should also be included.
#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomenInSTEM #NobelWomen #Histodons
#OTD Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway was published.
What a Plunge! Teaching Mrs. Dalloway to High Schoolers in 2025
by Mia Manzulli
https://lithub.com/what-a-plunge-teaching-mrs-dalloway-to-high-schoolers-in-2025/
Mrs. Dalloway at PG
English mathematician Henry Briggs died #OTD in 1630.
He is notable for changing the original logarithms invented by John Napier into common (base 10) logarithms, which are sometimes known as Briggsian logarithms in his honour. The specific algorithm for long division in modern use was introduced by Briggs c. 1600 AD. Historically', the "common logarithm" was known by its Latin name logarithmus decimalis or logarithmus decadis.
#OnThisDay, 9 May 1922, the International Astronomical Union formally adopts Annie Jump Cannon's stellar classification system. The principles in it still underpin modern classification.
#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Astronomy #WomenInSTEM #AmericanHistory #Histodons
Happy Birthday to David Byrne, lead singer and guitarist of the Talking Heads, born on this day in 1952, Dumbarton, Scotland
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (Earliest Live Video, Live at CBGB's,1975)
#punkrock #postpunk #newwave #davidbyrne #talkingheads #history #otd
Happy birthday to Kathleen Hanna, American singer, pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, lead singer of the feminist punk band Bikini Kill, frontwoman of Le Tigre in the late 1990s, born this day 1968 in Portland
#womenofpunk #kathleenhanna #riotgrrrl #history #otd
#OtD 14 Jun 1983 hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Chile demanding an end to the US-backed Pinochet dictatorship. Authorities arrested over 1000 people and shot 15, killing three, but the crackdown failed to stop working-class resistance https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8587/mass-protests-against-pinochet
