Historical Events
- Feb 1 1st rabbi to open House of Representatives, Morris Raphall of NYC
- Feb 3 Thomas Clemson takes office as 1st US superintendent of agriculture
Event of Interest
Feb 10 Johannes Brahms' 2nd Serenade in A, premieres

Johannes Brahms
Event of Interest
Feb 27 Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency

Abraham Lincoln
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 2 Curtis Guild, Jr., 43rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
- Feb 6 Eliza Johannes Meester, Dutch journalist & writer (Geertje), born in Harderwijk, Netherlands (d. 1931)
- Feb 11 Rachilde [Marguerite Vallette-Eymery], French author (Monsieur Venus)
- Feb 14 Eugen Schiffer, German lawyer & liberal politician, born in Breslau, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1954)
- Feb 14 Waldemar Lindgren, Swedish-American Geologist (economic geology, ore classification), born in Vassmolösa, Kalmar, Sweden (d. 1939)
- Feb 18 Anders Zorn, Swedish painter/etcher/sculptor (Gustavus Vasa)
- Feb 21 Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod, Czech journalist (d. 1927)
- Feb 21 Goscombe John, Welsh sculptor (d. 1952)
- Feb 24 Daniel Berkeley Updike, American printer, publisher and writer (Printing Types), born in Providence, Rhode Island (d. 1941)
- Feb 25 Menso Kamerlingh Onnes, painter/water colors painter
- Feb 25 William James Ashley, English economic-historian
- Feb 29 Herman Hollerith, American inventor (1st electric tabulating machine), born in Buffalo, New York (d. 1929)