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
Music History
Feb 10 Johannes Brahms' 2nd Serenade in A, premieres
Historic Event
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
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, Dutch painter, born in Brussels (d. 1925)
- 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)
