Historical Events
- Aug 2 San Francisco Public Library opens with 5,000 volumes
Event of Interest
Aug 9 Henry Morton Stanley's party reaches Boma, Congo, after 999 days, losing half of the 228 members.
Henry Morton Stanley
Thomas Edison's Phonograph
Aug 12 Thomas Edison completes 1st model for the phonograph, a device that recorded sound onto tinfoil cylinders
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Famous Birthdays
- Aug 1 Charlotte Hughes, British supercentenarian (lived under the rule of 6 monarchs and 24 British Prime Ministers), born in Middlesbrough, England (d. 1993)
- Aug 1 Jan van den Tempel, Dutch politician (SDAP), born in Willemstad, North Brabant (d. 1955)
- Aug 4 Dame Laura Knight, English impressionist artist, born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England (d. 1970)
- Aug 5 Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (d. 1917)
- Aug 6 Wallace H. White, Jr., American politician (Senate Majority Leader), born in Lewiston, Maine (d. 1952)
- Aug 7 Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (d. 1949)
- Aug 10 Rudolf Hilferding, German economist/SPD-minister of Finance
- Aug 10 Frank Marshall, American chess player (d. 1944)
- Aug 11 Adolph M. Christianson, justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court (d. 1954)
- Aug 16 Karl Hoschna, Tin Pan Alley-era composer (Every Little Movement), born in Kuschwarda, Bohemia (d. 1911)
- Aug 25 Joshua L. Cowen, American inventor (electric train), born in NYC, New York (d. 1965)
- Aug 27 Charles Stewart Rolls, British auto manufacturer (Rolls-Royce Ltd), born in Berkeley Square, London (d. 1910)
- Aug 27 Lloyd C. Douglas, American novelist (The Big Fisherman), born in Columbia City, Indiana (d. 1951)
- Aug 27 Ernst Wetter, Member of the Swiss Federal Council, born in Töss, Winterthur, Switzerland (d. 1963)
- Aug 29 Dudley Pound, British admiral of the fleet and 1st Sea Lord (Jutland, WW II), born in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, England (d. 1943)
Famous Deaths
Brigham Young
Aug 29 Brigham Young, 2nd president of Mormon Church, dies of peritonitis at 76
Brigham Young
- Aug 30 Raphael Semmes, American Rear Admiral (Confederate Navy), dies at 67
What Happened in 1877
Earmuffs on, shhhh!
Chester Greenwood's 1877 patent for "ear-mufflers" and inset, Greenwood modeling his earmuffs
March 13, 1877Flash! Bang! It's the Human Cannonball!
An excited crowd looked up in astonishment and wonder when, in 1877, the first human cannonball flew above their heads.
April 2, 1877Thomas Edison's Phonograph
Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed in 1878
November 21, 1877
