Today is May 19 2014

National Devil's Food Cake Day: More

• May Ray Day: More
  
• Boy's Club and Girls Club Da: More
• Victoria Day: More
  Canadian holiday.
• National Safe Boating Week: More

• In 1848, Mexican–American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for US$15 million.
  From Wikipedia: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo in Spanish), officially entitled the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits and Settlement between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, is the peace treaty signed on February 2, 1848, in the Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo (now a neighborhood of Mexico City) between the United States and Mexico that ended the Mexican–American War (1846–48).
  
  With the defeat of its army and the fall of its capital, Mexico entered into negotiations to end the war. The treaty called for the US to pay $15 million to Mexico and to pay off the claims of American citizens against Mexico up to $3.25 million. It gave the United States the Rio Grande as a boundary for Texas, and gave the US ownership of California and a large area comprising roughly half of New Mexico, most of Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. Mexicans in those annexed areas had the choice of relocating to within Mexico's new boundaries or receiving American citizenship with full civil rights. Over 90% chose to become US citizens. The US Senate ratified the treaty by a vote of 38–14. The opponents of this treaty were led by the Whigs, who had opposed the war and rejected Manifest Destiny in general, and rejected this expansion in particular.
  
  The treaty was subsequently ratified by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 38 to 14 on 10 March 1848 and by Mexico through a legislative vote of 51 to 34 and a Senate vote of 33 to 4, on 19 May 1848. News that New Mexico's legislative assembly had just passed an act for organization of a U.S. territorial government helped ease Mexican concern about abandoning the people of New Mexico. The treaty was formally proc laimed on 4 July 1848'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube (Mexican American War - 1of6 ): More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1884, The Ringling Brothers circus premieres.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows was a circus founded in the United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling Brothers: Albert, August, Otto, Alfred T., Charles, John), and Henry. In 1907 it acquired the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, merging them in 1919 to become Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, promoted as The Greatest Show on Earth.
  
  In 1882, before the Ringling brothers created their first circus, the 5 brothers performed skits and juggling routines in town halls around the state of Wisconsin. They called this the "Ringling Bros. Variety Performance" when they took the show to the next town. With two wandering performers the next year, the brothers toured the Northwest. After the Northwest tour, they used the money earned for suits.
  
  They expanded their acts into a one ring show in 1884. The show added a trick horse and a bear at the end of the season. The circus started traveling by trains in 1888 allowing the show to consistently expand.
  
  The Ringling Circus purchased the Yankee Robinson Circus. This brought them to the attention of James Anthony Bailey of Barnum and Bailey's Circus as a viable competitor. The brothers met with Bailey thus agreeing to a division of areas. This was followed by them purchasing a 1/2 share of the Adam Forepaugh Sells Brothers Circus circus from Bailey. Bailey, under the area division, nixed the Ringlings from playing at the Madison Garden, a location that was the brother's ambition to perform at.
  
  In 1906, Bailey died which led to the Ringlings taking over Forepaugh-Sells, which continued to operate separately. In October 1907, the stockholders of Barnum and Bailey's Circus approved the sale of the circus to the Ringlings'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1885, The first mass production of shoes (Jan Matzeliger in Lynn, Massachusetts).
  From Wikipedia: Jan Ernst Matzeliger (September 15, 1852 – August 24, 1889) was a revolutionary in the shoe industry with the invention of the lasting machine. Matzeliger was born in Paramaribo (then Dutch Guyana, now Suriname).
  
  'In the early days of shoe making, shoes were made mainly by hand. For proper fit, the customer's feet had to be duplicated in size and form by creating a stone or wooden mold called a "last" from which the shoes were sized and shaped. Since the greatest difficulty in shoe making was the actual assembly of the soles to the upper shoe, it required great skill to tack and sew the two components together. It was thought that such intricate work could only be done by skilled human hands. As a result, shoe lasters held great power over the shoe industry. They would hold work stoppages withou without regard for their fellow workers' desires, resulting in long periods of unemployment for them.
  
  After a while, he went to work in the Harney Brothers Shoes factory. At the time, no machine could attach the upper part of a shoe to the sole. This had to be done manually by a "hand laster"; a skilled one could produce 50 pairs in a ten-hour day.
  
  After five years of work, Matzeliger obtained a patent for his invention in 1883. His machine could produce between 150 to 700 pairs of shoes a day, cutting shoe prices across the nation in half. He sacrificed his health working exhausting hours on his invention and not eating over long periods of time, he caught a cold which quickly developed into tuberculosis. His early death in Lynn, Massachusetts from tuberculosis meant he never saw the full profit of his invention. He died at age 36 on August 24, 1889.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1906, Federated Boys' Club (Boys' Club of America) organizes.
  From Wikipedia: 'Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is a national organization of local chapters which provide after-school programs for young people. The organization, which holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code, has its headquarters in Atlanta, with regional offices in Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, New York City and Los Angeles. BGCA is tax-exempt and partially funded by the federal government.
  
  The first Boys' Club was founded in 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1906, 53 independent Boys' Clubs came together in Boston to form a national organization, the Federated Boys' Clubs. In 1931, the organization renamed itself Boys' Clubs of America, and in 1990, to Boys and Girls Clubs of America. As of 2010, there are over 4,000 autonomous local clubs, which are affiliates of the national organization. In total these clubs serve over four million boys and girls. Clubs can be found in all fifty states as well as locations in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and US military bases. In total, Boys and Girls Clubs of America employ about 50,000 staff members'.
  - At Wikipedia (Boys and Girls Clubs of America): More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1958, South Pacific soundtrack album goes to #1 and stays #1 for 31 weeks.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Original Soundtrack to the film South Pacific was released in 1958. The film was based on the musical South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein, which had been first staged nine years earlier. The composers had much say in this recording, with many of the songs performed by accomplished singers rather than the actors in the film. Mitzi Gaynor and Ray Walston were the only two leading performers who did their own singing in the film (and on the soundtrack album). The roles of Emile DeBecque, Bloody Mary and Joe Cable were sung by Giorgio Tozzi, Muriel Smith and Bill Lee, respectively.
  
  The album became a major success, reaching No.1 in both the US and UK. In the US, the album stayed at No.1 for seven months - the fourth longest run ever. In the UK, the album remained in the top five for 27 consecutive weeks before reaching No.1 in November 1958. It stayed at the top for a record-breaking 115 weeks (the first 70 of these consecutively - including the whole year of 1959), and remained in the top five for 214 weeks'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1999, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released in the U.S, setting a new record for opening day sales.
  From Wikipedia: 'Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Pernilla August and Frank Oz.
  
  The film is set thirty-two years before the original film, and follows Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi as they protect Queen Amidala, in hopes of securing a peaceful end to a large-scale interplanetary trade dispute. Joined by Anakin Skywalker—a young slave with unusually inherent powers of the Force—they simultaneously contend with the mysterious return of the Sith.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More

Nothing. Looks like I was lazy on this day.

No. 1 song

• Hello, Dolly! - Louis Armstrong': More
  'Can't Buy Me Love' has been displaced by 'Hello, Dolly!', which will hold the no. 1 spot until May 23th, when 'Love Me Do', takes over.

Top movie

• Crack in the World More
  Having displaced 'The Carpetbaggers', it will be there until the weekend box office of May 24, 1964 when, 'Viva Las Vegas', takes over.
  Crack in the World: on Wiki.com: More

• FamousBirthdays.com: May 19 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: May 19 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 19th May More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 19th May More
• On-This-day.com history 19th May More
• On-This-day.com music history 19th May More
• Wikipedia.com: History May 19 More

National Asparagus Month National Barbeque Month National Chocolate Custard Month National Egg Month National Gazpacho Aficionado Month National Hamburger Month National Salad Month National Strawberry Month

May is:

May origin (from Wikipedia):
The month May was named for the Greek goddess Maia, who was identified with the Roman era goddess of fertility, Bona Dea, whose festival was held in May. Conversely, the Roman poet Ovid provides a second etymology, in which he says that the month of May is named for the maiores, Latin for 'elders,' and that the following month (June) is named for the iuniores, or 'young people'

May ' is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of seven months with the length of 31 days.
May is a month of Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and spring in the Northern Hemisphere (Summer in Europe). Therefore May in the Southern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of November in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa. '

May at Wikipedia: More

If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago, or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More

Best selling books of 1964 More

• Astronomy Picture of the Day: More
• NOAA: - National Hurricane Center - Atlantic Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook: More
• Listen to Old Radio Shows: (streaming mp3 with schedule) More
• NASA TV: (video feed) More
  NASA TV schedule: More
• Public Domain eBook Links

  Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More

• Podcast: A Moment of Science. Approximately 1 minute general science facts.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: The Naked Scientists. Current science, medicine, space and other science
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: Quirks & Quarks. Current science news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Articles and videos: Universe Today. Current space and astronomy news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Old Picture of the Day - "Each day we bring you one stunning little glimpse of history in the form of a historical photograph."
  Home page: More
  RSS: More

Below, are listed several holiday sites that I reference in addition to other holiday researches.

US Government Holidays

• 2014 Postal Holidays More
• 2014 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

• List of holidays by country More
• Holidays and Observances around the World More