#OnThisDay in 1824, George William Curtis was born in #providencerhodeisland Journalist, Editor, Lecturer, Author, Abolitionist, & Activist: well known for his essays in Harper's Magazine under the title, "The Easy Chair". His friendships included Emerson, Hawthorne, & Thoreau. #literature

#OnThisDay in 1872, the opening reception of @metmuseum.org NY is held at 681 Fifth Ave. This event was held for only subscribers to attend, with the public opening occurring later in the Spring. Below: engraving & article from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper #museums #arthistory #nychistory

#OnThisDay in 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born. "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing." "The way for a young man to rise, is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that any body wishes to hinder him." #AbrahamLincoln

#OnThisDay in 1831, Mary Mapes Dodge was born. She was an American children's author, best known for her novel, "Hans Brinker", as well as the first editor of St. Nicholas, a successful monthly children's magazine. #womenwriters #WomenInLiterature #womenshistory #literature #womenauthors #writing

#OnThisDay in 1841, Berthe Morisot was born. She was a French painter who would become the only female founding member of a group of painters in Paris known as the Impressionists. #impressionism #impressionistart #arthistory #womeninart #artmuseum Berthe Morisot, 1875 Photo by Charles Reutlinger

Sending everyone abundant blessings in 2026!!! #HappyNewYear2026

#OnThisDay in 1914, the 1st feature-length silent film comedy "Tillie's Punctured Romance" is released by the Keystone Film Company starring Mabel Normand, Marie Dressler, & Charlie Chaplin. #silentmovies #MabelNormand #CinemaHistory #cinema #silentfilmcomedy #silentfilm #comedies #silentfilms

#OnThisDay in 1897, Fletcher Henderson was born. His 1st career choice was to be a chemist, but he was also a talented pianist. He created his own formula of musical chemistry, introducing #swingmusic & #bigbandjazz to each other and to those who love it! #jazzmusic #jazz #jazzhistory #jazzgreats

#OnThisDay in 1863, Annie Jump Cannon, #astronomer, was born in Dover, Delaware. Known as the “census taker of the sky”, she developed the Harvard Classification System that classifies stars to this day. #WomenInSTEM #womeninscience #astronomy @aas.org @wellesley.edu Photo: Library of Congress

What a wonderful weekend of Augustin Fresnel performances! Happy 150th to Currituck Beach Lighthouse and thank you Northern Outer Banks and Corolla NC for your hospitality!!! #lighthouses #150thAnniversary #lighthousehistory #lighthouselovers #maritimehistory #fresnel #currituck #corollanc

On this Thanksgiving day I'm feeling much gratitude being on my first Fresnel performance tour! Looking forward to this weekend's performances for Currituck Beach Lighthouse as part of its 150th celebration! Happy Thanksgiving & Keep Shining Your Lights!!! #lighthouses #maritimehistory #fresnel

My 1st Augustin Fresnel performance tour! Thank you Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse for bringing my performance to you as you celebrate your 150th, Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park as host, Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society & the city of #annapolis for your hospitality & vibrancy!!!

Day 2 memories of myself & Monsieur Augustin Fresnel from last month's NJ Lighthouse Challenge Weekend! Such a joy to visit Tuckerton Seaport, Absecon and Cape May Lighthouses! @uslhs.bsky.social #lighthouses #njlighthouses #MaritimeHistory #lighthousehistory #NJHistory #lighthouselovers #fresnel

I and Monsieur Augustin Fresnel had a wonderful time last month participating in the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge Weekend! Here are some memories of Day 1 at Twin Lights, Sea Girt Lighthouse & Barnegat Light Museum. #lighthouses #njlighthouses #maritimehistory #lighthousehistory #NJHistory

#OnThisDay 9/22/1791, Michael Faraday was born. Faraday is best known for his work on electricity & magnetism. Later in life, he gave a series of Christmas lectures for young people for the The Royal Institution, a series which continues today. #ScienceHistory #ChristmasLectures #selfeducation

#OnThisDay Sept. 22nd, 1870 Charlotte Cooper was born. 1st female athlete to win Olympic gold in an individual event at the 1900 Olympics in Paris. At 26, she lost her hearing. She won 5 Wimbledon titles. #SportsHistory #OlympicHistory #tennishistory #tennishalloffame #wimbledon #resilience

Looking forward to traveling to #BuffaloNY to both attend the 12th Maritime Heritage Conference September 24th - 27th, & to also perform Augustin Fresnel: Through A New Lens for the lighthouse & maritime community! #maritimehistory #maritimeheritageconference #lighthouses #Fresnellens #lighthouse

Happy #NationalLighthouseDay to all lighthouses in the United States! @uslhs.bsky.social Keep Shining Your Lights!!! #lighthouse #lighthouses #lighthouselovers #lighthousehistory #Fresnellens

So wonderful to surprise everyone last night at the 1st Friday Lecture at Custom House #Maritime #Museum Newburyport with an Augustin Fresnel virtual pop-up appearance at the end of the presentation by RADM Dan May, USCG, RET. Congrats on the return of a 4th Order Fresnel Lens! #newburyport

#OnThisDay in 1856, Louise Blanchard Bethune was born. She became the 1st American woman to work as a professional architect, primarily in the Buffalo, NY area. She was the 1st woman admitted to The American Institute of Architects in 1888. #buffalohistory #womeninarchitecture #womenshistory

#OnThisDay, 7/14/1827, Augustin Fresnel left this world. His legacy, The Fresnel Lens - an invention with a technology ahead of its time, safeguarding countless lives navigating on the waters of the home we call Earth. It's been an honor to portray you & I intend to continue for as long as I can.

#OnThisDay in 1817, Henry David Thoreau was born. "I am not alone if I stand by myself". - A Week on the Concord & Merrimack Rivers "I have a room all to myself; it is Nature." - Journal, 1/3/1853 "I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society." - Walden

#OnThisDay 100 years ago, one of the pioneers of Rock & Roll, Bill Haley, was born. Bill Haley & His Comets would make their impact with "Rock Around The Clock" & their version of Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle & Roll". In 1987, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

#onthisday 160 years ago, Robert Henri was born. Painter & teacher, he is best known for founding the "Ashcan School", the urban realism of what he felt was "art for life's sake". #AshcanSchool #UrbanRealism #ashcanart #arthistory #americanrealism #artlovers #americanart #museums #philadelphiaart

#OnThisDay in 1772, civil engineer Robert Stevenson was born. He would build & design such lighthouses as Bell Rock & Sumburgh Head. Northern Lighthouse Board Engineer from 1808 - 1842. To Scotland's lighthouses: Keep Shining Your Lights!!! #lighthouses #lighthouselovers #lighthousehistory

#OnThisDay in 1803, Ralph Waldo Emerson was born. "Self-trust is the first secret of success." "All great successes are the triumph of persistence." "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." "Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." #poetry

#OnThisDay last year as Augustin Fresnel at Hereford Inlet Lighthouse for their 150th. A rare outdoor performance. I will be performing in 2025 for 2 more lighthouses celebrating their 150th! #lighthouses #lighthouselovers #fresnellens #lighthousehistory Entrance: Fresnel had his game face on!

#OnThisDay 1788 Augustin-Jean Fresnel was born. I've been honored to portray the inventor of the Fresnel lens for lighthouse & maritime orgs & I'm certainly looking forward to performing for many more in the future. #lighthouses #lighthouselovers #lighthousehistory #maritimehistory #uslighthouses

#OnThisDay May 5th, 1864 Nellie Bly was born. In 1887 she went undercover for the NY World at an asylum for women on Blackwell's Island. She would later write "Ten Days in a Mad-House" that exposed the horrible conditions, paving the way for women & investigative reporting. #womenshistory #nelliebly

#OnThisDay American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church was born in Hartford, Ct. He was a student of Thomas Cole & prominent in the Hudson River School of landscape painters, known for his large landscapes that included mountains, sunsets & waterfalls. #hudsonriverschool #landscapepainting

#OnThisDay in Staten Island History: May 2nd, 1906 - The Borough Hall of St. George, designed by the architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings, is dedicated. #StatenIslandHistory #NYCHistory #nycarchitecture #nycarchitect #historicbuildings

#OnThisDay George Inness, American Landscape painter was born. Looking forward to celebrating this evening with the @mammontclair.bsky.social his 200th birthday!!! "Art is a subtle essence. It is not a thing of surfaces, but a moving spirit." - Inness #landscapepainting #arthistory #montclairnj

#OnThisDay we celebrate the 203rd birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, known as the "Father of American Landscape Architecture". I've been honored to portray him for several orgs. Who will be next one? @emnecklacebos.bsky.social #olmsted203 #landscapearchitecture #publicparks #FrederickLawOlmsted

#OnThisDay April 23rd, 1852.....The poet Edwin Markham is born. He's known for the poems "The Man with the Hoe" and "Lincoln, the Man of the People", which he personally read at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. #NationalPoetryMonth #AmericanPoetry #poetry #poets #poetrylovers #poem

#OnThisDay 175 years ago, Daniel Chester French was born. Upon moving to Concord, Mass., it would be Louisa May Alcott's sister, May Alcott, who would introduce Daniel to the art & eventual profession of sculpture. #sculpture #arthistory #artlovers #abrahamlincoln #architecture #architecturelovers

#OnThisDay the 1st Impressionist Exhibition opened in Paris. It featured 30 artists, among them Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Pierre Auguste Renoir & Camille Pissarro. Quite an "impressive" lineup! #artmuseums #artmuseum #arthistory #artlovers #impressionism #WorldArtDay

#OnThisDay in 1915, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, considered the "Godmother of Rock & Roll", was born. Singer, songwriter & guitarist, she was a pioneer before there were pioneers, particularly '50's rock & was admired by many. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. #womenshistory

#onthisday in 1867, Lillian Wald was born. She was a nurse, activist & humanitarian who would in 1893 start the Henry Street Settlement to provide medical care & other social services for residents of the Lower East Side. #NYCHistory #nurses #nursinghistory #womenshistory #WomensHistoryMonth

#OnThisDay March 10th, 1848, Kate Sheppard was born. She was a shining light of the New Zealand women's suffrage movement, and through her efforts, helped women gain the right to vote in 1893, making New Zealand the first country to do so. #newzealand #newzealandhistory #suffragist

#OnThisDay George William Curtis was born in Providence, R.I. Journalist, Editor, Lecturer, Author, Abolitionist, Co-founder of the Republican Party & Chairman of the Civil Service Reform Commission. #rhodeislandhistory #StatenIslandHistory #literature #nychistory #olmsted #ushistory #lectures

#OnThisDay The opening reception of @metmuseum.org is held at 681 Fifth Ave. This event was held for subscribers only to attend, with the public opening occurring later in the Spring. Below is an engraving & article from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper 3/9/1872. #museum #arthistory #nychistory

#OnThisDay in 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born. "The way for a young man to rise, is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that any body wishes to hinder him." "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing." #abrahamlincoln

#OnThisDay in 1752, Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution, was born. I've had the pleasure of performing as Philip Freneau for many NJ historical organizations. Joseph Smith as Philip Freneau, 2023 Philip Freneau engraving by Frederick Halpin #livinghistory #njhistory #poetry #poets

"Faith is not about everything turning out okay. Faith is about being okay no matter how things turn out." #faith #resilience #trust #innerstrength #peace May the holidays bring you all this and more, or simply what you need in the present moment. Thank you all and Keep Shining Your Lights!

#OnThisDay in 1914, the 1st feature-length silent film comedy "Tillie's Punctured Romance" is released by the Keystone Film Company starring Mabel Normand, Marie Dressler, & Charlie Chaplin. #silentmovies #filmhistory #mabelnormand #cinemahistory #cinema #silentfilmcomedy #silentfilms #comedies

#onthisday the #bicentennial of Calvert Vaux's birth. Architect & landscape designer, Vaux would partner with Frederick Law Olmsted to work on what would eventually become Central Park. Photo Courtesy of Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, NPS #landscapearchitecture #architecture #parks

#OnThisDay in 1897, Fletcher Henderson was born. His 1st career choice was to be a chemist, but he was also a talented pianist. He created his own formula of musical chemistry, introducing #swingmusic and #bigbandjazz to each other and to those who love it! #jazzmusic #jazz #music #jazzhistory

#OnThisDay 1807, poet John Greenleaf Whittier was born. Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl #poet Shut in from all the world without, We sat the clean-winged hearth about, Content to let the north-wind roar In baffled rage at pane & door, While the red logs before us beat The frost-line back with tropic heat.

#OnThisDay in 1901, French tennis player Henri Cochet was born. Singles: #FrenchOpen 1926, 28, 30, 32 #USOpen 1928 #Wimbledon 1927, 29. Member of the famous "Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s & early 30s. Ranked No. 1 from 1928 - 1931. #tennis #sportshistory #sports