by David Lovrien | Apr 24, 2025 | Americana
Only a very few video clips exist of John Philip Sousa. In this 1929 Fox Movietone News clip, Sousa conducts one of his marches for President Herbert Hoover on the White House lawn. At the beginning we see the title slide, reading, “PRESIDENT HEARS...
by Barry Owen Furrer | Feb 1, 2025 | Americana
Admitted to the Union on December 29th, 1845 as our 28th state, Texas Day, first celebrated in 2017 as an online event, has recently received official recognition with February 1st as its national day. “Texas” was derived from the Caddoan language ‘taysha,’ meaning...
by Jari Villanueva | Nov 19, 2024 | Americana
Yes, there was a Sousa was at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, the day Lincoln gave his famous Address. Not John Philip, but his father Antonio. In anticipation of the dedication of the new cemetery in Gettysburg to be held in November 1863, Secretary of the Navy...
by Barry Owen Furrer | May 26, 2024 | Americana, Sousa's Band
Memorial Day (now known Memorial Day), was the result of the American civil war when family, friends, and townspeople would decorate graves of the Union and Confederate dead. A tradition beginning as early as 1864, approximately six locations claim to be the...
by Barry Owen Furrer | Apr 27, 2024 | Americana
Babe Ruth Day was first celebrated on this date in 1947 thanks to Albert B. Chandler, American politician and Commissioner of Baseball from 1945-1951 to pay homage to perhaps the greatest individual who played our national pastime. On a bright and sunny Sunday...
by Barry Owen Furrer | Apr 26, 2024 | Biography
Although South Dakota attained statehood on November 2nd, 1889 as our 40th state, its national day is observed April 26th. Rich in Native American history, South Dakota takes its name from both Lakota and Dakota tribes. The Verendrye brothers were the first Europeans...
by Barry Owen Furrer | Apr 25, 2024 | Americana
Traditionally, Arbor Day is celebrated in the United States on the last Friday in April; however, it does vary from state to state based on the best planting zones for trees. Dating back to 1872, what has become National Arbor Day is thanks to J. Sterling Morton, who...
by Barry Owen Furrer | Apr 22, 2024 | Americana
While attaining statehood in 1907 as our 46th state, the earliest appearances of Sousa and His Band took place in the Oklahoma territory in 1904 with concerts in Chickasha, El Reno, Enid, Guthrie, Muskogee, Oklahoma City, Perry, Reno City, and South McAlester. From...
by Barry Owen Furrer | May 11, 2023 | Americana, Biography
Irving Berlin was born on May 11th, 1888 in Temun, Siberia. Born Israel Baline, his family fled to America in 1893 escaping Russian persecution of Jews while settling in Manhattan’s Lower East side. Without schooling or formal training, Berlin’s career began as a...
by Barry Owen Furrer | May 7, 2023 | Americana
Jamestown Day is commemorated annually on May 8th, and 2023 marks the 416th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Steeped in intrigue, controversy, and conundrum, including cannibalism, the introduction of slavery, and violent clashes...
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