On This Day:
Friday July 5, 2013

This is the 186th day of the year, with 179 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: museums, galleries

Ancient art was displayed in caves. As time went by, artists' work was displayed in homes and then in galleries and museums; art museums developed from great private collections assembled by royalty, the aristocracy, and the wealthy. A form of art collecting was practiced in the earliest civilizations, with precious objects and artworks stored in temples, tombs, sanctuaries, and the palaces and treasuries of kings. Such collections frequently included booty taken from conquered peoples, and served to exalt the power and glory of a king or a priestly caste rather than to display art objects for their innate significance. The great private collections of European royalty began to be opened to public viewing, and eventually monarchs and aristocrats began donating their holdings to the public. The movement of artworks from private collections into museums has been a dominant feature of art collecting ever since.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Antony-Mary Zaccaria, and St. Athanasius the Athonite.
Cape Verde: Independence Day.
Slovakia: Day of the Slav Missionaries / Saint Cyril and Methodius Day.
Venezuela: Independence Day.
Algeria: Independence Day.

Events

1791 - George Hammond was appointed the first British ambassador to the United States.
1811 - Venezuela became the first South American country to declare independence from Spain. 
1865 - William Booth founded the Salvation Army, in London. 
1892 - Andrew Beard was was issued a patent for the rotary engine.
1935 - The National Labor Relations Act was passed in the U.S.
1943 - The Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history, began.
1946 - The bikini, designed by Louis Reard, made its debut during an outdoor fashion show in Paris. 
1951 - Dr. William Shockley announced that he had invented the junction transistor.
1975 - Cape Verde Islands officially became independent after 500 years of Portuguese rule. 
1975 - Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a major men's singles championship.
1989 - The sitcom Seinfeld aired its first episode.
2004 - The first presidential elections were held in Indonesia.

Births

1801 - David G. Farragut, American Civil War naval hero.
1810 - P.T. (Phineus Taylor) Barnum, American circus showman.
1853 - Cecil Rhodes, South African statesman.
1867 - Andrew Ellicott Douglass, American astronomer and archaeologist.
1879 - Dwight F. Davis, American tennis Hall-of-Famer, founder of Davis Cup.
1889 - Jean Cocteau, French poet, novelist, artist, and film director.
1902 - Henry Cabot Lodge, American diplomat.
1911 - Georges Pompidou, French premier (1962-8) and president (1969-74).
1950 - Huey Lewis (born Hugh Anthony Cregg, III), American musician.
1958 - Bill Watterson, American cartoonist, and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.
1963 - Edith Falco, American actress.

Deaths

2002 - Ted Williams, American baseball Hall-of-Famer and member of the Boston Red Sox.
2004 - R.W. Burchfield, editor of Oxford English Dictionary, British lexicographer.
2004 - Rodger Ward, American race car driver.
2006 - Kenneth Lay, American businessman, best known for his role in the widely-reported corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Enron Corporation.