Historical anniversaries in 2025 (USA edition) • ideas4writers

The Date-A-Base Book 2025: 3,600 historical anniversaries in 2025

Now includes a free Excel spreadsheet
Sort, group and search the
anniversaries however you like!

Download the 2023 edition for free!

Editions for
2024, 2026, 2027 and 2028
are also available.

More than 3,600 historical anniversaries in 2025.

Includes significant historical events, inventions, discoveries, and famous births and deaths.

Fully cross-checked for accuracy.

Perfect for writers, journalists, broadcasters, producers, production companies, and event planners.

Packed with ideas for newspaper and magazine articles, TV and radio features, films and documentaries, and more.

Ideal for “On This Day in History” features and historical anniversary tie-ins.

Size: 11.5″ x 8.5″ (Letter). 282 pages.

E-book: $16.19 (approx.)
PDF format + free Excel spreadsheet.
(View or print with the free Adobe Reader.)

Paperback: $14.99 (approx.)

Product details

This book gives details of more than 3,600 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in 2025.

Every entry has been fully cross-checked with official sources for complete accuracy.

We only list significant anniversaries (for example 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200 years ago) not 17, 54 or 101 years ago.

NOTE:

If you buy the e-book edition you will receive two volumes: the anniversaries listed in chronological order and sorted by date. (See the sample pages below.)

You will also receive a free Excel spreadsheet so you can sort, group and search the anniversaries however you like.
If you buy the printed edition the anniversaries are only listed in chronological order.

We will be happy to send you the e-book version of the sorted-by-date edition and the spreadsheet too,
for no extra charge. Just send us a message (mail@ideas4writers.com) with your proof of purchase.

18th annual edition.

Sample pages
(please view on a larger screen)

Sample page (chronological order)

Anniversary	Date	Event
700	Jan 7, 1325	Death of Denis, (the Farmer King / the Poet King), King of Portugal (1279–1325). Succeeded by his son, Alfonso IV.
500	Jan 21, 1525	Swiss Anabaptistism was founded when Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock, who in turn baptized fourteen other Christian radicals who attended the meeting. They had all been baptized when they were infants.
400	Jan 13, 1625	Death of Jan Brueghel the Elder, Flemish artist.
250	Jan 8, 1775	Death of John Baskerville, English printer and type designer.
250	Jan 11, 1775	British-born plantation owner Francis Salvador became the first Jew to hold an elected office in the American colonies when he took his seat in the South Carolina Provincial Congress. (In August 1776 he became the first Jew to be killed in the American Revolutionary War.)
250	Jan 15, 1775	Death of Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Italian composer, organist, violinist, choirmaster and teacher.
250	Jan 20, 1775	Birth of André-Marie Ampère, French physicist, mathematician and educator. One of the founders of electromagnetism. Inventor of the solenoid. The SI unit of electric current, the ampere, was named for him.
200	Jan 3, 1825	The first technological university in the English-speaking world, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, opened in Troy, New York, USA (as Rensselaer School).
200	Jan 4, 1825	Death of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies (1816–25). Succeeded by his son, Francis I.
200	Jan 8, 1825	Death of Eli Whitney, American inventor of the cotton gin – one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution.
150	Jan 5, 1875	The Palais Garnier (also known as the Opéra Garnier) opened in Paris, France. It is one of the world’s most famous opera houses.
150	Jan 9, 1875	Birth of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American sculptor, art collector and patron of the arts. Founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
150	Jan 14, 1875	Birth of Albert Schweitzer, German theologian, philosopher, physician, musicologist, writer and humanitarian. Winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.
150	Jan 19, 1875	American inventor Thomas Edison was granted a U.S. patent for the electromotograph. It converted friction to electromagnetism and enabled telegraph signals to be repeated more effectively than previous methods. (U.S. patent 158,787.)
150	Jan 22, 1875	Birth of D. W. Griffith, American film director. Best known for The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. Co-founder of United Artists.
150	Jan 23, 1875	Death of Charles Kingsley, British priest, historian, educator, social reformer and novelist. Best known for his novel Westward Ho!

Sample page (sorted by date)

Anniversary	Date	Event
30	Jan 1995 and March	Some of the worst floods in the U.S. state of California’s history killed 28 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.
125	Jan 1, 1900	The British protectorates of Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria were established. The two protectorates, together with Lagos Colony were unified in 1914, forming the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Nigeria gained its independence from the UK in 1960.
125	Jan 1, 1900	The Net Book Agreement came into effect in the UK. Booksellers could only sell new books at fixed prices determined by publishers – no discounting was allowed. In 1997, it was ruled to be against the public interest, and therefore illegal, and it was abandoned.
100	Jan 1, 1925	The city of Oslo in Norway returned to using its original name. It was known as Christiania from 1624 to 1876 and Kristiania from 1877 to 1924.
90	Jan 1, 1935	The Surname Law of 1934 came into effect in Turkey. All of its citizens were required to use fixed, hereditary Turkish surnames from this date. President Mustafa Kemal adopted the surname Atatürk (meaning Father of Turkey) which had been granted to him by the Turkish parliament. He was the only person allowed to use that surname.
90	Jan 1, 1935	The Associated Press launched its AP Wirephoto service, which transmitted photographs to newspapers over regular telephone lines. The first photo showed the rescued survivors of a plane crash in the Adirondacks, taken on December 31, 1934.
90	Jan 1, 1935	The first Orange Bowl college football game was held in Florida, USA, the first Sugar Bowl college football game was held in Louisiana, USA, and the first Sun Bowl college football game was held in Texas, USA.
80	Jan 1, 1945	World War II – the Battle of the Bulge – Operation Bodenplatte. The German Luftwaffe launched a failed attempt to cripple Allied air power in the Low Countries in a single blow.
65	Jan 1, 1960	The Republic of Cameroon became independent from France and the UK.
50	Jan 1, 1975	Watergate Scandal: former U.S. President Richard Nixon’s senior aides were convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury. They included John Mitchell (Attorney General), John Ehrlichman (Domestic Affairs Advisor) and H.R. Haldeman (Chief of Staff).
50	Jan 1, 1975	Ethiopia’s military rulers nationalized all land, farms, financial institutions and insurance companies in the country.
40	Jan 1, 1985	The U.S. Department of Defense’s Committee on the Atmospheric Effects of Nuclear Explosions published its report The Effects on the Atmosphere of a Major Nuclear Exchange. It confirmed the theory that an atomic war would reduce the amount of sunlight and cause a “nuclear winter.”
40	Jan 1, 1985	New York became the first U.S. state to introduce a mandatory seat-belt law. All car drivers, front-seat passengers and children under ten were required to wear them, or face a $50 fine.
40	Jan 1, 1985	The first mobile phone call in the UK was made by comedian Ernie Wise. He called Vodafone’s head office in Newbury, Berkshire from St. Katherine Docks in London.

Reminder: the e-book edition includes both versions: chronological and sorted by date, plus a free Excel spreadsheet.

Customer reviews

Browse through the dates and names and let your imagination go in to overdrive. These are “must have” lists for you reference library. The allure of these people, places and times are indeed a Pandora’s Box for the enquiring mind of storytellers everywhere. Just the gift for a fellow writer.
Frances Johnson, Gold Coast Writers’ Association, Queensland, Australia.

What a magnificent tool. It’s easy to find out what happened on a particular day or month. Or you can dip straight in and find something to write about and, with your own added research, submit your work well ahead of the game. The information can also be used for quizzes, authenticating historical articles, and a multitude of other formats. Go for it!
Dee Watson, Writer, Editor, Proofreader and Reviewer

Magazines have notoriously long lead-in times, so if you’re an aspiring (or indeed successful) writer of articles you need to be looking well ahead for that all-important “hook” to get the editor interested. That’s where The Date-A-Base Book comes in. Hundreds of notable events, births, deaths, anniversaries of myriad kind from 10 years ago to 1000 years ago. Whatever your area of interest you’ll find something in here to get you started, or to flesh out your background or your characters, or to use in your marketing. The only problem with it is that you might get too engrossed in the who, what, where, and when to actually do any writing.
Lesley Mason