1890

1890 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).

Events

• January 2 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer for the U.S. White House.
• January 25 – The United Mine Workers of America is founded.
• January 25 – Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
• March 1 – Léon Bourgeois succeeds Ernest Constans as French Minister of the Interior
• March 4 – The longest bridge in Britain, the Forth Bridge (1,710 ft) in Scotland is opened.
• March 20 – Wilhelm II of Germany fires Otto von Bismarck
• May 12 – The first ever official County Championship match begins. Yorkshire beat Gloucestershire by eight wickets at Bristol. George Ulyett scores the first century in the competition.
• June 1 – The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.
• July 1 – Britain receives Zanzibar from Germany in exchange of Heligoland
• July 3 – Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
• July 10 – Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.
• July 27 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself to the chest and dies two days later
• August 6 – At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electric chair is performed (murderer William Kemmler was the subject).
• October 11 – In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
• November 23 – King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir and a special law is passed to allow his daughter Princess Wilhelmina to become Queen.
• November 29 – The Meiji Constitution goes into effect in Japan and the first Diet convenes.
• November 29 – In West Point, New York, the United States Navy defeats the United States Army 24 to 0 in the first Army-Navy football game.
• December 29 – The United States Seventh Cavalry massacres over 400 men, women and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota (see Wounded Knee Massacre).

Unknown dates

• Scotland Yard moves to the Embankment.
• The cardboard box is invented by Robert Gair.
• U.S. Census – Herman Hollerith devises a method using punch cards (like Jacquard's loom) to tabulate census data by machine. (see also History of computing hardware). Hollerith's company eventually becomes IBM.
• The bustle goes out of fashion.

Births

January-March

• January 1 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (d. 1966)
• January 4 – Victor Lustig, Bohemian-born con artist (d. 1947)
• January 7 – Henny Porten, actress (d. 1960)
• January 9 – Kurt Tucholsky, German-born journalist and satirist (d. 1935)
• January 9  – Karel Čapek, Czech writer (d. 1938)
• February 10 – Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, winner Nobel Prize in literature (d. 1960)
• January 19 – Elise Rivet, French Roman Catholic nun and war hero (d. 1945)
• February 11 – John de Vries, fairy tale writer
• February 14 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (d. 1956)
• February 17 – Ronald Fisher, English biologist (d. 1962)
• February 18 – Adolphe Menjou, American actor (d. 1963)
• February 24 – Marjorie Main, American actress (d. 1975)
• February 25 – Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (d. 1965)
• February 27 – Freddie Keppard, American jazz musician (d. 1933)
• March 9 – (new style) Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (d. 1986)
• March 11 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer, inventor, and politician (d. 1974)
• March 20 – Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (d. 1957)
• March 20  – Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor (d. 1973)
• March 28 – Paul Whiteman, American bandleader (d. 1967)

April-June

• April 6 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (d. 1939)
• May 4 – Franklin Carmichael, Canadian artist (d. 1945)
• May 10 – Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
• May 15 – Katherine Anne Porter, American author (d. 1980)
• May 19 – Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam (d. 1969)
• May 23 – Herbert Marshall, English actor (d. 1966)
• June 6 – Ted Lewis, American jazz musician and entertainer (d. 1971)
• June 16 – Stan Laurel, British actor (d. 1965)
• June 26 – Jeanne Eagels, American actress (d. 1929)

July-September

• July 18 – Frank Forde, fifteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1983)
• August 5 – Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 1956)
• August 18 – Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (d. 1960).
• August 20 – Howard Phillips Lovecraft, American writer (d. 1937)
• August 24 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (d. 1968)
• September 10 – Elsa Schiaparelli, French couturiere (d. 1973)
• September 15 – Agatha Christie, English writer (d. 1976)
• September 15 – Frank Martin, Swiss composer (d. 1974)
• September 20 – Jelly Roll Morton, American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1941)

October-December

• October 2 – Groucho Marx, American comedian (d. 1977)
• October 14 – Dwight David Eisenhower, U.S. general and President of the United States (d. 1969)
• October 16 – Michael Collins, Irish patriot (d. 1922)
• October 16  – Paul Strand, American photographer (d. 1976)
• November 22 – Charles de Gaulle, President of France (d. 1970)
• November 23 – El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (d. 1941)
• November 24 – August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born financier (b. 1816)
• December 5 – David Bomberg, English painter (d. 1957)
• December 8 – Bohuslav Martinu, Czech composer (d. 1959)
• December 30 – Lanoe Hawker, British fighter pilot (d. 1916)

Deaths

• January 18 – King Amadeus I of Spain (b. 1845)
• February 22 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (b. 1822)
• February 22 – Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (b. 1834)
• July 15 – Gottfried Keller, Swiss poet (b. 1819)
• July 29 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (b. 1853)
• October 26 – Carlo Collodi, Italian writer (b. 1826)
• November 3 – Ulrich Ochsenbein, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1811)
• November 8 – César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (b. 1822)
• November 23 – King William III of the Netherlands (b. 1817)
• December 26 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)