The Rocky Mountain National Park is created and the birthday club includes Angela Davis and Jonathan Carroll - with a reading from Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own."

The birthday club includes Robert Burns, W. Somerset Maugham, and Virginia Woolf - with a reading of Burns' "A Red, Red Rose."

Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill in California, canned beer hits the shelves for the first time, and the birthday club includes Signe Rink and Edith Wharton - with a reading from Wharton's "The House of Mirth."

The first female MD in the U.S., the frisbee takes off, the 24th Amendment is ratified - banning poll taxes, and it is the birthday of Camilla Collett - with a reading from Agatha Christie's "Murder in Mesopotamia."

The birthday club includes Lord Byron and August Strindberg - with a reading from Strindberg's "The Road to Damascus."

America's first novel is published and the birthday club includes Noe Ito and Elaine Showalter - with a reading from Mark Twain's "Roughing It."

The birthday club includes Huddie Ledbetter, Nancy Kress,

and Fareed Zakaria - with a reading from Kress' "Crossfire."

The ACLU is formed and the birthday club includes Edgar Allan Poe and Patricia Highsmith - with a reading from Poe's classic "The Cask of Amontillado."