# Anyone know of a wesite that can tell me what happened on a given day **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-wesite-that-can-tell-me-what-happened-on-a-given-day/258337 "2004-08-04T19:53:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eric\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@Eric\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric_II)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-wesite-that-can-tell-me-what-happened-on-a-given-day/258337/1 "2004-08-04T19:53:20Z")
I would like to check some dates from the last 20 years to see what was going on in the country and world. Anyhelp? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-wesite-that-can-tell-me-what-happened-on-a-given-day/258337/2 "2004-08-04T19:59:09Z")
[http://www.scopesys.com/today/](http://www.scopesys.com/today/) tells you what happened on a particular day (e.g. July 31) but for every year for which they have information; does that help? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-wesite-that-can-tell-me-what-happened-on-a-given-day/258337/3 "2004-08-04T20:05:11Z")
[Google](http://www.google.com/search?q=this+day+in+history&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8) is your friend. ---
**Author:** ![Eric\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@Eric\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric_II)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-wesite-that-can-tell-me-what-happened-on-a-given-day/258337/4 "2004-08-04T20:18:05Z")
Thanks Guys. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-wesite-that-can-tell-me-what-happened-on-a-given-day/258337/5 "2004-08-04T20:32:06Z")
If your local newspaper has a website, chances are they have an archive. See how far back it goes. Our local newspaper goes back maybe 4 years, but larger papers like the NY Times, Washington Post, etc. may have larger archives. You should be able to catch world, national and local news, as well as weather and sports. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-wesite-that-can-tell-me-what-happened-on-a-given-day/258337/6 "2004-08-05T07:04:44Z")
A similar page from Wikipedia: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_historical\_anniversaries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historical_anniversaries) ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lodoen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@Jeff\_Lodoen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lodoen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-wesite-that-can-tell-me-what-happened-on-a-given-day/258337/7 "2004-08-05T07:25:53Z")
I like the [Vanderbilt University Television News Archive](http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu). It features abstracts of US nightly news broadcasts back to August 1968. Also Nightline and some cable programs. And if you really want to see one of these items, they will loan out duplicates. Not cheap. ie half hour broadcast is $25 for Vanderbilt people, $50 for other edus, $100 for everyone else. I realize US news is limited in scope, but it shows what was on American minds.