Calendar of Events

January 3, 1959 - Alaska became 49^th US state

State of Alaska Motto: North to the Future.

Alaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Approximately half of Alaska's 683,478 residents reside within the Anchorage metropolitan area. As of 2009, Alaska remains the least densely populated state of the U.S

The U.S. Senate approved the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at about two cents per acre ($4.74/km2). The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The wild forget-me-not is the official state flower, the willow ptarmigan is the official state bird and the Sitka spruce is the official state tree.

Alaska's most important revenue source is the oil and natural gas industry. Alaska accounts for 25% of the oil produced in the United States.
Most of America's salmon, crab, halibut, and herring come from Alaska.
Juneau is the only capital city in the United States accessible only by boat or plane. The state's largest city is Anchorage; the second largest is Fairbanks.
Alaska has been called America's Last Frontier.
Alaska has daylight almost twenty-four hours a day in June, so raft races and midnight baseball games are the main events in the Midnight Sun Festival. In Kodiak, a King Crab Festival during crabharvesting season in May, and the Iceworm Festival in Cordova offers airboat races.

Check Our Holdings for Alaska

Helpful Web Resources

State of Alaska Official Website

Travel Alaska - Official State of Alaska Travel & Vacation

University of Alaska

Alaska State Library

January 4, 1896 – Utah became the 45^th US state

Utah State Motto: Industry

Utah is a U.S. state located in the western United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 88 percent of Utah's 2,500,000 people, known as "Utahns," live in an urban concentration with Salt Lake City as the center, known as the Wasatch Front. In contrast, vast expanses of the state are nearly uninhabited, making the population the sixth most urbanized in the U.S. The name "Utah" is derived from the Ute Indian language, meaning "people of the mountains". Utah is known for its geological diversity ranging from snowcapped mountains to well-watered river valleys to rugged, stony deserts. It is also known for being one of the most religiously homogeneous states in the Union, with approximately 61 percent of its inhabitants claiming membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which greatly influences Utah culture and daily life.

The state is a center of transportation, information technology and research, government services and mining as well as a major tourist destination for outdoor recreation. St. George, Utah was the fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000-2005 with Utah being the sixth fastest growing state overall in 2006.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The name Utah comes from the Native American Ute tribe and means people of the mountains.
Utah has 11,000 miles of fishing streams and 147,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs.
Utah has the highest literacy rate in the nation.
Utah has five national parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce and Capitol Reef, and two national recreation areas: Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon.

Check Our Holdings for Utah

Helpful Web Resources

Official Website of the State of Utah

Utah Travel Site

University of Utah, Salt Lake City

Utah State Library

January 6, 1912 - New Mexico became the 47^th US state

State of New Mexico Motto: Crescit eundo ("It grows as it goes")

A state of the southwest United States on the Mexican border. It was admitted as the 47th state in 1912. Site of prehistoric cultures that long preceded the Pueblo civilization encountered by the Spanish in the 16th century, the region was governed as a province of Mexico after 1821 and ceded to the

United States

by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The original territory (established 1850) included Arizona and part of Colorado and was enlarged by the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. Sante Fe is the capital and Albuquerque the largest city. Population: 1,970,000.

Answers.com

New Mexico's State Constitution officially states that New Mexico is a bilingual State, and 1 out of 3 families in New Mexico speak Spanish at home.
The Navajo, the Nation's largest Native American Group, have a reservation that covers 14 million Acres.
To a certain degree New Mexico's Indian Reservations function as states within a state where tribal law may supersede state law.

The world's first Atomic Bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945 on the White Sands Testing Range near Alamogordo. North of the impact point a small placard marks the area known as Trinity Site. The bomb was designed and manufactured in Los Alamos.
Two important aspects of New Mexico's economy are scientific research such as the nuclear energy research carried out at Sandia National Laboratories and mining of natural resources such as oil, natural gas, uranium, potash, copper, coal, zinc, gold and silver.
The world famous Santa Fe Opera has an open-air (outdoor) theater situated dramatically outside of the capital city in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo Mountains.
Lincoln, New Mexico holds Pony Express races in honor of the first U.S. mail system and a fiddlers' convention as part of Lincoln County Days.

Check Our Holdings for New Mexico

Helpful Web Resources

State of New Mexico official web site

New Mexico: Land of Enchantment

New Mexico State University

New Mexico State Library

January 9, 1788 - Connecticut became 5^th US state

Connecticut State Motto: Qui Transtulit Sustinet (He Who Transplanted Still Sustains)

Connecticut, one of the six New England states, in the northeastern United States. Connecticut was the fifth of the original 13 states ratifying the Constitution of the United States on January 9, 1788, and it played an important role in the development of the United States. Settlement in Connecticut dates from the 1630s and many of the state’s modern towns and cities can trace their origins back to the 17th or 18th century. Hartford is the capital of Connecticut and the center of the state’s largest metropolitan area. Bridgeport is the state’s largest city.

Rural Connecticut retains much of the charm of colonial New England. It is an area of churches with white steeples, charming colonial homes that face elm-shaded streets, and village greens where once, perhaps, the local militia trained for the Continental Army. However, modern Connecticut is principally an urban and suburban residential state. Many of the nation’s early industrial advances, including the development of mass production, first took place in Connecticut. Although the economy today is decreasing its reliance on manufacturing, becoming instead more diverse and service-based, the state remains an important producer of such products as electronic equipment, aircraft engines, and spacecraft equipment.

The state’s official nickname, adopted in 1959, is the Constitution State, chosen to commemorate the colony’s adoption in 1639 of the Fundamental Orders, sometimes regarded as the first written constitution.

MSN Encarta Encyclopedia

Connecticut is home to the oldest U.S. newspaper still being published: The Hartford Courant, established in 1764.
Connecticut has approx. 144 newspapers published in the State (daily, Sunday, weekly and monthly).
West Hartford CO is the birthplace of Noah Webster, the author of the first dictionary published in 1807.
Connecticut is home to the first hamburger (1895), Polaroid camera (1934), helicopter (1939), and color television (1948).

Check Our Holdings for Connecticut

Helpful Web Resources

Official website of the State of Connecticut

Visit Connecticut! The Official Connecticut State Vacation Guide

University of Connecticut, a flagship public university, founded in 1881

Connecticut State Library

January 17, 1706 – Benjamin Franklin Birthday

Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy. At least you will, by such conduct, stand the best chance for such consequences.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706-April 17, 1790) was one of the founding fathers of the USA. Franklin was the 10th son, and 15th child of 17 children in his family; his father made soap. Although he was born in Boston, Massachusetts, Franklin spent most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was an American statesman, writer, printer, and inventor.

Franklin was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania (1785-88) and helped write both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. He also helped negotiate the peace with Britain at the end of the Revolutionary War (in 1783). Although Franklin had only one year of formal education, this self-taught man helped the colonies become a nation, was a leading scientist, inventor and author, and taught himself several languages and how to play many musical instruments. Many of his inventions are still used today. Late in his life, Franklin was the President of the "Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery."

Benjamin Franklin stands alone as the only person to have signed all four of the documents which helped to create the United States: the Declaration of Independence (1776); the Treaty of Alliance, Amity, and Commerce with France (1778); the Treaty of Peace between England, France, and the United States (1782); and the Constitution (1787). He actually helped to write parts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. No other individual was more involved in the birth of the nation.

Franklin experimented extensively with electricity, determining that there are two types of electricity, positive and negative. In 1752, his experiments with a kite in a thunderstorm led to the development of the lightning rod.
Franklin started the first circulating library in the colonies in 1731 (The Library Company of Philadelphia).
Active in his community, Franklin started the first American fire company, the first American street-cleaning department, the first city hospital, and the school that would later become the University of Pennsylvania. He also reorganized the American postal system.
He had been a writer himself since an early age, ran a printing press, and wrote and published a newspaper (the Pennsylvania Gazette) and the very popular "Poor Richard's Almanack" (published annually from 1733 to 1758).

Check Our Holdings for Benjamin Franklin

Web Sites with Information about Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin: Biography from Answers.com

Benjamin Franklin – PBS

Benjamin Franklin: Writer and Printer - Online Exhibition

January 26, 1837 - Michigan became the 26^th US state

State of Michigan Motto: Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice

(If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you)

Michigan, state in the East North Central United States. It is unique among the states because it consists of two peninsulas completely separated by water and bordering on four of the five Great Lakes. Between Lakes Michigan and Huron lie the Straits of Mackinac, which separate Michigan’s two peninsulas. Lansing is the capital of Michigan. Detroit is the largest city.

When Michigan was admitted to the Union on January 26, 1837, as the 26th state, it was primarily a fur-trading territory. Its rich agricultural resources were not developed until later in the century. Its industrial prominence dates from the beginnings of automobile manufacturing in the early 20th century.

The way of life in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, with its vast industrial development, has come to symbolize the 20th-century United States. The Upper Peninsula is a less populated region of great natural beauty that is known as a recreation and wilderness area. It is also noted for its mineral wealth.

MSN Encarta Encyclopedia

Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the world.
Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of streams.
Detroit is known as the car capital of the world.

In 1817 the University of Michigan was the first university established by any of the states. Originally named Cathelepistemian and located in Detroit the name was changed in 1821. The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1841.

In May, the townspeople of Holland, Michigan celebrate their Dutch ancestry through a yearly Tulip Festival.
In Houghton Lake, Michigan, a winter festival called Tip-Up-Town USA offers a contest for the best sculpture carved in ice.

Helpful Web Resources

The Official State of Michigan website

Pure Michigan Travel - State of Michigan Tourism Information

Michigan at the Yahoo! Directory

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI

Library of Michigan

January 29, 1861 – Kansas became the 34^th US state

State of Kansas Motto: Ad astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulties)

Kansas is a Midwestern state in the central region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the American "Heartland". It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area.

Historically, the area was home to large numbers of nomadic Native Americans that hunted bison. It was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas exploded when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into productive farmland.

Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing many crops, and leading the nation in wheat and sunflower production most years.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The first woman mayor in the United States was Susan Madora Salter. She was elected to office in Argonia KS in 1887.
Sumner County KS is known as The Wheat Capital of the World.
Among famous Kansans are: Dwight D. Eisenhower the 34th President of the United States, Amelia Earhart aviator, Dennis Hopper actor, Buster Keaton comedian, Gwendolyn Brooks poet.
Kansas inventors include Almon Stowger of El Dorado who invented the dial telephone in 1889; William Purvis and Charles Wilson of Goodland who invented the helicopter in 1909; and Omar Knedlik of Coffeyville who invented the first frozen carbonated drink machine in 1961.

Helpful Web Resources

The Official Web site of the State of Kansas

The Official State of Kansas Travel and Tourism Web Site

Kansas State Library

The University of Kansas, Lawrence KS

The American Library at the NaUKMA

8/5 Voloska St., building 4 #116

04070 Kyiv Ukraine

Phone: +38 044 417 3113

E-mail: acl@ukma.kiev.ua

Web site: http://www.library.ukma.kiev.ua/amer/


	American Calendar	Nr. 1 January 2010
	Publication of the American Library Kyiv
	January 2, 1788 - Georgia became the 4^th US state
	Georgia State Motto: *Wisdom, justice, and moderation* Georgia is a state in the Southeastern United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. It was the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established as a colony, in 1733. It was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788. It seceded from the Union on January 21, 1861 and was one of the original seven Confederate states. It was the last state readmitted to the Union, on July 15, 1870. Georgia is one of the fastest-growing states in the United States, with its population increasing from 8,186,453 in 2000 to an estimated 9,072,576 people in 2005. Georgia is also known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South. The largest city, and capital, is Atlanta. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Cherokee rose is the official state flower, the live oak the official tree; and the brown thrasher the official bird. Georgia is the nations number one producer of the three Ps--peanuts, pecans, and peaches. Among famous Georgians are: Martin Luther King, Jr., James E. Carter, Ray Charles and Margaret Mitchell. Coca-Cola was invented in May 1886 by Dr. John S. Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia. The name "Coca-Cola" was suggested by Dr. Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Robinson. He penned the name Coca-Cola in the flowing script that is famous today. Check Our Holdings for Georgia Helpful Web Resources


	The State of Georgia official website Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites Welcome to Georgia Georgia Map Quiz – Enchanted Learning The University of Georgia, the oldest state-chartered university in the United States Georgia Public Library Service

	January 3, 1959 - Alaska became 49^th US state State of Alaska Motto: North to the Future. Alaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Approximately half of Alaska's 683,478 residents reside within the Anchorage metropolitan area. As of 2009, Alaska remains the least densely populated state of the U.S The U.S. Senate approved the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at about two cents per acre ($4.74/km2). The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The wild forget-me-not is the official state flower, the willow ptarmigan is the official state bird and the Sitka spruce is the official state tree. Alaska's most important revenue source is the oil and natural gas industry. Alaska accounts for 25% of the oil produced in the United States. Most of America's salmon, crab, halibut, and herring come from Alaska. Juneau is the only capital city in the United States accessible only by boat or plane. The state's largest city is Anchorage; the second largest is Fairbanks. Alaska has been called America's Last Frontier. Alaska has daylight almost twenty-four hours a day in June, so raft races and midnight baseball games are the main events in the Midnight Sun Festival. In Kodiak, a King Crab Festival during crabharvesting season in May, and the Iceworm Festival in Cordova offers airboat races. Check Our Holdings for Alaska Helpful Web Resources State of Alaska Official Website Travel Alaska - Official State of Alaska Travel & Vacation University of Alaska Alaska State Library January 4, 1896 – Utah became the 45^th US state Utah State Motto: Industry Utah is a U.S. state located in the western United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 88 percent of Utah's 2,500,000 people, known as "Utahns," live in an urban concentration with Salt Lake City as the center, known as the Wasatch Front. In contrast, vast expanses of the state are nearly uninhabited, making the population the sixth most urbanized in the U.S. The name "Utah" is derived from the Ute Indian language, meaning "people of the mountains". Utah is known for its geological diversity ranging from snowcapped mountains to well-watered river valleys to rugged, stony deserts. It is also known for being one of the most religiously homogeneous states in the Union, with approximately 61 percent of its inhabitants claiming membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which greatly influences Utah culture and daily life. The state is a center of transportation, information technology and research, government services and mining as well as a major tourist destination for outdoor recreation. St. George, Utah was the fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000-2005 with Utah being the sixth fastest growing state overall in 2006. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The name Utah comes from the Native American Ute tribe and means people of the mountains. Utah has 11,000 miles of fishing streams and 147,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs. Utah has the highest literacy rate in the nation. Utah has five national parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce and Capitol Reef, and two national recreation areas: Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon. Check Our Holdings for Utah Helpful Web Resources Official Website of the State of Utah Utah Travel Site University of Utah, Salt Lake City Utah State Library January 6, 1912 - New Mexico became the 47^th US state State of New Mexico Motto: *Crescit eundo ("It grows as it goes")* A state of the southwest United States on the Mexican border. It was admitted as the 47th state in 1912. Site of prehistoric cultures that long preceded the Pueblo civilization encountered by the Spanish in the 16th century, the region was governed as a province of Mexico after 1821 and ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The original territory (established 1850) included Arizona and part of Colorado and was enlarged by the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. Sante Fe is the capital and Albuquerque the largest city. Population: 1,970,000. Answers.com New Mexico's State Constitution officially states that New Mexico is a bilingual State, and 1 out of 3 families in New Mexico speak Spanish at home. The Navajo, the Nation's largest Native American Group, have a reservation that covers 14 million Acres. To a certain degree New Mexico's Indian Reservations function as states within a state where tribal law may supersede state law. The world's first Atomic Bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945 on the White Sands Testing Range near Alamogordo. North of the impact point a small placard marks the area known as Trinity Site. The bomb was designed and manufactured in Los Alamos. Two important aspects of New Mexico's economy are scientific research such as the nuclear energy research carried out at Sandia National Laboratories and mining of natural resources such as oil, natural gas, uranium, potash, copper, coal, zinc, gold and silver. The world famous Santa Fe Opera has an open-air (outdoor) theater situated dramatically outside of the capital city in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo Mountains. Lincoln, New Mexico holds Pony Express races in honor of the first U.S. mail system and a fiddlers' convention as part of Lincoln County Days. Check Our Holdings for New Mexico Helpful Web Resources State of New Mexico official web site New Mexico: Land of Enchantment New Mexico State University New Mexico State Library January 9, 1788 - Connecticut became 5^th US state Connecticut State Motto: Qui Transtulit Sustinet (He Who Transplanted Still Sustains) Connecticut, one of the six New England states, in the northeastern United States. Connecticut was the fifth of the original 13 states ratifying the Constitution of the United States on January 9, 1788, and it played an important role in the development of the United States. Settlement in Connecticut dates from the 1630s and many of the state’s modern towns and cities can trace their origins back to the 17th or 18th century. Hartford is the capital of Connecticut and the center of the state’s largest metropolitan area. Bridgeport is the state’s largest city. Rural Connecticut retains much of the charm of colonial New England. It is an area of churches with white steeples, charming colonial homes that face elm-shaded streets, and village greens where once, perhaps, the local militia trained for the Continental Army. However, modern Connecticut is principally an urban and suburban residential state. Many of the nation’s early industrial advances, including the development of mass production, first took place in Connecticut. Although the economy today is decreasing its reliance on manufacturing, becoming instead more diverse and service-based, the state remains an important producer of such products as electronic equipment, aircraft engines, and spacecraft equipment. The state’s official nickname, adopted in 1959, is the Constitution State, chosen to commemorate the colony’s adoption in 1639 of the Fundamental Orders, sometimes regarded as the first written constitution. MSN Encarta Encyclopedia Connecticut is home to the oldest U.S. newspaper still being published: The Hartford Courant, established in 1764. Connecticut has approx. 144 newspapers published in the State (daily, Sunday, weekly and monthly). West Hartford CO is the birthplace of Noah Webster, the author of the first dictionary published in 1807. Connecticut is home to the first hamburger (1895), Polaroid camera (1934), helicopter (1939), and color television (1948). Check Our Holdings for Connecticut Helpful Web Resources Official website of the State of Connecticut Visit Connecticut! The Official Connecticut State Vacation Guide University of Connecticut, a flagship public university, founded in 1881 Connecticut State Library January 17, 1706 – Benjamin Franklin Birthday Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy. At least you will, by such conduct, stand the best chance for such consequences. Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706-April 17, 1790) was one of the founding fathers of the USA. Franklin was the 10th son, and 15th child of 17 children in his family; his father made soap. Although he was born in Boston, Massachusetts, Franklin spent most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was an American statesman, writer, printer, and inventor. Franklin was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania (1785-88) and helped write both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. He also helped negotiate the peace with Britain at the end of the Revolutionary War (in 1783). Although Franklin had only one year of formal education, this self-taught man helped the colonies become a nation, was a leading scientist, inventor and author, and taught himself several languages and how to play many musical instruments. Many of his inventions are still used today. Late in his life, Franklin was the President of the "Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery." Benjamin Franklin stands alone as the only person to have signed all four of the documents which helped to create the United States: the Declaration of Independence (1776); the Treaty of Alliance, Amity, and Commerce with France (1778); the Treaty of Peace between England, France, and the United States (1782); and the Constitution (1787). He actually helped to write parts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. No other individual was more involved in the birth of the nation. Franklin experimented extensively with electricity, determining that there are two types of electricity, positive and negative. In 1752, his experiments with a kite in a thunderstorm led to the development of the lightning rod. Franklin started the first circulating library in the colonies in 1731 (The Library Company of Philadelphia). Active in his community, Franklin started the first American fire company, the first American street-cleaning department, the first city hospital, and the school that would later become the University of Pennsylvania. He also reorganized the American postal system. He had been a writer himself since an early age, ran a printing press, and wrote and published a newspaper (the Pennsylvania Gazette) and the very popular "Poor Richard's Almanack" (published annually from 1733 to 1758). Check Our Holdings for Benjamin Franklin Web Sites with Information about Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin: Biography from Answers.com Benjamin Franklin – PBS Benjamin Franklin: Writer and Printer - Online Exhibition January 26, 1837 - Michigan became the 26^th US state State of Michigan Motto: *Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice* *(If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you)* Michigan, state in the East North Central United States. It is unique among the states because it consists of two peninsulas completely separated by water and bordering on four of the five Great Lakes. Between Lakes Michigan and Huron lie the Straits of Mackinac, which separate Michigan’s two peninsulas. Lansing is the capital of Michigan. Detroit is the largest city. When Michigan was admitted to the Union on January 26, 1837, as the 26th state, it was primarily a fur-trading territory. Its rich agricultural resources were not developed until later in the century. Its industrial prominence dates from the beginnings of automobile manufacturing in the early 20th century. The way of life in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, with its vast industrial development, has come to symbolize the 20th-century United States. The Upper Peninsula is a less populated region of great natural beauty that is known as a recreation and wilderness area. It is also noted for its mineral wealth. *MSN Encarta Encyclopedia* Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the world. Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of streams. Detroit is known as the car capital of the world. In 1817 the University of Michigan was the first university established by any of the states. Originally named Cathelepistemian and located in Detroit the name was changed in 1821. The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1841. In May, the townspeople of Holland, Michigan celebrate their Dutch ancestry through a yearly Tulip Festival. In Houghton Lake, Michigan, a winter festival called Tip-Up-Town USA offers a contest for the best sculpture carved in ice. Helpful Web Resources The Official State of Michigan website Pure Michigan Travel - State of Michigan Tourism Information Michigan at the Yahoo! Directory University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI Library of Michigan January 29, 1861 – Kansas became the 34^th US state State of Kansas Motto: *Ad astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulties)* Kansas is a Midwestern state in the central region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the American "Heartland". It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. Historically, the area was home to large numbers of nomadic Native Americans that hunted bison. It was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas exploded when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into productive farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing many crops, and leading the nation in wheat and sunflower production most years. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The first woman mayor in the United States was Susan Madora Salter. She was elected to office in Argonia KS in 1887. Sumner County KS is known as The Wheat Capital of the World. Among famous Kansans are: Dwight D. Eisenhower the 34th President of the United States, Amelia Earhart aviator, Dennis Hopper actor, Buster Keaton comedian, Gwendolyn Brooks poet. Kansas inventors include Almon Stowger of El Dorado who invented the dial telephone in 1889; William Purvis and Charles Wilson of Goodland who invented the helicopter in 1909; and Omar Knedlik of Coffeyville who invented the first frozen carbonated drink machine in 1961. Helpful Web Resources The Official Web site of the State of Kansas The Official State of Kansas Travel and Tourism Web Site Kansas State Library The University of Kansas, Lawrence KS The American Library at the NaUKMA 8/5 Voloska St., building 4 #116 04070 Kyiv Ukraine Phone: +38 044 417 3113 E-mail: acl@ukma.kiev.ua Web site: http://www.library.ukma.kiev.ua/amer/