The 2nd Continental Congress Established the Postal System and Sandra Bullock Was Born: July 26th in American History

I geeked out writing my American history post about July 15th, so I decided to do some research about July 26th.

Apparently, you're going to see blog posts about random days in history if you hang out with me!

July brings bright flowers and lots of sunshine to Virginia, but also... history. So I took some time today to dig in through a couple centuries of stuff and landed on some tidbits I love.

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Historical summary of July 26th, blogger-style: with bullets!

As I mentioned in my July 15th post, I love bullet points. And for purposes of reading a blog... it makes it easy right?

Here's my little list of things that happened in American history, all on July 26th:

• 1775- The 2nd Continental Congress established a postal system and Benjamin Franklin became our first Postmaster General.
• 1847- Liberia proclaimed independence from the United States.
• 1908- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was founded.
• 1909- Vivian Vance, who will be everlasting on film as Lucy's sidekick, was born. More American women who graced our screens were also July 26th babies including Olympic champion figure-skater Dorothy Hamill in 1956 and movie actress Sandra Bullock in 1964.
• 1948- President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, abolishing racial segregation in the U.S. Military.
• 1990- President George Herbert Walker Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, known as the ADA, into law.
• 2005- NASA launched the shuttle Discovery, which I got to see in 2018 at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.
• In 2020, 104 year-old Olivia de Haviland - a member of Hollywood's Golden Age, passed away.

If anything interests you, by all means:

• take a deeper dive
• share it in the comments
• connect with me to talk further

I wouldn't feel like the post is complete without words from early America- so here are some from John Adams' diary!

John Adams' 1786 diary entry for July 26th exudes personality- his distaste for picket fences and spoiled views! It's seemingly mundane and totally random, but again, it's about sharing the human-ness of the humans that made up our history.

From founders.archives.gov: (link here)

July 26. Wednesday.

[from the Diary of John Adams]

Mr. B. Hollis, Miss Brand, Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Smith, and I walked to Mill Green, or Mill Hill the Seat of a Mr. Allen a Banker of London. We walked over the Pleasure Grounds and Kitchen Garden and down to Cocytus, a canal or Pond of Water surrounded with Wood in such a Manner as to make the Place gloomy enough for the Name. This is a good Spot, but Mr. Allen has, for want of Taste, spoiled it by new Pickett Fences at a great Expence. He has filled up the Ditches and dug up the Hedges and erected wooden Fences and brick Walls, a folly that I believe in these days is unique. They are very good, civil People but have no Taste.

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There is a huge practical disclaimer to the content on this blog, which is my way of sharing my excitement and basically journaling online.

1) I am not a historian nor an expert. I will let you know I’m relaying the information as I understand and interpret it. The employees of Colonial Williamsburg base their presentations, work, and responses on historical documents and mainly primary sources.

2) I will update for accuracy as history is constant learning. If you have a question about accuracy, please ask me! I will get the answer from the best source I can find.

3) Photo credit to me, Daphne Reznik, for all photos in this post, unless otherwise credited! All photos are personal photos taken in public access locations or with specific permission.