Historical Events
Blue Jeans
May 20 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent the first blue jeans with copper rivets
- May 23 1st Preakness Stakes: G. Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43 at Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, Maryland
- May 23 Canada's North West Mounted Police Force forms (it didn't get the "Royal" until 1904)
- May 23 Postal cards sold in San Francisco for 1st time
Alexandra Palace Opens
May 24 Alexandra Palace opens on Queen Victoria's 54th birthday with a grand celebration including concerts, recitals and fireworks
- May 24 Leo Delibes' opera "Le Roi l'a Dit" ("The King Has Spoken") premieres at the Opéra-Comique in Paris
Priam's Treasure
May 27 Heinrich Schliemann discovers "Priam's Treasure" a cache of gold and other objects in Hisarlik (Troy) in Anatolia
Famous Birthdays
- May 3 Nicoline Magdalene Roll Anker, Norwegian author (Kvinnen og Den), born in Møre og Romsdal, Norway (d. 1942)
- May 3 Pavlo Skoropadsky, Ukrainian politician and general, born in Wiesbaden, Germany (d. 1945)
- May 4 Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director, born in Bathurst, New Brunswick Canada (d. 1940)
- May 5 Leon Czolgosz, American anarchist and assassin of US President William McKinley, born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1901)
- May 7 Clarence Dickinson, American composer, born in Lafayette, Indiana (d. 1969)
- May 8 Henry Leveson-Gower, English cricket batsman and captain (3 Tests; Surrey CCC, Oxford University CC), born in Titsey Place, Surrey, England (d. 1954)
- May 9 Anton Cermak, American politician (44th Mayor of Chicago, 1931-33), born in Kladno, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) (d. 1933)
Howard Carter (1873-1939)
May 9 British archaeologist and egyptologist who found King Tutankhamun's tomb, born in London
- May 9 Lilian Mary Baylis, English theatrical manager (Old Vic & Sadler's Wells Theater), born in London (d. 1937)
- May 10 Carl Eldh, Swedish artist and sculptor, born in Östhammar Municipality, Sweden (d. 1954)
- May 10 Jan Kalf, Dutch art historian and literary scholar (Monument Conservation), (d. 1954)
- May 15 Nikolay Tcherepnin, Russian composer of ballets, born in St Petersburg, Russia (d. 1945)
- May 17 Dorothy M. Richardson, English novelist (Pilgrimage), born in Abington, Berkshire (d. 1957)
- May 17 Henri Barbusse, French novelist (Le Feu), born in Asnieres, France (d. 1935)
- May 19 Federico Gerdes, Peruvian pianist, composer, and educator (founder and first director of the National Conservatory of Music, 1909-26), born in Tacna, Peru (d. 1953)
- May 21 Emil Ermatinger, Swiss literature historian, born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland (d. 1953)
- May 21 Everard Verachtert, Flemish linguist (I Can Speak Dutch Nicely pamphlet) (d. 1955)
- May 21 Hans Berger, German neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and inventor of electroencephalography (EEG), born in Neuses, German Empire (d. 1941)
- May 23 Leo Baeck, German rabbi (President of World Union for Progressive Judaism), born in Lissa, German Empire (d. 1956)
- May 26 C.G.N. de Vooys, Dutch translator and founder (New Taalgids), born in Gouda, Netherlands (d. 1955)
- May 26 Olaf Gulbransson, Norwegian artist, born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1958)
Famous Deaths
David Livingstone (1813-1873)
May 1 Scottish explorer who was famously found by Henry Morton Stanley in Africa, dies allegedly of malaria and internal bleeding caused by dysentery at 60
- May 4 William Holmes McGuffey, American professor (wrote elementary school McGuffey Readers - 120 million copies sold), dies at 72
- May 6 José Antonio Páez, President of Venezuela (1830-35), dies at 82
- May 7 Salmon P. Chase, American politician and jurist (Senator and Governor of Ohio, US Chief Justice 1864-73), dies at 65
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
May 8 English philosopher, political economist and utilitarian, dies of erysipelas at 66
- May 13 Kaspar Masek, Czech-Slovenian composer, dies at 79
- May 14 Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and writer (b. 1797)
- May 15 Alexandru Ioan Cuza, 1st Prince of united Romania (land reform, emancipated peasants), dies in exile at 53
- May 20 George-Étienne Cartier, French Canadian statesman (joint Prime Minister of Canada 1858-62), dies of Bright's Disease at 60
- May 22 Alessandro Manzoni, Italian poet and novelist (Betrothed), dies at 88
- May 26 August Conradi, German organist and composer, dies at 51