1889
year
1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar, the 1889th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 889th year of the 2nd millennium, the 89th year of the 19th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1880s decade. As of the start of 1889, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Events
January
January 1
The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada.
Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka experiences a vision, leading to the start of the Ghost Dance movement in the Dakotas.
January 4 – An Act to Regulate Appointments in the Marine Hospital Service of the United States is signed by President Grover Cleveland. It establishes a Commissioned Corps of officers, as a predecessor to the modern-day U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
January 8 – Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine in the United States.
January 15 – The Coca-Cola Company is originally incorporated as the Pemberton Medicine Company in Atlanta, Georgia.
January 22 – Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, D.C.
January 30 – Mayerling incident: Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera commit a double suicide (or a murder-suicide) at the Mayerling hunting lodge in the Vienna Woods.
February
February 11 – The Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted; the 1st Diet of Japan convenes in 1890.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “1889” as year. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as year. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7831. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1889, 1923 and 1890.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “1889”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 1889 primary sources, 1889 archive and year research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “1889”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “1889” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.