Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/January 17

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/January 17.

To report an error when this list is currently on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Before making a suggestion, please read the selected anniversaries guidelines. Please remember that this list usually defers to supporting pages when there is disagreement, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
To discuss improvements to the corresponding January 17 article, see Talk:January 17 instead.

Frequently asked questions

Q1: Why is [Insert event here], an event that is "more important and significant" than all the others that are currently listed, not posted?: A1: Relative article quality along with the mix of topics already listed are often deciding factors in what gets posted. Any given day of the year can have a great many important or significant historical events. The problem is that there is generally only room on the Main Page to list about 5 events at a time, so not everything can be posted.

As stated on Wikipedia:FAQ/Main Page, the items and events posted on the Main Page are chosen based more on how well they are written, not based on how much important or significant their subjects are. It is easier for admins to select a well-written, cited, verifiable article over a poor one versus trying to determine objectively how much a subject is important or significant.

Keep in mind that the quality requirements only apply to the selected bolded article, not the other links. Thus, an event may qualify for multiple dates in a year if there is an article written in a summary style and an article providing detailed content; if one of those pages have cleanup issues, the other page can be bolded as an alternate.

Another criterion is to maintain some variety of topics, and not exhibit, just for example, tech-centrism, or the belief that the world stops at the edge of the English-speaking world. Many days have a large pool of potential articles, so they will rotate in and out every year to give each one some Main Page exposure. In addition, an event is not posted if it is also the subject of this year's scheduled featured article or featured picture.

Q2: There are way too many 20th-century events listed. Why aren't there more events from the 19th century and before?

A2: The short, basic reason is the systemic bias of Wikipedia. There are not enough good, well-written articles on 19th-century and earlier events for all 365 days in the year. Currently, a majority of users seem to be generally more interested in writing articles about recent events. If you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.

Q3: This page seems to be biased toward events based in [Insert country or region here]. What can be done about it?

A3: This again is attributed to the systemic bias of Wikipedia. Many users are generally more interested in working on good, well-written articles pertaining to their home country. Since this is the English Wikipedia, there will be more English-speaking users, and thus more articles pertaining to English-speaking countries. And if there are more users who are from the United States, there will probably be more well-written articles about events based in the United States. Again, if you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.

Q4: Why is the birthday/death anniversary of [Insert name here] not listed?

A4: There are only four slots available for birth and death anniversaries. As with the events, article quality and diversity in time period, geography, and reason for notability are all contributing factors in whether an article gets selected for inclusion.

Q5: Are the holidays/observances listed in any particular order?

A5: Yes, there is a specified order: International observances first, then alphabetically by where observed.

Q6: Some of the holidays/observances that are listed have dates in parentheses beside them. What do they mean?

A6: There are two reasons that some holidays/observances have dates next to them:

Non-Gregorian-based holidays/observances are marked with the current year as a reminder to others that their dates do in fact vary from year to year.
National Days, Independence Days, and other holidays celebrating the nationhood of a country are generally marked by the year of the significant historic date being observed.

Today's featured article for January 17, 2025
William Robinson Brown (January 17, 1875 – August 4, 1955) was a corporate officer of the Brown Company and a breeder of Arabian horses. He advocated for sustainable forest management practices and his innovations became industry standards. He was influenced by the Progressive movement, instituting employee benefits at the Brown Company that predated modern workers' compensation laws. He founded the Maynesboro Stud in 1912 with bloodstock from American breeders of Arabian horses, also importing horses from England, France, and Egypt. At its peak, Maynesboro was the largest Arabian horse farm in the United States. To prove the abilities of Arabians, he organized several endurance races, which his horses won three times. He served as President of the Arabian Horse Club of America from 1918 until 1939. His 1929 book The Horse of the Desert is an authoritative work on Arabians. A Republican, he served as a presidential elector for New Hampshire in 1924. (Full article...) Recently featured: Night of January 16th Cherry-throated tanager Josette Simon Archive By email More featured articles About view – talk – edit – history – watch
Picture of the day for January 17, 2025
The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen. In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines. create

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/January 16 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/January 18 →

St. Anthony the Great’s feast day

This is only a minor observance, but in the absence of any other holidays (as in 2010), why not list it? — crism (talk) 03:00, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

MLK image

The Image:MLKJR.jpg was missing, so I found a good Pre-1978 US Postage Stamp image to replace it. Using an image of Popeye on MLK day is more than a bit silly. Ahseaton 02:19, 2 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Never mind, wrong year. I moved MLK day to Jan 16 for 2006 and put a GNU licensed Queen Liliuokalani here. Ahseaton 02:32, 2 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Today is the 300th birthday of Benjamin Franklin, yet no mention of it on Selected Anniversaries?? How can it be added?--Itsgeneb 17:48, 17 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ben Franklin's 300th birthday

Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, printer, writer, inventor, philosopher, ambassador, and among the most enduringly influential of early American leaders, was born in 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. --Itsgeneb 17:48, 17 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wish I had known about this last year... --PFHLai 16:35, 17 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Deleted: Susenyos of Ethiopia (appears on March 10, which is a better date for this article)
Moved to Ineligible: Battle of Abu Klea (maintenance), 1994 Northridge earthquake (maintenance), Mount Nyiragongo (maintenance), Gary Gilmore (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Cowpens, Raoul Wallenberg, Patrice Lumumba
Included: Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii (first appearance, blurb previously highlighted Liliuokalani, which appears on January 29), 1966 Palomares B-52 crash (4th appearance, last in 2010), Cleveland School massacre (first appearance), 2010 Jos riots (first appearance)
Repeats: Giovanni da Verrazzano (2nd appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:00, 16 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Raoul Wallenberg (maintenance)
Omitted: Giovanni da Verrazzano; Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii; 1966 Palomares B-52 crash; Cleveland School massacre; 2010 Jos riots
Included: Battle of Cowpens (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Terra Nova Expedition (first appearance); United Nations Security Council (6th appearance, last in 2009; rescued from Ineligible); USS Nautilus (SSN-571) (9th appearance, last in 2010; moved from February 4); Patrice Lumumba (2nd appearance, last in 2011)

—howcheng {chat} 08:04, 16 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request on 17 January 2013

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

USS Nautilus launched not 1957 but 1955.

213.198.95.66 (talk) 08:46, 17 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Thanks. —howcheng {chat} 11:03, 17 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Terra Nova Expedition; United Nations Security Council; USS Nautilus (SSN-571); Patrice Lumumba
Included: Pope Gregory XI (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Giovanni da Verrazzano (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Cleveland Elementary School shooting (Stockton) (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 25th anniversary); Harald V of Norway (first appearance)
Repeats: Battle of Cowpens (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:32, 16 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: Giovanni da Verrazzano; Battle of Cowpens; Stockton schoolyard shooting; Harald V of Norway
Included: Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii (2nd appearance, last in 2012); United Nations Security Council (7th appearance, last in 2013); USS Nautilus (SSN-571) (10th appearance, last in 2013); 2010 Jos riots (2nd appearance, last in 2012)
Repeats: Pope Gregory XI (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:48, 15 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): United States Virgin Islands
New articles (unused): Battle of Sarikamish
Omitted: Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii; USS Nautilus (SSN-571); 2010 Jos riots
Included: Giovanni da Verrazzano (4th appearance, last in 2014); 1966 Palomares B-52 crash (5th appearance, last in 2012; 50th anniversary); Harald V of Norway (2nd appearance, last in 2014; 25th anniversary)
Repeats: Pope Gregory XI (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total); United Nations Security Council (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total; 70th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 18:06, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Battle of Cowpens (maintenance); Battle of Sarikamish (maintenance); United States Virgin Islands (maintenance); USS Nautilus (SSN-571) (maintenance); Patrice Lumumba (maintenance)
Omitted: Minorca (ineligible—maintenance); Pope Gregory XI (ineligible—maintenance); Giovanni da Verrazzano (ineligible—maintenance); 1966 Palomares B-52 crash; Harald V of Norway
Included: Second voyage of James Cook (first appearance); Terra Nova Expedition (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Eisenhower's farewell address (first appearance); 2010 Jos riots (3rd appearance, last in 2015)
Repeats: United Nations Security Council (3rd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 04:57, 17 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Harald V of Norway (maintenance)
Omitted: United Nations Security Council; Eisenhower's farewell address; 2010 Jos riots
Included: Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Renville Agreement (first appearance; 70th anniversary); Drudge Report (first appearance; 20th anniversary); Thomas Fairfax (first appearance); Anne Brontë (first appearance); Barbara Jordan (first appearance)
Repeats: Second voyage of James Cook (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Terra Nova Expedition (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 04:08, 17 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Omitted: Terra Nova Expedition; Renville Agreement; Drudge Report; Thomas Fairfax; Anne Brontë; Barbara Jordan
Included: Raoul Wallenberg (2nd appearance, last in 2011; rescued from Ineligible); Patrice Lumumba (3rd appearance, last in 2013; rescued from Ineligible); Cleveland Elementary School shooting (Stockton) (3rd appearance, last in 2014; 30th anniversary); Martino Zaccaria (first appearance); David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (first appearance); Sunanda Pushkar (first appearance)
Repeats: Second voyage of James Cook (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:08, 17 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

I've added 100th anniversary of Prohibition in the US to the list of possible blurbs. Both of the linked articles appear to be in adequate shape. -Ad Orientem (talk) 04:36, 5 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I added the Prohibition to, and removed the Stockton Shooting from, the Staging. -Ad Orientem (talk) 01:52, 15 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: 2010 Jos riots (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): United States Virgin Islands
Omitted: Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom; Patrice Lumumba; Cleveland Elementary School shooting (Stockton); Martino Zaccaria; David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty; Sunanda Pushkar
Included: Pope Gregory XI (4th appearance, last in 2016; rescued from Ineligible); Volstead Act/Prohibition in the United States (Act: 7th appearance, last in 2019; normally appears on October 28; Prohibition: 3rd appearance, last in 2013; previously appeared on December 5); Renville Agreement (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Thomas Linley the elder (first appearance); Alva Belmont (first appearance); Mateiu Caragiale (first appearance)
Repeats: Second voyage of James Cook (4th consecutive appearance, 4 total); Raoul Wallenberg (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 75th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 20:50, 20 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Rescued from Ineligible: 2010 Jos riots
New articles (unused): Michelle Obama
Omitted: Second voyage of James Cook; Prohibition in the United States; Raoul Wallenberg; Renville Agreement; Thomas Linley the elder; Alva Belmont; Mateiu Caragiale
Included: Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom (5th appearance, last in 2019); United Nations Security Council (10th appearance, last in 2017; 75th anniversary); Mount Nyiragongo (3rd appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); William Backhouse (first appearance); David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Gauhar Jaan (first appearance)
Repeats: Pope Gregory XI (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 03:35, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thomas Jaggar

Can we include Thomas Jaggar either here (died) or on January 24 (born)? Therapyisgood (talk) 02:45, 22 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

Omitted: Pope Gregory XI; Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom; United Nations Security Council; William Backhouse; David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty; Gauhar Jaan
Included: Edict of Saint-Germain (first appearance); Wake Island (2nd appearance, last in 2008; rescued from Ineligible); Terra Nova Expedition (4th appearance, last in 2018); Patrice Lumumba (4th appearance, last in 2019); Henry of Asti (first appearance); Thomas Jaggar (first appearance); Zhao Ziyang (first appearance)
Repeats: Mount Nyiragongo (3rd consecutive appearance, 4 total; 20th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 08:16, 18 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]