Born in 1895: Buster Keaton, American actor, director, and producer.

On Oct. 3, 1990, West Germany and East Germany ended 45 years of postwar division, declaring the creation of a new unified country.

1950 – Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz, is first published.

1962 – First broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

The feast of St. Jerome, who translated the Bible to Latin.

Incidentally, Caravaggio, whose Saint Jerome Writing is shown above, was born yesterday, September 29, in 1572.

In 1889, Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago’s Near West Side, was co-founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Hull House opened its doors to recently arrived European immigrants.

1839. John Herschel takes the first glass plate photograph.

Herschel, in an 1867 photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron. 

Previously: Lev Tolstoy

Born this day in 1952. Buddy Miller, American guitarist, singer-songwriter, and producer.

Listen to Buddy and Julie: Does My Ring Burn Your Finger

1698. In an effort to Westernize Russian society, Tsar Peter I, known as Peter the Great, imposed a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.