Famous First Facts informs and entertains with over 8,000 fascinating “firsts” in history.

Last published in 2015, this new update is filled with new information and key facts from 2015 to present day.

For more than half a century, Famous First Facts has earned the accolades of reviewers and a place on library reference shelves nationwide. This new edition of the reference classic is updated and expanded with new entries reflecting the latest developments and discoveries, and newly organized for easier access to information.

The eighth edition includes more than 8,000 firsts, with more than 1000 that are new to this edition. Fields updated include science and technology, military history, and politics, describing events that have occurred since the 2015 edition.

1. Updates of existing entries based on new developments and discoveries.
2. Hundred of images of the individuals, inventions, and moments that are new firsts.
3. New sidebars highlighting history-changing firsts and other information of particular interest.
4. Covers firsts from 10,000 B.C., the date of the earliest human artifacts found in America to the present day
5. A main subject index, plus geographical, name, year, and day indexes, offer researchers direct access to every included fact.

A Famous First Facts Sampler:

The first First Lady to have an occupation was Abigail Fillmore, who was a schoolteacher. She grew up in Sempronius, NY, where she was educated by her mother, and began teaching at the age of 16. Her future husband, Millard Fillmore, two years younger than she, was one of her students at New Hope Academy. She continued to teach during their long engagement and for two years after their marriage on February 5, 1826. Fillmore became a lawyer and politician and succeeded to the presidency on July 10, 1850.

The first theme park was Santa Claus Land, a Christmas themed park in Santa Claus, IN, founded by retired businessman Louis J. Koch. The park, which opened on August 3, 1946, offered rides, food treats, an antique toy collection, and a wax museum, as well as a Santa Claus impersonator. The name was changed to Holiday World in 1984.

The first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture was Parasite, released in 2019 and honored in 2020. Directed by acclaimed South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, the dark comedy/thriller/satire followed the impoverished Kim family who struggle to survive with low paying jobs. The family improves their circumstances by infiltrating the home of a wealthy family. Parasite also won best director, best original screenplay, and best international Oscars that year.

The first Major League Baseball player to play for both teams in the same game was Danny Jansen on August 26, 2024. The game was a resumption of a rain-delayed game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox on June 26, 2024. When the rain delay began in June, Jansen played for the Blue Jays and was in the middle of an at-bat in the second inning. On July 27, 2024, Jansen was traded from Toronto to the Boston Red Sox. When the game resumed on August 26, Jansen's at-bat for Toronto was completed by pinch hitter Daulton Varsho. Jansen, a catcher, was behind the plate for the Red Sox as Varsho pinch hit for him. Jansen completed the game as a Red Sox player, hitting a single in the fifth inning against the Blue Jays.