1890 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).

Events

• January 2 - Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer for the U.S. White House.
• January 25 - The United Mine Workers of America is founded.
• January 25 - Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
• March 1 - Léon Bourgeois succeeds Ernest Constans as French Minister of the Interior
• March 4 - The longest bridge in Britain, the Forth Bridge (1,710 ft) in Scotland is opened.
• March 20 - Wilhelm II of Germany fires Otto von Bismarck
• June 1 - The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.
• July 1 - Britain receives Zanzibar from Germany in exchange of Heligoland
• July 3 - Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
• July 10 - Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.
• July 27 - Vincent van Gogh shoots himself to the chest and dies two days later
• August 6 - At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electric chair is performed (murderer William Kemmler was the subject).
• October 11 - In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
• November 23 - King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir and a special law is passed to allow his daughter Princess Wilhelmina to become Queen.
• November 29 - The Meiji Constitution goes into effect in Japan and the first Diet convenes.
• November 29 - In West Point, New York, the United States Navy defeats the United States Army 24 to 0 in the first Army-Navy football game.
• December 29 - The United States Seventh Cavalry massacres over 400 men, women and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota (see Wounded Knee Massacre).

Unknown dates

• Scotland Yard moves to the Embankment.
• The cardboard box is invented by Robert Gair.
• U.S. Census - Herman Hollerith devises a method using punch cards (like Jacquard's loom) to tabulate census data by machine. (see also History of computing hardware). Hollerith's company eventually becomes IBM.

Births

January-March

• January 1 - Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (d. 1966)
• January 4 - Victor Lustig, Bohemian-born con artist (d. 1947)
• January 7 - Henny Porten , actress (d. 1960)
• January 9 - Kurt Tucholsky, German-born journalist and satirist (d. 1935)
• January 9 - Karel Čapek, Czech writer (d. 1938)
• February 10 - Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, winner Nobel Prize in literature (d. 1960)
• January 19 - Elise Rivet, French Roman Catholic nun and war hero (d. 1945)
• February 11 - John de Vries , fairy tale writer
• February 14 - Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (d. 1956)
• February 17 - Ronald Fisher, English biologist (d. 1962)
• February 18 - Adolphe Menjou, American actor (d. 1963)
• February 24 - Marjorie Main, American actress (d. 1975)
• February 25 - Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (d. 1965)
• February 27 - Freddie Keppard, American jazz musician (d. 1933)
• March 9 - (new style) Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (d. 1986)
• March 11 - Vannevar Bush, American engineer, inventor, and politician (d. 1974)
• March 20 - Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (d. 1957)
• March 20 - Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor (d. 1973)
• March 28 - Paul Whiteman, American bandleader (d. 1967)

April-June

• April 6 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (d. 1939)
• May 4 - Franklin Carmichael, Canadian artist (d. 1945)
• May 10 - Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
• May 15 - Katherine Anne Porter, American author (d. 1980)
• May 19 - Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam (d. 1969)
• May 23 - Herbert Marshall, English actor (d. 1966)
• June 6 - Ted Lewis, American jazz musician and entertainer (d. 1971)
• June 16 - Stan Laurel, British actor (d. 1965)
• June 26 - Jeanne Eagels, American actress (d. 1929)

July-September

• July 18 - Frank Forde, fifteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1983)
• August 5 - Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 1956)
• August 18 - Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (d. 1960).
• August 20 - Howard Phillips Lovecraft, American writer (d. 1937)
• August 24 - Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (d. 1968)
• September 10 - Elsa Schiaparelli, French couturiere (d. 1973)
• September 15 - Agatha Christie, English writer (d. 1976)
• September 15 - Frank Martin, Swiss composer (d. 1974)
• September 20 - Jelly Roll Morton, American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1941)

October-December

• October 2 - Groucho Marx, American comedian (d. 1977)
• October 14 - Dwight David Eisenhower, U.S. general and President of the United States (d. 1969)
• October 16 - Michael Collins, Irish patriot (d. 1922)
• October 16 - Paul Strand, American photographer (d. 1976)
• November 22 - Charles de Gaulle, President of France (d. 1970)
• November 23 - El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (d. 1941)
• November 24 - August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born financier (b. 1816)
• December 5 - David Bomberg, English painter (d. 1957)
• December 8 - Bohuslav Martinu, Czech composer (d. 1959)
• December 30 - Lanoe Hawker, British fighter pilot (d. 1916)

Deaths

• January 18 - King Amadeus I of Spain (b. 1845)
• February 22 - John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (b. 1822)
• February 22 - Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (b. 1834)
• July 15 - Gottfried Keller, Swiss poet (b. 1819)
• July 29 - Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (b. 1853)
• October 26 - Carlo Collodi, Italian writer (b. 1826)
• November 3 - Ulrich Ochsenbein, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1811)
• November 8 - César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (b. 1822)
• November 23 - King William III of the Netherlands (b. 1817)
• December 26 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)