Samuel Pepys, public servant and diarist, b. 1633. Had he been born in the twentieth century, Pepys might have been a blogger. Then again, maybe not. He kept his famous diary from January 1, 1660 until May 1669 when he was forced to give up his journal because of fears that he was losing his eyesight. He wrote in a code or shorthand, so the very public nature of blogging might not have interested him. Pepys witnessed the coronation of Charles II (1661), the Plague of 1665, and The Great Fire of London (1666). He also mentioned famous people of the time such as Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Christopher Wren, and John Dryden, the playwright and poet.

If you would like to read Pepys Diary, one entry per day, on the internet, it has been made into a blog:

George Frideric Handel, b.1685. Pepys died in 1703, and Handel’s first two operas were produced in 1705. So they just missed each other. Handel’s most frequently performed work is Messiah, an oratorio first performed in 1742. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven all admired Handel’s music.

The first book is the funniest, but the last one pictured is the one I really wish I had in my personal library, or even in my public library.

W.E.B. DuBois, b.1868. William Edward Burghardt DuBois was a black educator and leader. He wrote, “The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.” These words should be emblazoned in Arabic on posters throughout Baghdad and the Iraqi countryside.