Welcome to ON THIS DAY! Each day, we'll look at a few moments from history and popular culture. We'll show you where you can rediscover classic movies and music, or read more about great moments in history. We'll point you to e-books, downloadable and streamable music and film, and e-audio; and of course, we haven't forgotten about physical books or DVDs.

	On this day in 1785, John James Audubon was born. Audubon's Birds of America was a landmark of ornithology. In its original edition, it included Audubon's drawings of more than 700 species of birds, on 435 hand-colored plates. A staff of more than colorists was hired to color the plates in an assembly line. The birds were drawn at life-size, and Audobon had to show some of the larger birds in rather contorted positions to fit them onto the pages, which were about 39 by 26 inches. Nancy Plain's biography of Audubon, This Strange Wilderness, is available as an e-book from OverDrive, or in print.
	On this day in 1886, Ma Rainey was born. Rainey was one of the first professional blues singers, and among the first African-American women to make records. Between 1923 and 1928, she recorded almost 100 songs; her recordings and her touring career were successful enough that she was able to afford to buy a personalized tour bus with her name on it, a novelty at the time. An assortment of Rainey's recordings is available for streaming or download at Freegal.
	And on this day in 1933, Carol Burnett was born. Burnett had starred on Broadway and appeared in various television programs beginning in the late 1950s, but in 1967, she was given a show of her own. The network wanted her to do a sitcom, but Burnett insisted that it be a variety show. The Carol Burnett Show ran for eleven seasons, and it was among the last great television shows of its type. Burnett and her cast of regulars (the show made stars of Lyle Waggoner, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and Vicki Lawrence) performed musical numbers and comedy sketches, often parodying movies, other TV shows, and commercials. Several collections of highlights from The Carol Burnett Show are available for streaming at Hoopla.