The venture that would later become the H.W. Wilson Company (founded in 1898) takes shape. With an investment of $400, the bookselling firm of Morris & Wilson is formally launched by Halsey William Wilson and fellow University of Minnesota student Henry S. Morris in Minneapolis.

Alexander Gustave Eiffel designs the Eiffel Tower for the Paris World Exhibition.

This year marks the official beginning of the H.W. Wilson Company. Henry Morris, whose graduation and departure from the University of Minnesota has left Halsey W. Wilson in charge of Morris & Wilson, sells his share of the business to Wilson. The venture continues as the H.W. Wilson Company, launching Cumulative Book Index as its first original reference product.

Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium and polonium

Wilson launches Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature, and institutes the innovative service-basis method of charge.

Marconi transmits telegraphic radio messages from Cornwall to Newfoundland.

Wilson publishes Book Review Digest, an almost instantaneous success.

Ty Cobb begins major league career with the Detroit Tigers.

Work begins on Wilson’s Debaters’ Handbook series, a resource which would later evolve into the Wilson Reference Shelf series.

Second Sunday in May established in Philadelphia as Mother’s Day.

Wilson publishes Index to Legal Periodicals (later to become Index to Legal Periodicals & Books).

Jack Johnson becomes the first black world heavyweight boxing champion.

Wilson publishes Education Index, a reference that would later inspire Education Abstracts and Education Abstracts Full Text. Wilson also publishes Art Index this year.

"Black Tuesday" in New York: Stock Exchange collapses on October 29th.

The Vertical File Service Catalog debuts — a subject index-catalog that lists pamphlets and similar material, with descriptive notes and prices. The resource is published today as Vertical File Index.

Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

Wilson publishes The Abridged Readers’ Guide, in response to the needs of smaller institutions carrying a limited number of periodicals.

Rumba becomes the fashionable dance.

Wilson publishes Library Literature, an index to books, pamphlets, and periodicals related to the library profession.

American novelist Margaret Mitchell publishes Gone With the Wind.

Bibliographic Index, an index of bibliographies published in books, pamphlets, and periodicals, is launched.

The first Superman episode is published in the June issue of Action Comics.

Wilson publishes Current Biography, the popular monthly providing up-to-date biographical sketches of people in the news.

Duke Ellington becomes known as a composer and jazz pianist.

Biography Index debuts — an innovative subject index to biographical material in books, pamphlets, and periodicals.

Joe Louis successfully defends his world heavyweight boxing title for the 23rd time.

The Committee on Wilson Indexes of the ALA Reference Services Division is formed.

Christian Dior gains influence on Paris haute couture.

Wilson’s Industrial Arts Index splits off into two new references: Business Periodicals Index and Applied Science & Technology Index.

The "Beatnik" movement, originating in California, spreads throughout America and Europe.

Agricultural Index (1916 - 1963) becomes Biological & Agricultural Index.

Martin Luther King, Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize.

Libraries subscribing to Wilson Reference Services exceed 100,000.

Tennis star Billie Jean King becomes first woman athlete to win $100,000 in a single year.

Humanities Index and Social Sciences Index (once a combined index) are published as independent references.

Nixon resigns August 9th, and Vice President Gerald R. Ford becomes the 38th U.S. President.

General Science Index is published.

"Test-tube baby" born in England: Lesley Brown gives birth to the first human conceived outside the body of a woman.

Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature becomes Wilson’s first electronic reference, available through WILSEARCH.

Awareness of AIDS is heightened by the death of actor Rock Hudson.

The Wilson Abstracts publishing program kicks off with Readers’ Guide Abstracts.

President Reagan celebrates Independence Day by unveiling a renovated Statue of Liberty.

H.W. Wilson databases become available through our first information partner, expanding their availability to researchers.

The space shuttle Discovery is launched in the first U.S. manned space mission since the Challenger disaster.

Wilson’s Current Biography and World Authors series, two leading sources for biographical research, are launched in searchable CD-ROM format. Readers' Guide Abstracts Full Text debuts.

The U.S. spacecraft Galileo reaches Jupiter and launches a probe into the planet’s atmosphere.

Wilson Business Abstracts Full Text, General Science Abstracts Full Text, Humanities Abstracts Full Text, and Social Sciences Abstracts Full Text debut.

Based on studies of rock samples from Mars, NASA scientists report that microbial life may once have existed there.

Wilson introduces WilsonWeb, the World Wide Web based database retrieval system. OmniFile, an all-in-one database covering diverse academic specialties, is launched.

Scottish embryologist Ian Wilmut announces his 1996 replication of a lamb from the DNA of an ewe—the first cloning of an adult mammal.

Wilson Biographies, a full-text electronic database comprising profiles of more than 38,000 figures, becomes available on WilsonWeb, CD-ROM, and magnetic tape.

Wilson celebrates 100 years of innovation as the publisher of 16 full-text databases, 12 abstracts databases, 20 indexes, WilsonWeb, and numerous general reference, collection development and maintenance, and library program support texts.

Wilson introduces Art Index Retrospective—helping art researchers quickly find the information they need from 55 years of coverage in more than 574 periodicals.

For the first time, official estimates place world population beyond 6 billion.

Biography Reference Bank debuts—combining the in-depth, original profiles of Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated, the periodicals coverage of Biography Index, and full-text articles, page images, and abstracts from the complete range of Wilson databases. It is subsequently honored as a Library Journal 2001 "Best Reference Source," and among the Top Ten Biography Reference Sources for 2001 by Reference Book Bulletin.

"Y2K" bug fizzles. America's information infrastructure makes uneventful transition into Year 2000.

PDF page images now accompany full text articles on WilsonWeb, bringing users all the graphs, diagrams, charts, photographs, and illustrations that accompany articles.

World Trade Center and U.S. Pentagon are attacked, in the single most deadly act of terror in global history.

Wilson launches a completely new version of the WilsonWeb database service, raising the bar for the competition with WilsonLink SFX database-linking technology, multiple search and display options, database-specific subject thesauri, customization options (for both administrators and users), a simpler yet more capable interface, and other advancements.

Euro becomes legal tender for much of Europe.

The complete content of the Wilson classic Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature is made available online. Long the most widely consulted index of articles in the popular press, Readers’ Guide now becomes one of the richest archives of U.S. culture and history in any single source.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is launched in March by joint U.S. and U.K. forces, hours after a deadline expires for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq.

Bibliographic Index, in libraries for over 60 years, becomes Bibliographic Index Plus, featuring indexing of more than 350,000 bibliographies, and nearly 100,000 in full text. Wilson’s 100% full text science database, Science Full Text Select, debuts to industry accolades.

World Wide Web Consortium celebrates its tenth anniversary—continuuing its mission to lead the Web to its full potential.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope brings us a view of new moons and rings around Uranus.

The H.W. Wilson Company enters its 108th year as an acclaimed reference publisher and an icon in the library.