Joseph Nathan Kane
Encyclopedia
Joseph Nathan Kane was an American non-fiction writer.
's Upper West Side in New York City. He had brother called Albert and a sister called Ann.
Kane's grandfather on his mother's side was a wholesaler of woollens while his other grandfather was a composer. He in turn followed his father's father's steps playing musical instruments. As a young boy he learned to play the mandolin
as well as the violin
and banjo
.
Kane attended Public School 10 elementary school in New York City with much interest in world geography. The school was conveniently located directly across the street from his home. That school graduated well known personalities like Bennett Cerf
(publisher of Random House
) and Richard Rodgers
(the composer). It also educated many high-court justices.
at age 18 in 1917. He dropped out without graduating. There he had taken courses in theatre and journalism. Off campus he studied foreign languages. He then went to Columbia School of Engineering and earned a certificate in electrical engineering. He became a Morse Code operator. He enlisted in the army anticipating to use his engineering skills in World War I, however never saw military service. He had contracted influenza
of the 1918 epidemic from which he nearly died.
. There he interviewed key figures, one of them being John Wanamaker
. Later he worked for the Jewish Press. Here he interviewed prominent people like H. G. Wells
, Lord Balfour
and Vicente Blasco-Ibanez.
Kane then began working at D. Auerbach & Sons of New York City at the end of World War I as their manager of the export department. This company was a confectionery
manufacturer. They took advantage of Kane's knowledge of world geography, world currency, and his language abilities of French, German, and Spanish. He worked for D. Auerbach & Sons for only a year and then moved toUniversal Export Corporation as their export manager for two years.
Kane received a handsome amount from Simon & Schuster
in 1921 to write a book on the history of inventions. He was to write on things like the Wright brothers
and their first airplane, Thomas Edison
with his electric light bulb invention, Alexander Graham Bell
and the telephone, and Samuel F. B. Morse
's invention of the telegraph. Starting in 1922 Kane spent about eleven months out of every year traveling around the United States as a freelance, self-syndicated journalist. He did this extensive traveling until 1932. Kane was a seeker of who invented what in the United States. He did much research on this project only to realize that often a lot of people appeared responsible for the same invention.
In the late 1920s Kane decided to write a book on the achievers of "firsts" whom history had forgotten. He limited his scope of establishing "firsts" to the United States where he could find proof of the claims in recorded documents. In his travels throughout the states Kane gathered information from historical societies, used-book stores, museums and libraries. He researched through recorded public documents in state and county records. Kane sought out records on sales records, newspaper files, and filed patents. Additionally he obtained information from government departments and private organizations. He even researched in the Library of Congress. Often he would accidentally come across things even he was surprised about.
After Kane collected all this information he decided to publish his material in a large reference book that could be used by libraries and others. Kane first tried to publish his lengthy detailed manuscript but was rejected by eleven other publishers. On his twelfth approach he contacted Halsey W. Wilson, the founder and president of the publishing company H. W. Wilson Company.
Wilson was also at first hesitant. He was not sure there would be a market for this type of information. Kane then in a promotion scheme decided to mail or deliver in person a copy of portions of his manuscript to reference librarians across the United States. H. W. Wilson Company then received numerous letters requesting the book. Based on this they then published Kane's book Famous First Facts: A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries, and Inventions in the United States in 1933.
Kane's book was 757 pages long. It catalogued 3,000 facts arranged alphabetically according to subject and indexed chronologically and geographically. Some of the entries were
It was reviewed in various newspapers nationwide as
The New York Times on May 14, 1933, in an article wrote
Kane then published a supplement called More First Facts in 1935. It featured an index showing the various "firsts" occurring on each day of the year. The second edition of Famous First Facts was published fifteen years later. It included with its new entries material from both the original volume and the supplement. This publication has been since been put out an additional five times.
From the idea of Famous First Facts in 1959 Kane decided to focus his attention on the White House. He wrote Facts about the Presidents. In this reference book Kane provided biographical information about all of the United States presidents.
Kane followed this up in 1989 with Facts about the States. The book provides information on each states geography, demographics, economics, politics, culture, climate, history, education, and finances. It includes all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
. Each of his radio programs opened with a dramatizated "first fact" followed by an interview with the person that was the achiever of the fact or the achiever's descendant that could verify it. Some examples of his radio program were
Kane even supplied many of the questions for radio and television programs of the 1950s and 1960s like The $64,000 Question" and Double or Nothing
. He supplied all the questions for the popular television program Break the Bank
. The contestants for the program were at first drawn from the local studio audience. They competed for sums up to $10,000 - an exorbitant amount at the time. This program was later reintroduced and renamed Break the $250,000 Bank. This time it featured outside "experts" instead of studio audience contestants.
that was gathering information for his biography. He told the interviewer that at elementary school he would often ask a teacher when they had made a "factual" statement, Kane pointed out to the interviewer that when he worked for the Jewish Press he interviewed famous people because he was,
Kane told another reporter that while getting his higher education the professors would assign certain books to read for the students. He would read something else,
Kane once told a reporter for The Associated Press,
Kane interviewing for an article for Liberty magazine (December 1938) told the interviewer that,
Kane pointed out in publishing his books that he was not attempting,
A reporter for The Times
wrote,
, near his sister, Ann Madier. He suffered a broken hip at age 97, however he continued his daunting work gathering facts. His last project was Necessity's Child: The Story of Walter Hunt, America's Forgotten Inventor. Kane figured Walter Hunt
was really the true inventor of the sewing machine
, the fountain pen
, and the American safety pin
.
Kane told Myrna Olive, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, on his 100th birthday celebration in 1999 that he attributed his long life to,
Kane died on September 22, 2002, at the age of 103.
Early life
Kane was the oldest of three children in his family born to Jewish parents. His father was Albert Kane and his mother was Hulda (Ascheim) Kane. At the time he grew up he lived at ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Upper West Side in New York City. He had brother called Albert and a sister called Ann.
Kane's grandfather on his mother's side was a wholesaler of woollens while his other grandfather was a composer. He in turn followed his father's father's steps playing musical instruments. As a young boy he learned to play the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
as well as the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
.
Elementary school
Kane attended Public School 10 elementary school in New York City with much interest in world geography. The school was conveniently located directly across the street from his home. That school graduated well known personalities like Bennett Cerf
Bennett Cerf
Bennett Alfred Cerf was a publisher and co-founder of Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances in the panel game show What's My Line?.-Biography:Bennett Cerf...
(publisher of Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
) and Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
(the composer). It also educated many high-court justices.
High school
Townsend Harris High School is where Kane went for high school, one of New York City's elite public secondary schools.Higher education
Kane started attending Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
at age 18 in 1917. He dropped out without graduating. There he had taken courses in theatre and journalism. Off campus he studied foreign languages. He then went to Columbia School of Engineering and earned a certificate in electrical engineering. He became a Morse Code operator. He enlisted in the army anticipating to use his engineering skills in World War I, however never saw military service. He had contracted influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
of the 1918 epidemic from which he nearly died.
Salaried positions
Kane was first an editor for Academic Herald at Townsend HarrisTownsend Harris
Townsend Harris was a successful New York City merchant and minor politician, and the first United States Consul General to Japan...
. There he interviewed key figures, one of them being John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker was a United States merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure, considered by some to be the father of modern advertising and a "pioneer in marketing." Wanamaker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Biography:He was born on July 11, 1838.He opened his first store in...
. Later he worked for the Jewish Press. Here he interviewed prominent people like H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
, Lord Balfour
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
and Vicente Blasco-Ibanez.
Kane then began working at D. Auerbach & Sons of New York City at the end of World War I as their manager of the export department. This company was a confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
manufacturer. They took advantage of Kane's knowledge of world geography, world currency, and his language abilities of French, German, and Spanish. He worked for D. Auerbach & Sons for only a year and then moved toUniversal Export Corporation as their export manager for two years.
Entrepreneur
Kane began writing monthly articles on export matters and produced Kane Feature News Syndicate about 1920. For some 20 years he syndicated hundreds of articles to more than twenty publications. Among his clients were the New York Times, American Hebrew, Underwear and Hosiery Review, Advertising Age, Cracker Baker, American Magazine, Printers' Ink, Nation's Business, National Costumer, American Hatter, Fur Age, and Playthings. He additionally sold his articles to Exporters' Digest and International Trade Review where he was their editor for several years.Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
in 1921 to write a book on the history of inventions. He was to write on things like the Wright brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
and their first airplane, Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
with his electric light bulb invention, Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
and the telephone, and Samuel F. B. Morse
Samuel F. B. Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse was an American contributor to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs, co-inventor of the Morse code, and an accomplished painter.-Birth and education:...
's invention of the telegraph. Starting in 1922 Kane spent about eleven months out of every year traveling around the United States as a freelance, self-syndicated journalist. He did this extensive traveling until 1932. Kane was a seeker of who invented what in the United States. He did much research on this project only to realize that often a lot of people appeared responsible for the same invention.
In the late 1920s Kane decided to write a book on the achievers of "firsts" whom history had forgotten. He limited his scope of establishing "firsts" to the United States where he could find proof of the claims in recorded documents. In his travels throughout the states Kane gathered information from historical societies, used-book stores, museums and libraries. He researched through recorded public documents in state and county records. Kane sought out records on sales records, newspaper files, and filed patents. Additionally he obtained information from government departments and private organizations. He even researched in the Library of Congress. Often he would accidentally come across things even he was surprised about.
Consultant
- Consultant to various television news departments.
- Consultant to the United States Congress, the White House, and the Department of the Interior.
- State Department accredited correspondent covering the 1921 Conference on the Limitation of Armaments in Washington, D.C.
Famous First Facts
After Kane collected all this information he decided to publish his material in a large reference book that could be used by libraries and others. Kane first tried to publish his lengthy detailed manuscript but was rejected by eleven other publishers. On his twelfth approach he contacted Halsey W. Wilson, the founder and president of the publishing company H. W. Wilson Company.
Wilson was also at first hesitant. He was not sure there would be a market for this type of information. Kane then in a promotion scheme decided to mail or deliver in person a copy of portions of his manuscript to reference librarians across the United States. H. W. Wilson Company then received numerous letters requesting the book. Based on this they then published Kane's book Famous First Facts: A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries, and Inventions in the United States in 1933.
Kane's book was 757 pages long. It catalogued 3,000 facts arranged alphabetically according to subject and indexed chronologically and geographically. Some of the entries were
- the first distinctly American disease (tularemia, 1906).
- the first imported sheep (1609), cows (1624), and camels (1856).
- the first black army major (Martin Robinson Delaney, 1865).
- the first subway in America was the Beach Pneumatic Underground Railway of New York City built in 1870.
- the first steamboat to carry a person (built by John Fitch in 1787, twenty years before Fulton introduced regular steamboat service).
- the first lock-stitch sewing machine (made by Walter Hunt between 1832 and 1834, a dozen years before Elias Howe obtained his patent).
- that George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
was not the first person to be known as the president of the United States. Thomas McKeanThomas McKeanThomas McKean was an American lawyer and politician from New Castle, in New Castle County, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the American Revolution he was a delegate to the Continental Congress where he signed the United States Declaration of Independence and the Articles of...
of Delaware was first to be named "President of the United States" in 1781. Washington became president April 30, 1789.
It was reviewed in various newspapers nationwide as
The New York Times on May 14, 1933, in an article wrote
Kane then published a supplement called More First Facts in 1935. It featured an index showing the various "firsts" occurring on each day of the year. The second edition of Famous First Facts was published fifteen years later. It included with its new entries material from both the original volume and the supplement. This publication has been since been put out an additional five times.
From the idea of Famous First Facts in 1959 Kane decided to focus his attention on the White House. He wrote Facts about the Presidents. In this reference book Kane provided biographical information about all of the United States presidents.
Kane followed this up in 1989 with Facts about the States. The book provides information on each states geography, demographics, economics, politics, culture, climate, history, education, and finances. It includes all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Radio and television
Kane hosted a weekly national radio program called "Famous First Facts" from 1938 to 1939 on the Mutual Broadcasting SystemMutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
. Each of his radio programs opened with a dramatizated "first fact" followed by an interview with the person that was the achiever of the fact or the achiever's descendant that could verify it. Some examples of his radio program were
- a nine-year-old descendant of John HansonJohn HansonJohn Hanson was a merchant and public official from Maryland during the era of the American Revolution. After serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause in Maryland, in 1779 Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress...
, who headed the first Continental CongressContinental CongressThe Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
.
- son of Charles E. Duryea, the builder of the first practical American gasoline automobile.
Kane even supplied many of the questions for radio and television programs of the 1950s and 1960s like The $64,000 Question" and Double or Nothing
Double or Nothing
Double or nothing in gambling, is to repeat the same bet with the same wager.Double or Nothing may also refer to:-Films:* Double or Nothing , a 1936 short film* Double or Nothing , a 1937 musical film-Books:...
. He supplied all the questions for the popular television program Break the Bank
Break the Bank (1948)
Break the Bank is an American quiz show which aired variously on Mutual Radio and ABC, CBS and NBC television from 1945 to 1957.-Radio:Sponsored by Vicks, the series began on radio October 20, 1945, heard Saturdays on Mutual until April 13, 1946. Initially, it featured different hosts each week,...
. The contestants for the program were at first drawn from the local studio audience. They competed for sums up to $10,000 - an exorbitant amount at the time. This program was later reintroduced and renamed Break the $250,000 Bank. This time it featured outside "experts" instead of studio audience contestants.
Interviews and reports
Kane passed on some of his philosophy to an interviewer for Current BiographyCurrent Biography
Current Biography is an American monthly magazine published by the H. W. Wilson Company of The Bronx, New York, a publisher of reference books, that appears every month except December. Current Biography contains profiles of people in the news and includes politicians, athletes, businessmen, and...
that was gathering information for his biography. He told the interviewer that at elementary school he would often ask a teacher when they had made a "factual" statement, Kane pointed out to the interviewer that when he worked for the Jewish Press he interviewed famous people because he was,
Kane told another reporter that while getting his higher education the professors would assign certain books to read for the students. He would read something else,
Kane once told a reporter for The Associated Press,
Kane interviewing for an article for Liberty magazine (December 1938) told the interviewer that,
Kane pointed out in publishing his books that he was not attempting,
A reporter for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote,
End of life
Kane spent his last years in West Palm Beach, FloridaWest Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
, near his sister, Ann Madier. He suffered a broken hip at age 97, however he continued his daunting work gathering facts. His last project was Necessity's Child: The Story of Walter Hunt, America's Forgotten Inventor. Kane figured Walter Hunt
Walter Hunt
Walter Hunt was an American mechanic. He lived and worked in New York state. Through the course of his work he became renowned for being a prolific inventor, notably of the lockstitch sewing machine , safety pin , a forerunner of the Winchester repeating rifle, a successful flax spinner, knife...
was really the true inventor of the sewing machine
Sewing machine
A sewing machine is a textile machine used to stitch fabric, cards and other material together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies...
, the fountain pen
Fountain pen
A fountain pen is a nib pen that, unlike its predecessor the dip pen, contains an internal reservoir of water-based liquid ink. The pen draws ink from the reservoir through a feed to the nib and deposits it on paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action...
, and the American safety pin
Safety pin
A safety pin is a simple fastening device, a variation of the regular pin which includes a simple spring mechanism and a clasp. The clasp serves two purposes: to form a closed loop thereby properly fastening the pin to whatever it is applied to, and to cover the end of the pin to protect the user...
.
Kane told Myrna Olive, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, on his 100th birthday celebration in 1999 that he attributed his long life to,
Kane died on September 22, 2002, at the age of 103.
Points of interest
- Kane gave credit to inventors and other individuals who deserved recognition and/or credit for certain accomplishments, such as Walter HuntWalter HuntWalter Hunt was an American mechanic. He lived and worked in New York state. Through the course of his work he became renowned for being a prolific inventor, notably of the lockstitch sewing machine , safety pin , a forerunner of the Winchester repeating rifle, a successful flax spinner, knife...
. Kane figured out Hunt was the actual inventor of the first stitch-lock sewing machineSewing machineA sewing machine is a textile machine used to stitch fabric, cards and other material together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies...
(the credit went to Elias HoweElias HoweElias Howe, Jr. was an American inventor and sewing machine pioneer.-Early life & family:Howe was born on July 9, 1819 to Dr. Elias Howe, Sr. and Polly Howe in Spencer, Massachusetts. Howe spent his childhood and early adult years in Massachusetts where he apprenticed in a textile factory in...
and Isaac SingerIsaac SingerIsaac Merritt Singer was an inventor, actor, and entrepreneur. He made important improvements in the design of the sewing machine and was the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company...
). Hunt also invented the first American safety pinSafety pinA safety pin is a simple fastening device, a variation of the regular pin which includes a simple spring mechanism and a clasp. The clasp serves two purposes: to form a closed loop thereby properly fastening the pin to whatever it is applied to, and to cover the end of the pin to protect the user...
.
- Kane was so involved with his "firsts" that in his bank personal safety deposit box he kept America's first fountain penFountain penA fountain pen is a nib pen that, unlike its predecessor the dip pen, contains an internal reservoir of water-based liquid ink. The pen draws ink from the reservoir through a feed to the nib and deposits it on paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action...
, Walter Hunt's 1849 patent model for the first American safety pinSafety pinA safety pin is a simple fastening device, a variation of the regular pin which includes a simple spring mechanism and a clasp. The clasp serves two purposes: to form a closed loop thereby properly fastening the pin to whatever it is applied to, and to cover the end of the pin to protect the user...
, and a shoe with a heel that could be rotated for wear.
- Kane was a Freemason. He was the Master of King Solomon Lodge in New York City in 1927. Kane wrote articles about the history of Freemasonry.
- Kane believed in the motto Simple truth is the most eloquent oratory.
- Kane was called on for answers by the White House three or four times a year.
- Kane is one of few people in recorded history to have actually lived in three different centuries: the 19th century, the 20th century, and the 21st century!
Works
Kane wrote a total of 46 books of which some are:- Famous First Facts, a Record of First Happenings, Discoveries and Inventions in the United States, H. W. Wilson (New York, NY), 1933.
- Kane's Book of Famous First Facts and Records in the United States, 1974, 5th revised edition, 1997.
- More First Facts: A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries and Inventions in the United States, H. W. Wilson (New York, NY), 1935.
- What Dog Is That?, Greenberg (New York, NY), 1944.
- Centennial History of King Solomon Lodge No. 279, Free and Accepted Masons, 1852-1952, King Solomon Lodge No. 279 F & A.M. (New York, NY), 1952.
- The Perma Quiz Book, Permabooks (New York, NY), 1956.
- Facts about the Presidents: A Compilation of Biographical and Historical Data, H. W. Wilson Company (New York, NY), 1959, 7th revised edition, 2001.
- The American Counties: A Record of the Origin of the Names of the 3,067 counties, Dates of Creation and Organization, Area, Population, Historical Data, Etc., Scarecrow Press (New York, NY), 1960.
- The American Counties: Origins of County Names, Dates of Creation and Organization, Area, Population Including 1980 Census Figures, Historical Data, and Published Sources, 1983.
- Nicknames of Cities and States of the United States, Scarecrow Press (w/ Gerard L. Alexander) New York, NY, 1965
- Nicknames and Sobriquets of U.S. Cities, States, and Counties, 1979.
- Presidential Fact Book, Random House (New York, NY), 1998.
- Facts about the Presidents, January 1974-March 1977, Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter H. W. Wilson Company (New York, NY), 1977.
- Facts about the Presidents, March 1981-March 1985 H. W. Wilson Company (New York, NY), 1985.
- Necessity's Child: The Story of Walter Hunt, America's Forgotten Inventor, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 1997.
Obituaries
- The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, October 3, 2002, "Joseph Nathan Kane."
- New York Times, September 27, 2002, by Richard Severo, "Joseph Nathan Kane Dies, Master of Minutiae Was 103," p. A27.
- Los Angeles Times, September 30, 2002, "Joseph Kane, 103: Author Dug for Forgotten Facts and History," p. B9.
Further reading
- American Reference Books Annual, 1977, Bohdan S. Wynar, review of The Kane Book of Famous First Facts and Records in the United States, p. 59; 1981, Edward J. Hall, Jr., review of Nicknames and Sobriquets of U.S. Cities, States, and Counties, 3rd ed., pp. 280–281; 1982, Gary D. Barber, review of Facts about the Presidents, 4th ed., p. 273, Rolland E. Stevens, review of Famous First Facts, 4th ed., pp. 53–54; 1985, David A. Cobb, review of The American Counties, 4th ed., p. 149; 1990, Daniel K. Blewett, review of Facts about the States, p. 294; 1994, Ronald H. Fritze, review of Facts about the Presidents, 6th ed., pp. 205–206.
- Best Sellers, October 1, 1970, review of The Pocket Book of Famous First Facts, p. 268.
- Booklist, July 15, 1970, review of Nicknames and Sobriquets of U.S. Cities and States, p. 1384; June 15, 1982, review of Facts about the Presidents, 4th ed., p. 1385; October 15, 1984, review of The American Counties, 4th ed., p. 288; August, 1994, review of Facts about the States, 2nd ed., p. 2070; October 15, 1994, Carolyn Mulac, reviews of Facts about the Presidents, 6th ed. and Famous First Facts, 4th ed., pp. 447–448; August, 1998, review of Presidential Fact Book, p. 2045; November 15, 1998, review of Famous First Facts, 5th ed., p. 609; March 15, 2002, review of Facts about the Presidents, 7th ed., p. 1274.
- Book Report, March, 1999, Bonnie Morris, review of Presidential Fact Book, p. 76.
- Choice, February, 1990, J. Campbell, review of Facts about the States, p. 932.
- Current Biography Year Book, November, 1985, "Kane, Joseph Nathan, " pp. 211–215.
- Library Journal, Anne Washburn, review of Famous First Facts, 4th ed., p. 249.
- Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, spring, 1974, review of The American Counties, p. 215.
- Reference Services Review, July, 1973, review of The American Counties, 3rd ed., p. 14; spring, 1985, Gary D. Barker and Carol Burroughs, review of The American Counties, 4th ed., p. 38.
- School Library Journal, May, 1982, review of Famous First Facts, 4th ed., p. 18; May, 1990, Jim Weigel, review of Facts about the States, p. 21.
- School Library Media Quarterly, fall, 1988, review of Famous First Facts, 4th ed., p. 41.
- Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 1990, Victoria Yablonsky, review of Facts about the Presidents, 5th ed., p. 67; October, 1994, Sarah A. Hudson, review of Facts about the States, 2nd ed., p. 245.
- Washington Post Book World, January 31, 1971, review of The Pocket Book of Famous First Facts, p. 11.
- Wilson Library Bulletin, November, 1970, review of Nicknames and Sobriquets of U.S. Cities and States, p. 311; March, 1973, review of The American Counties, p. 609; May, 1980, review of Nicknames and Sobriquets of U.S. Cities, States, and Counties, 3rd. ed., p. 590; January, 1990, review of Facts about the Presidents, 5th ed., and Facts about the States, pp. 127–128; January, 1991, Cathi Alloway, review of Facts about the States, p. 28.