# On This Day API > Historical events, notable births and deaths, and holidays for any calendar date — "on this day in history" — relayed live from Wikipedia. Get today's curated highlights, or pass any date (e.g. 07-20 → Apollo 11 Moon landing among the events) to retrieve notable events, births, deaths, holidays/observances, or the editor-selected highlights. Every entry carries the year, a one-line description and a link to the relevant Wikipedia article. Ideal for "today in history" widgets, daily-content apps, trivia, newsletters and educational tools. ## Authentication All requests require your oanor API key in the `x-oanor-key` header. Get one at https://www.oanor.com/developer/keys. ```bash curl -H "x-oanor-key: oanor_live_…" "https://api.oanor.com/onthisday-api/..." ``` ## Pricing - **Free** (Free) — 5,500 calls/Mo, 2 req/s - **Starter** ($4/Mo) — 60,000 calls/Mo, 8 req/s - **Pro** ($13/Mo) — 300,000 calls/Mo, 20 req/s - **Mega** ($33/Mo) — 1,500,000 calls/Mo, 50 req/s ## Endpoints ### On This Day #### `GET /v1/births` — Notable births on a date **Parameters:** - `date` (query, required, string) — Date MM-DD, e.g. 01-15 - `limit` (query, optional, string) — Max items **Example:** ```bash curl -H "x-oanor-key: $KEY" \ "https://api.oanor.com/onthisday-api/v1/births" ``` #### `GET /v1/deaths` — Notable deaths on a date **Parameters:** - `date` (query, required, string) — Date MM-DD, e.g. 04-21 - `limit` (query, optional, string) — Max items **Example:** ```bash curl -H "x-oanor-key: $KEY" \ "https://api.oanor.com/onthisday-api/v1/deaths" ``` #### `GET /v1/events` — Notable events on a date **Parameters:** - `date` (query, optional, string) — Date MM-DD, e.g. 07-20 (omit for today) Example: `07-20` - `limit` (query, optional, string) — Max items **Example:** ```bash curl -H "x-oanor-key: $KEY" \ "https://api.oanor.com/onthisday-api/v1/events?date=07-20" ``` **Response:** ```json { "data": { "date": "07-20", "count": 68, "items": [ { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos", "page": "Jeff Bezos", "text": "American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.", "year": 2021 }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_MS-13", "page": "Soyuz MS-13", "text": "Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.", "year": 2019 }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson", "page": "O. J. Simpson", "text": "O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.", "year": 2017 }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suru%C3%A7_bombing", "page": "Suruç bombing", "text": "A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100.", "year": 2015 }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wi …(truncated, see openapi.json for full schema) ``` #### `GET /v1/holidays` — Holidays & observances on a date **Parameters:** - `date` (query, optional, string) — Date MM-DD, e.g. 12-25 (omit for today) Example: `12-25` **Example:** ```bash curl -H "x-oanor-key: $KEY" \ "https://api.oanor.com/onthisday-api/v1/holidays?date=12-25" ``` **Response:** ```json { "data": { "date": "12-25", "count": 10, "items": [ { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas", "page": "Christmas", "text": "Christmas Day, Christian festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. (Internationally observed)", "year": null }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_of_Sirmium", "page": "Anastasia of Sirmium", "text": "Christian feast day:\nAnastasia of Sirmium (Catholic Church)", "year": null }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Stephen", "page": "Saint Stephen", "text": "Christian feast day:\nStephen (Armenian Apostolic Church)", "year": null }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_25_(Eastern_Orthodox_liturgics)", "page": "December 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)", "text": "Christian feast day:\nDecember 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)", "year": null }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Day", "page": "Children's Day", "text": "Children's Day (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Republic of Congo)", …(truncated, see openapi.json for full schema) ``` #### `GET /v1/selected` — Editor-selected highlights on a date **Parameters:** - `date` (query, optional, string) — Date MM-DD, e.g. 05-31 (omit for today) Example: `05-31` - `limit` (query, optional, string) — Max items **Example:** ```bash curl -H "x-oanor-key: $KEY" \ "https://api.oanor.com/onthisday-api/v1/selected?date=05-31" ``` **Response:** ```json { "data": { "date": "05-31", "count": 16, "items": [ { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Virginia_Beach_shooting", "page": "2019 Virginia Beach shooting", "text": "A shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, United States, left 13 people dead, including the gunman, and injured four others.", "year": 2019 }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2017_Kabul_bombing", "page": "May 2017 Kabul bombing", "text": "A car bomb exploded near the German embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing more than 90 people and injuring 463 others.", "year": 2017 }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_El_Reno_tornado", "page": "2013 El Reno tornado", "text": "An extremely large, powerful, and erratic tornado struck Central Oklahoma, killing eight people and injuring more than 150 others.", "year": 2013 }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Tiller", "page": "George Tiller", "text": "American physician George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country who performed late-term abortions, was shot and killed by Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion activist.", "year": 2009 }, { …(truncated, see openapi.json for full schema) ``` #### `GET /v1/today` — Curated highlights for today (UTC) **Parameters:** - `limit` (query, optional, string) — Max items **Example:** ```bash curl -H "x-oanor-key: $KEY" \ "https://api.oanor.com/onthisday-api/v1/today" ``` **Response:** ```json { "data": { "date": "05-31", "count": 16, "items": [ { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Virginia_Beach_shooting", "page": "2019 Virginia Beach shooting", "text": "A shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, United States, left 13 people dead, including the gunman, and injured four others.", "year": 2019 }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2017_Kabul_bombing", "page": "May 2017 Kabul bombing", "text": "A car bomb exploded near the German embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing more than 90 people and injuring 463 others.", "year": 2017 }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_El_Reno_tornado", "page": "2013 El Reno tornado", "text": "An extremely large, powerful, and erratic tornado struck Central Oklahoma, killing eight people and injuring more than 150 others.", "year": 2013 }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Tiller", "page": "George Tiller", "text": "American physician George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country who performed late-term abortions, was shot and killed by Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion activist.", "year": 2009 }, { …(truncated, see openapi.json for full schema) ``` ### Meta #### `GET /v1/meta` — Source & categories **Example:** ```bash curl -H "x-oanor-key: $KEY" \ "https://api.oanor.com/onthisday-api/v1/meta" ``` **Response:** ```json { "data": { "note": "Live historical entries relayed from Wikipedia; not cached.", "fields": [ "year", "text", "page", "url" ], "source": "Wikipedia 'On this day' (Wikimedia REST API)", "endpoints": [ "/v1/today", "/v1/events", "/v1/births", "/v1/deaths", "/v1/holidays", "/v1/selected", "/v1/meta" ], "categories": { "births": "notable births", "deaths": "notable deaths", "events": "notable events", "holidays": "holidays & observances", "selected": "curated highlights" }, "date_format": "MM-DD (e.g. 07-20); omit on /v1/today for today (UTC)" }, "meta": { "timestamp": "2026-05-31T06:28:05.195Z", "request_id": "c6a3c499-0405-490a-95f1-a6db4ff864e3" }, "status": "ok", "message": "Meta retrieved", "success": true } ``` --- Marketplace page: https://www.oanor.com/api/onthisday-api OpenAPI spec: https://www.oanor.com/api/onthisday-api/openapi.json