Baum, Lyman Frank(L. Frank Baum)

1856 - Lyman Frank Baum was born 15th of May in Chittenango, New York.

His father bought him a cheap printing press, and Frank used it to produce The Rose Lawn Home Journal.

1868 - He was sent to study at Peekskill Military Academy.

1973 - Established a second amateur journal, The Stamp Collector, printed an 11-page pamphlet called Baum's Complete Stamp Dealers' Directory.

1876 - Baum took on a new vocation: the breeding of fancy poultry, which was a national craze at the time.

1880 - His father built him a theatre in Richburg, New York, and Baum set about writing plays.

1888 - Baum and his wife moved to Aberdeen, Dakota Territory, where he opened a store, "Baum's Bazaar".

1897 - Wrote and published Mother Goose in Prose, a collection of Mother Goose rhymes written as prose stories, and illustrated by Maxfield Parrish.

1899 - Partnered with illustrator W. W. Denslow, to publish Father Goose, His Book, a collection of nonsense poetry. The book was a success, becoming the best-selling children's book of the year.

1900 - Baum and Denslow (with whom he shared the copyright) published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

1902 - Baum and Denslow teamed up with composer Paul Tietjens and director Julian Mitchell to produce a musical stage version of the book under Fred R. Hamlin.

       - "The Wizard of Oz", opened in Chicago.

1919 - Lyman Frank Baum died 6th of May.

• "Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine, and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities. So I believe that dreams--daydreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing--are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to invent, and therefore to foster, civilization."