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Sources

Where every fact comes from

The Born Story is built from public records. Each source below is one we’ve checked is free to use, and every card and poster names the one it came from.

Which records do you use?

  • NOAA GHCN-Daily

    Daily high and low temperature, rain, and snow, from each weather station’s own log.

    Public domain (U.S. government work) · terms checked October 15, 2026 · NOAA NCEI GHCN-Daily

  • U.S. Census Bureau

    Population of the U.S., each state, and each city.

    Public domain (U.S. government work) · terms checked October 15, 2026 · US Census Bureau

  • NCHS

    Babies born in the U.S. each year, and life expectancy at birth.

    Public domain (U.S. government work) · terms checked October 15, 2026 · CDC/NCHS

  • BLS CPI-U

    Consumer Price Index, for what a dollar from that year buys today.

    Public domain (U.S. government work) · terms checked October 15, 2026 · BLS

  • EIA

    Average gasoline price per gallon (1974 on).

    Public domain (U.S. government work) · terms checked October 15, 2026 · EIA Monthly Energy Review T9.4

  • USPS

    Price of a first-class stamp.

    Facts only: we use dates, names, and figures, never their text or tables · terms checked October 15, 2026 · USPS Historian — Rates for Domestic Letters Since 1863

  • U.S. House Office of the Historian

    Who was president on a given day.

    Facts only: we use dates, names, and figures, never their text or tables · terms checked October 15, 2026 · US House Office of the Historian

  • U.S. Naval Observatory

    Checking our own Moon phase calculations.

    Public domain (U.S. government work) · terms checked October 15, 2026 · US Naval Observatory API

  • U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer

    City locations, to find the nearest weather station.

    Public domain (U.S. government work) · terms checked October 15, 2026 · Census Gazetteer (place 2023)

What about events, famous birthdays, and photos?

Each one names its own source on its card: a museum, archive, library, or official record. A person checks every event and birthday against that source before it’s published, and we show photos only when their license allows commercial use.

Gasoline prices before 1974 aren’t shown, because the original figures come from a private publication we haven’t cleared.

How do you check the numbers?

We load each record from the agency’s own files and compare the loaded figures against the agency’s published tables before they appear on the site. No fact is written by AI.

Found something that looks wrong? Tell us from any result page, or read the FAQ.