Joseph Nathan Kane

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For the American film director (1894-1975), see Joseph Kane.

Joseph Nathan Kane (January 23, 1899–September 22, 2002) was the author of such reference books as Famous First Facts, More First Facts, 1,000 Facts Worth Knowing, Facts about the States and Facts about the Presidents. Kane is certainly one of the most important figures in the field of factual information and his books can be found throughout libraries across the United States. Kane was also a Freemason and was the Master of King Solomon Lodge in New York City in 1927 and wrote many non-commercial articles about the history of Freemasonry. Although Kane attended Columbia University, he dropped out because, according to Kane, "Those professors were wrong when quoting facts and, besides that, I had read most of the books at the Columbia U. Library before I entered Columbia (at age 16)." Kane attended elementary school at P.S. 1 and one of his classmates there was the composer Richard Rodgers ("whom I beat every now and then").

Known as the "Master of Minutae", the "Titan of Trivia", and the "Dean of Detail", Kane updated his books as often as possible, even when he was nearing the century mark. He often had to climb two flights of stairs after coming home from a fact finding mission. He felt that history meant nothing unless it was based on untarnished, honest fact.

Kane was under such high demand for his factual knowledge, that it earned him such jobs as head fact finder and researcher on game shows like Break the Bank and The 64,000 Dollar Question. Kane even had his own 30 minute radio show called Famous First Facts.

By opening to a random page of Kane's work Facts About the Presidents, one can know that the 8th President (Martin Van Buren) had sobriquets like "Sage of Lindenwald" or "Machiavellian Belshazzar". Opening another page we find that Millard Fillmore, the 13th President, was the first President to have a stepmother.

Kane is in high regard by many factualists who turn to his work at a moment's notice for minute details. In his century of life, Kane published hundreds of articles and numerous books.It should also be noted that Kane is one of the very few humans to have actually lived in three centuries: the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Kane also gave credit to inventors and other individuals who deserved recognition and/or credit for certain accomplishments, such as Walter Hunt. Hunt was the actual inventor of the first stitch-lock sewing machine (the credit went to Elias Howe and Isaac Singer), and also the first American safety pin.