January 4 » Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy's death.
February 14 » The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).
April 29 » A landslide kills 70 people in Frank, in the District of Alberta, Canada.
July 4 » The Philippine–American War is officially concluded.
October 1 » Baseball: The Boston Americans play the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of the modern World Series.
November 17 » The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party splits into two groups: The Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority").
Day of death February 17, 1978
The temperature on February 17, 1978 was between -7.2 °C and -0.9 °C and averaged -4.5 °C. There was 7.5 hours of sunshine (75%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the northeast. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from Monday, December 19, 1977 to Friday, September 11, 1981 the cabinet Van Agt I, with Mr. A.A.M. van Agt (CDA/KVP) as prime minister.
March 15 » Somalia and Ethiopia signed a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War.
May 3 » The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as "spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
July 10 » President Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania is ousted in a bloodless coup d'état.
August 19 » In Iran, Cinema Rex fire caused more than 400 deaths.
October 21 » Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.
November 23 » The Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 goes into effect, realigning many of Europe's longwave and mediumwave broadcasting frequencies.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Leo Koster, "Family tree Koster / Coster", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-koster-coster/I22009.php : accessed March 6, 2026), "Jan Borst (1903-1978)".
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