On this day in ...... 1903 (105 years ago today), Ruth Graves Wakefield (left) was born. After graduating from Massachusetts' Frami
ngham State Normal School Department of Household Arts in 1924, she worked as a dietition and lecturer on food, and operated Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass., along with her husband Ken. It is said that a shortage of ingredients for the treat she typically prepared for the inn's guests led to her becoming inventor of the Toll House, or
chocolate chip, cookie. From the 1930s till her death in 1977, she joined marketing forces with Nestlé. The rest, as they say, is culinary history.... 1940, the Soviet Union completed the forcible occupation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, an effort begun just 2 days earlier. The 3 Baltic states would regain independence in 1991. (map credit)
