1914 – He was born on the 1st of October in Atlanta.
1934 – Boorstin majored in English history and literature at Harvard University.
1936-1937 – He obtained a Rhodes scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, where he took first-class degrees in history and civil law.
1940 – Boorstin was admitted to the bar at the Inner Temple in London before returning to the U.S., where he taught history at Harvard and Radcliffe College while he earned his law degree at Yale University.
1942 – He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar and practiced law while teaching history at Swarthmore College.
1944 – Boorstin joined the history faculty at the University of Chicago.
1953 – He presented the House Un-American Activities Committee with the names of other communists.
1960 – He became increasingly conservative and was a severe critic of the radicals.
1969 – He became director of the National Museum of History and Technology at the Smithsonian Institution, now known as the American History Museum.
1975 – Boorstin was appointed librarian of Congress in this post he attempted to make the institution more accessible to the public by ordering the large bronze doors to be kept open, installing a picnic area on the terrace, and organizing concerts and cultural events.
1983-1988 – He served on the Encyclopædia Britannica board of editors.