* 1878 – Erich Mühsam, German author ( d. 1934 )

* 1878 – Aino Kallas, Finnish-Estonian author ( d. 1956 )

* 1878 – John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian politician ( b. 1796 )

Alexander Mackenzie, PC ( January 28, 1822 – April 17, 1892 ), a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.

* Sir Henri Elzear Taschereau – October 7, 1878

* 1878 – Dick Grant, Canadian runner ( d. 1958 )

** Haliotis kamtschatkana assimilis Dall, 1878 – synonym: Haliotis assimilis, the threaded abalone

Prominent leaders include co-founders Lucien Febvre ( 1878 – 1956 ) and Marc Bloch ( 1886 – 1944 ).

* 1878 – Tip Foster, English cricketer ( d. 1914 )

* 1878 – Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian army officer ( d. 1928 )

* 1878 – Léon Binoche, French rugby player ( d. 1962 )

* 1878 – Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino politician, 2nd President of the Philippines ( d. 1944 )

* 1878 – Richard Girulatis, German footballer and manager ( d. 1963 )

* George V of Hanover ( 1819 – 1878 )

* 1878 – George Whipple, American physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate ( d. 1976 )

* Queen Victoria – the British Weights and Measures Act of 1878 defined it as containing 4, 840 square yards.

* 1878 – Emil Fuchs, German-American attorney and baseball owner ( d. 1961 )

* 1878 – Oliver W. F. Lodge, English poet and writer ( d. 1955 )

* 1878 – Alfred Döblin, German writer ( d. 1957 )

* 1929 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician ( b. 1878 )

* 1843 – Alice of the United Kingdom ( d. 1878 )

* 1878 – William Merz, American gymnast and athlete ( d. 1946 )

* 1878 – Jean Crotti, Swiss artist ( d. 1958 )

* 1965 – Louise Dresser, American actress ( b. 1878 )

Kazimir Severinovich Malevich ( see names ) ( 23 February 1879, previously 1878: see below15 May 1935 ) was a Russian painter and art theoretician.

Stephen P. Timoshenko (,, December 22, 1878 – May 29, 1972 ), was a Ukrainian American engineer who is reputed to be the father of modern engineering mechanics.

* Drahomanov, Mykhailo, La littérature oukrainienne, proscrite par le gouvernement russe: rapport présenté au Congrès littéraire de Paris ( Ukrainian Literature Banned by the Russian Government: Report Presented at the Literary Congress in Paris ), Geneva, 1878.

des Baumettes was built in the former private mansion built in 1878 by the Ukrainian Princess, Elisabeth Vassilievna Kotschoubey.

* Stephen Timoshenko ( 1878 – 1972 ), Ukrainian engineer ( born in the Russian Empire ), father of modern engineering mechanics

" Bolhrad formed part of Moldavia from 1856 to 1859, Romania from 1859 to 1878, 1918 to 1940, and from 1941 to 1944 before being included in the territory of the Ukrainian SSR and later independent Ukraine.

* 1966 – Julie Manet, French painter ( b. 1878 )

* Pavel Varfolomevich Kuznetsov ( 1878 – 1968 ), Russian painter

* 1906 – Slava Raškaj, Croatian painter ( b. 1878 )

* 1878 – Konrad Mägi, Estonian painter ( d. 1925 )

* 1814 – Theodoros Vryzakis, Greek painter ( d. 1878 )

* July 14 – Julie Manet, French painter ( b. 1878 )

* August 15 – Konrad Mägi, Estonian landscape painter ( b. 1878 )

* Tranquillo Cremona ( 1837 – 1878 ), painter

Augustus Edwin John OM, RA, ( 4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961 ) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher.

* Robert Havell, Jr. ( 1793 – 1878 ), British-American engraver who printed and colored John James Audubon ’ s monumental Birds of America series, also painter in the style of the Hudson River School

Tiffany started out as a painter, but became interested in glassmaking from about 1875 and worked at several glasshouses in Brooklyn between then and 1878.

Jean Crotti ( 24 April 1878 – 30 January 1958 ) was a French painter.

The impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh wrote in a letter to his brother Theo in 1878 that " one must never let the fire in one's soul die, for the time will inevitably come when it will be needed.

Richard Adeney was born the son of the painter Bernard Adeney ( 1878 – 1966 ).

As a painter, Daumier, one of the pioneers of realistic subjects, but treated with a very subjective point of view, did not meet with success until a year before his death in 1878, when M. Durand-Ruel collected his works for exhibition at his galleries and demonstrated the range of the talent of the man who has been called the " Michelangelo of caricature ".

* Sir William Orpen ( 1878 – 1931 ), Irish portrait painter, lived at 8 South Bolton Gardens.

Konrad Vilhelm Mägi ( 1 November 1878 – 15 August 1925 ) was an Estonian landscape painter.

* Philipp Wirth ( 1808 Miltenberg – 1878 Miltenberg ), painter

*( 1878 – 1954 ) Stanisław Czajkowski, Polish landscape painter who studied at Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków as well as in Paris ; brother of Józef Czajkowski

* Otto Freundlich ( 1878 1943 ), German painter and sculptor

His son, William Mulready Junior ( 1805 – 1878 ), lived in London and maintained a career of a portrait painter and picture restorer.

Photogravure in its mature form was developed in 1878 by Czech painter Karel Klíč, who built on Talbot's research.

The young Frederic Leighton ( the painter of Flaming June and a president of the British Royal Academy of Art from 1878 until his death in 1895 ) was introduced to her circle in Rome, and was greatly influenced by her in many respects, most evidently, perhaps, in social and musical areas.