I wasn't able to locate any info online for Elta Altman so the following (interesting) historical events occurred during Elta's birth year of 1884:
Jan 18 - Dr. William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Iesu Grist (Welsh for Jesus Christ) Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the United Kingdom
Feb 1 - 1st volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, A-Ant, published
Feb 19 - Enigma outbreak of tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana kill 800 people
Mar 8 - Susan B. Anthony addresses U.S. House Judiciary Committee arguing for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote, 16 years after legislators 1st introduced a federal women's suffrage amendment.
Mar 12 - Mississippi establishes 1st US state college for women
Mar 13 - US adopts Standard Time
Mar 27 - 1st long-distance telephone call, Boston-NY
Apr 22 - Thomas Stevens starts 1st bike trip around world (2 yrs 9 mths)
May 17 - Alaska becomes a US territory
May 19 - Ringling Brothers circus premieres
May 31 - Dr John Harvey Kellogg patents "flaked cereal"
Jun 16 - 1st roller coaster used (Coney Island NY)
Jul 4 - Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris
Oct 13 - Greenwich in London established as the universal time meridian of longitude
Oct 23 - 1st World Series OKed by AA, Providence (NL) beats NY Mets (AA) 6-0
Nov 4 - Grover Cleveland (D) beats James G. Blaine (R) for his 1st presidential term (only American president to serve 2 non-consecutive terms)
Dec 10 - "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain is first published in the UK and Canada (US Feb 1885, due to printing error)