The Standard Time Act is signed into law on March 19, 1918, giving Americans an extra hour of sun to enjoy! This guide provides access to materials related to "Daylight Saving” in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.
Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Included in the website is the Directory of US Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
“Daylight will last an hour longer, which can be used for tennis or other sports,” suggests the Washington Times. Following Europe’s example, the United States adopts Daylight Saving Time in order to save energy and take advantage of daylight hours. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
March 15, 1918
The Standard Time Act is passed by Congress, creating Daylight Saving Time in the United States.
March 19, 1918
The Standard Time Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson.
March 31, 1918
Daylight Saving Time goes into effect in the U.S. for the first time.