Today in History: Keeping Time
Today in History–November 18–the Library of Congress features time. On this day in 1883, precisely at noon, North American railroads switched to Standard Railway Time (SRT). SRT was quickly adopted throughout the United States, resulting in the creation of four national time zones: eastern, central, mountain and Pacific. A year later, at an international conference in Washington D.C., the meridian passing through Greenwich was adopted as the initial or prime meridian for longitude and timekeeping, creating 24 time zones 15 degrees wide, on average. Individual time zone boundaries are not straight, however, because local populations have adjusted them to suit their needs. Learn more about time zones and time keeping by visiting the Today in History section, then click the links below to access more related resources.
Historic newspaper articles: Standard Railway Time
19th-century periodical articles
- “Standard Time by Electricity” Manufacturer and Builder Volume 5, Issue 8, August 1873
- “Standard Time” Manufacturer and Builder Volume 14, Issue 12, December 1882
- “Standard Railway Time” The Century a popular quarterly Volume 26, Issue 5, Sept 1883
- “The New Standard Time and its Advantages” Manufacturer and Builder Volume 15, Issue 12, December 1883
- “Uniform Standard Time” Manufacturer and Builder Volume 24, Issue 5, May 1892
Whose Time is it Anyway? A Brief History of Standardized Time Zones in the United States In Custodia Legis
Four Standard Time Zones for the Continental U.S. Were Introduced from America’s Library
Daylight Savings Time
- Historic newspaper articles: Daylight Savings Time
- Featured Image: Congress passes daylight saving bill
- Spring forward, fall back – it’s daylight saving time In Custodia Legis blog March 6, 2014
- World War I and Daylight Savings Time Teaching with the Library of Congress March 9, 2017
Time Zones
More time resources
- Books about time 1879-1919
- Clock image set
- Featured Image: Outside watch shop
- Featured Image: Winged Time
- A Walk Through Time online exhibition National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Learning from the Source: Technology Time Travel lesson plan