Daylight saving time went into effect in the United States on March 31, 1918 during World War I as part of the war effort and many thought it would end when the war ended. Farmers across the country petitioned to end national daylight saving time in 1919 but President Wilson vetoed the repeal stating it “would be of very grave inconvenience to the country.” He would go on to reject the bill a second time on August 15, 1919. Read more about it and follow us on Twitter @librarycongress #ChronAm!

An error was made in a previous message regarding the number of partners to date in the National Digital Newspaper Program. Corrected message below:

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced 2019 National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) funding for institutions representing 11 states to expand their selection and digitization of U.S. historic newspapers for contribution to the freely available Chronicling America online collection, hosted by the Library of Congress. New partners in the program include the Providence Public Library (Rhode Island); the U.S. Virgin Islands (in partnership with the Universities of Florida and Puerto Rico); and the University of Wyoming (Laramie).  Eight other participating institutions – Arkansas State Archives, Connecticut State Library, University of Delaware, University of Georgia, Minnesota Historical Society, Library of Virginia, West Virginia University and Wisconsin Historical Society - also received awards to expand their ongoing selection and digitization of newspapers from their state. Check out the full list of grants for details. Since 2005, cultural institutions in 50 states and territories have joined the program, jointly sponsored by the NEH and LOC, and contributed more than 15 million digitized historical American newspaper pages, published between 1789 and 1963 in 19 different languages, to the collection.

Learn more about the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) or explore American history through Chronicling America and read more about it! Follow us on Twitter @librarycongress #ChronAm!!

Almost 150 years ago on October 8, 1871, the Great Fire of Chicago began in a small dwelling on "the west side"  of the city. Two days later, as the conflagration finally died down, the Chicago Tribune printed a brief two-page issue, its first since the disaster began. Its own home offices devastated by the fire, after detailed descriptions of the destruction, the paper declared "CHICAGO SHALL RISE AGAIN." Discover more about how the nation responded to the news through our Research Guide and read more about it in the Chicago Tribune!

Game 3 of the 2019 World Series gets underway in Washington, DC, tonite and we're excited! Not since 1933 has Washington hosted the championship games of “America’s great pastime,” baseball! In 1924, Washington’s then-home baseball team, the Washington Senators, won the series and earned bragging rights in 7 games against the New York Giants. Not quite so successful in 1925 and 1933 against the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Giants again, respectively, the nation’s press still covered the sport in detail and with drama. Check out the newspaper coverage for each of these series or earlier World Series and read more about it! And be sure to follow us on Twitter @librarycongress #ChronAm for more fun snippets of old news!

Not enjoying the Thanksgiving spirit? Here's an unusual poem by Clarence V. Odell describing the turkey-eat-turkey dynamic of a 'gobble,' another name for a flock of the big birds (also known as a 'rafter').

"NINE greedy gobblers having a fete,
One ate his head off, then there were eight...."

Pity the turkeys... it rarely ends well for them!

Read more about it and follow us all the time on Twitter @librarycongress #ChronAm!

Beer, David F

Zainol, Zaimawati

Van Emden, Joan