On Time National Museum of American History

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  1700–1820
Marking Time
  The Almanac
  Nature's Time
  Status Symbols
  Time in Religion
  Time Is Money
  1820–1880
Mechanizing Time
  1880–1920
Synchronizing Time
  1920–1960
Saving Time
  1960–Today
Expanding Time

Marking Time 1700–1820

Americans were deeply mindful of time, but not of the clock.

Most people did not have—or pay attention to—clocks. They marked their days by the rising and setting sun, phases of the moon, and cycles of hunger and sleep. They ordered their lives by the changing seasons, religious observances, and recurring births and deaths. Those who did think of time in terms of a clock set the hour by the sun or stars.

The Almanac

To keep track of time, many people used an almanac. Its elaborate tables of astronomical, seasonal, and religious events provided a useful way to mark time. And its directives on the proper time to do all manner of things—from planting crops to celebrating holidays—reflected the way many people organized their lives.



Almanack
   Almanack, 1792; with ephemeris (astronomical tables) by Benjamin Banneker, a free African American farmer who used his knowledge of astronomy and mathematics to project the dates and times of celestial events—sunrises and sunsets, the moon’s progress, the appearance of planets and major stars, and eclipses.
Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Libraries


 
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