On Sunday morning at 2AM, which is really like Saturday night at 2AM to 24-hour party people, you set the clocks ahead one hour. Unless you live in Arizona, Hawaii, or parts of Indiana, it’s that time time again, the first Sunday in April, called Daylight Saving Time, when you lose one hour of sleep, but gain six months of extra daylight.

But it was not always so. The concept, thought up by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, was first put to use in 1918, during WWI, when it was thought that the extra hour of light would save on fuel and boost the economy by spurring evening shopping. (Germany had been setting the clock ahead since 1916.) But farmers hated the change because, among other reasons, cows and chickens could never get the hang of the sun’s new schedule. The US liked farmers farming back then, so springing forward and falling back were made optional choices for individual states after WWII. In 1966, Congress made it permanent, unless a state chose not to adopt the policy, like rebels Arizona, Hawaii, and parts of Indiana.

Daylight Saving Time, for the U.S. and its territories, is NOT observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, most of the Eastern Time Zone portion of the State of Indiana, and the state of Arizona (not the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe). Navajo Nation participates in the Daylight Saving Time policy, due to its large size and location in three states.

(The full story in detail on webexhibits.org)