Perpetual Calendar:

3 ways to determine which day of the week a given date was (or will be):

1) Input the day of the week, month, and date, and get a list of possible years by century (prepared by the Archives staff of the University of Notre Dame; a program that generates calendars from any year)   [Click here for a chart showing what the days of the week have been called in many languages of the world, since the start of recorded history.]

or

(2) Type in the month and the year at Herb Weiner's Perpetual Calendar site (also at http://www.calwiz.com/calendar.cgi )

or

(3) Visually--looking at the various possible calendars' alpha codes and year lists*

*Find the calendar that applies to your situation -- i.e., Calendar Type T was a Leap Year, and February 29th fell on a Wednesday.  Then look at the chart of years to find what years used that Calendar Type.  This greatly helps you to narrow down the possible year of the month and date you are trying to pin down with a year.  For example, Calendar Type T was used in the years 1928, 1956, and 1984, and is coming up in 2012.
 

Calendar types A through G       (click here to print this out as a page)
Calendar types T through Z       (click here to print this out as a page)

Years and their codes:  (Search tip: position the cursor at the end of these instructions, then click on the Ctrl and F keys and enter a space and the letter of the Calendar Type you have identified, then select search Down and click to see which years used that Calendar Type)

1900 B
1901 C
1902 B
1903 E
1904 Y
1905 A
1906 B
1907 C
1908 W
1909 F
1910 G
1911 A
1912 V
1913 D
1914 E
1915 F
1916 Z
1917 B
1918 C
1919 D
1920 X
1921 G
1922 A
1923 B
1924 V
1925 E
1926 F
1927 G
1928 T
1929 C
1930 D
1931 E
1932 Y
1933 A
1934 B
1935 C
1936 W
1937 F
1938 G
1939 A
1940 V
1941 D
1942 E
1943 F
1944 Z
1945 B
1946 C
1947 D
1948 X
1949 G
1950 A
1951 B
1952 V
1953 E
1954 F
1955 G
1956 T
1957 C
1958 D
1959 E
1960 Y
1961 A
1962 B
1963 C
1964 W
1965 F
1966 G
1967 A
1968 V
1969 D
1970 E
1971 F
1972 Z
1973 B
1974 C
1975 D
1976 X
1977 G
1978 A
1979 B
1980 V
1981 E
1982 F
1983 G
1984 T
1985 C
1986 D
1987 E
1988 Y
1989 A
1990 B
1991 C
1992 W
1993 F
1994 G
1995 A
1996 U
1997 D
1998 E
1999 F
2000 Z
2001 B
2002 C
2003 D
2004 X
2005 G
2006 A
2007 B
2008 V
2009 E
2010 F
2011 G
2012 T
2013 C
2014 D
2015 E

Wondering what the days of the week have been named in 160 languages throughout world history?  Click here for a seven-page Chart of the Week, produced by William Mead Jones in England in 1896.  (Note: you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader freeware to open the chart.)

This guide was compiled by J. Todd Ellison, Certified Archivist.

Tools for archival work

Page last modified:  Feb. 15, 2012