Q&A on the News

Q: Is the Mather School related to the Flora Stone Mather Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland?

—Lora Reed, Milton

A: The Mather School, which was featured in a 1949 movie that was shown in Atlanta this fall, was founded in 1867 in Beaufort, S.C., by Bostonian Rachel Crane Mather, to provide education for African-American women. Dr. Dorothy C. Miller, the director of the Flora Stone Mather Center, said Flora Stone lived her entire life in Cleveland and married Samuel Mather, who lived next door. "They both came from well-to-do prominent families. She was a very generous philanthropist and gave to many charities in Cleveland, especially the College for Women at Western Reserve University, which became Mather College after her early death from breast cancer," Miller wrote in an e-mail to Q&A on the News. The Mather College for Women was disbanded in 1972, Miller said, and the Flora Stone Mather Center at Case Western Reserve University was established in 2002.

Q: Regarding Daylight Saving Time: Has Georgia always participated?

—Dianne Wallin, Johns Creek

A: Daylight Saving Time went into effect in the state after Congress passed the Standard Time Act of 1918 as "a wartime measure to save energy by taking advantage of the later hours of daylight between April and October," according to Ed Jackson and Charles Pou of the University of Georgia. It was repealed in 1919 and then observed again during World War II. Since 1967, it has been observed nationwide with a few exceptions.