as.POSIXlt(book$DATE, origin="1582/10/14") works. The Gregorian calendar was the kicker, thanks to ggrothendieck at gmail.com Ross -- View this message in context: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/Importing-dates-from-SPSS-file-tp3260293p3260329.html Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.