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I was looking for a word that describes someone who is an expert in or studies calendars, and I couldn't find anything.
For more context, I am looking for the word you would call someone who knows how to calculate the number of days between a date in the distant past, when different calendars were used, and a date in the modern calendar. I thought historian, but I'm not sure that's adequate.
I believe that you are looking for a horologist. (Horology: the art or science of measuring time.)
Wikipedia has this to offer, with a citation to a 1913 Webster's.
Chronometry (from Greek χρόνος "time" and μέτρηση "measurement") is the science of the measurement of time, or timekeeping. It should not to be confused with chronology, the science of locating events in time, which often relies upon it.
The honest answer is that there is no commonly accepted word for the study of calenders. It's clear that the question relates to how societies perceive and describe the division of, and the progression of time. This involves in all cases the study and measurement of natural periodicity (astronomical generally) and in most cases is combined with the study and ordering of events (usually human or geological). For example the Roman calender measured time in years (astronomically-based) passed since the founding of Rome (event-based).
The science of the measurement of time is 'chronometry' (from the Latin/Greek words for 'time' and 'measurement') while the study of the ordering of events is 'chronology'(from the Latin/Greek words for 'time' and 'description'. A candidate word for the study of both might be 'chrononomy' (from the Latin/Greek words for time and arrangement). The Oxford English Dictionary recognizes 'chrononomy' but describes its (historical) use as rare. Hovever this only reflects the fact that the study of calendars is a very modern interest.
'Horology' comes from the Latin/Greek words for hour and description, but has come to (generally) relate to the study of mechanisms for measuring time. It has to be said that the Greek word here also included a sense of seasons and time generally, but the Latin word definitely relates to hours.
Calendar comes from the Latin word Calends, meaning 'call' or 'proclaim', and used uniquely in Rome in relation to the first day of each month. The first day of each Roman month was a day on which announcements would be made, and accounts would be calculated from. Strictly speaking then, the word 'calendology' would mean something like the study of proclamation descriptions. Words, however, mean whatever we mean them to mean, and 'calendology', or 'calendarology' might work for us, even if the philologists shudder at it.
Well, at least a couple of dozen people have been prepared to go into print with calenderologist and/or calenderology. So even though I don't think you'll find them in any dictionary, I guess these are the best words you'll get.
Sticking to words that are in the dictionary, chronology is the science that deals with the determination of dates and the sequence of events. So OP might want to go with chronologist.
EDIT: I didn't have access to the full (subscriber-only) OED when I wrote this answer. But now I have, I should just flag up these entries...
calendarer - One who calendars (esp. documents)
calendarian - A maker of a calendar
calendariographer - A calendar- or almanac-maker
calendarist - One who calendars (events, days, etc.), one who assigns dates and periods
calendary - Of, pertaining to, or according to, the calendar OR The act of calendaring
Spoilt for choice, really.
I agree with @Daniel δ that there isn't a specific term for this. But I believe the term calendar scholar is close to what you want to express.
A chronologist is someone who studies historical records to establish the dates of past events, so this term can be used if you are interested in this connotation.
Those who study calendars are most likely to be doing so as historians or archaeologists, as subdivisions of subjects such as astronomy or astrology, or religion, or of the specific cultures that produced the calenders. A good overview would be something like Calendars in Antiquity: Empires, States, and Societies by Sacha Stern (OUP, 2012). No answer to the specific question, I am afraid. Horologist probably comes closest, though in the past you would have called someone doing such calculations an astrologist!
A calendar scholar may have the requisite knowledge to perform these calculations, but then so do your or I or anyone. The conversions are not difficult computations, and the algorithms to make the conversions are fixed. There are many calculators for making the conversions found easily with google. My point is that the conversion of dates is hardly a mysterious power held by a few experts, hence a reference to a specific type of person who made the calculation is unnecessary. A historian could easily do it and I don't think there's need to highlight his ability as anything extraordinary.
