Dr Joel Weintraub: Unique Aspects of the United States Census

Dr Joel Weintraub: Unique Aspects of the United States Census
Unique Aspects of the United States Census Joel Weintraub, PhD Dana Point, CA
http://tinyurl.com/6upkocy
Demographers Market Researchers Historians Social Workers Politicians Health Providers Economists Librarians Genealogists Sociologists Planners
Census Bureau Report 1943
Topics 1. Why a US census? 2. History of questions 3. Copies or originals? 4. The census takers 5. Undercounts and overcounts 6. Controversial questions 7. Truthfulness? 8. Name and locational searches
United States Constitution 1787 “The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct.”
Census Use Reapportion House of Representatives http://www.psmag.com/politics/is-the-house-of-representatives-too-small-3465/
1911: House set at 435 members, previously, kept adding members after each census so no state lost representatives Vermont had 6 Representatives in 1910, but after the 1930 census they were down to 1 Representative Exhibit: Letter from Rep
2010 Census Use Distribute Federal Funds (~$400 Billion/Year) $14,000 per person over 10 years
The Federal Census Reality: The US Census is a DISRUPTIVE process and it always has been
1790 Family Based. Senators Recommended Marshall Appointments Exhibit: Assist. Marshall Appt http://www.shieldzone.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/jefferson.jpg
First Questions US Census • James Madison wanted age (2 groups added) and occupation (denied) • Too many questions raise suspicions • Extra data useful only for “idle people to make a book” Margo Anderson 2000. Encyclopedia of the U.S. Census http://www.earlyamerica.com/portraits/madison.html
1790-1840 Harper’s Magazine: 1870
Edmonds: Taking the Census 1850 1830: 1 printed, st uniform forms 1850: 1 uniform instructions st and all names in household http://www.flickr.com/photos/maulleigh/1285984329/
1850-1860 Slave Census X Harper’s Magazine: 1870
1870 Considered Worst Ever Fraud and Missed Areas Recounts in Philadelphia, Indianapolis, St. Louis and New York City “Carpet Bagger” Census Undercounts South by 10% Harper’s Magazine: 1870
1850 & 1870 Population Schedules 1870 Exhibit: Original Forms Mortality Schedule
Census Copies vs Originals = originals Thorndale & Dollarhide: Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses 1790-1920
1880 • Major revision of census law • New census bureaucracy
1890 East Side, NYC, June 1890 http://www.maggieblanck.com/NewYork/Life.html
1899 Exhibit: 1899 Application
1910 Competitive exams for enumerators http://www.census.gov/main/.in/php_module/lightbox/media.php?I_1d6272af5fe0ccf54ca2467acb7b8866
Exhibit: 1910 Test & Badges
1940 Enumerators • Examination Required • Legible handwriting and following written instructions considered • Paid on a piece basis, usually 4 cents a name for urban areas and for other forms • Went through training classes
Enumerator Handbook Exhibit: 1940 Handbook
Followup Confidential Questionnaire 115,433 sent 16,025 sent back Read entire instructions? Yes: 12,256 No: 857 (7%) Left blank 2,912 Narrations: 18 Nov 2011
IPUMS Website • Integrated Public Use Microdata Series • Enumerator Instructions • Census Questions and Forms
IPUMS Website
http://www.thoughtviper.com/new/new74.html
Exhibit: 1940 Forms
372: Procedure for Absent Households: ……. “a. Try to obtain the desired information from neighbors or from some other person who may be able to furnish it.” 1940 Enumerator Instruction Book
An outside informant should have their name in the left-hand margin as: “Information from John Brown neighbor” . http://www.census.gov/pubinfo/www/photos/Histforms/1940/cenform/His40cenFQ.html
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/97502086/
The New York Times, June 1915
Census Undercount • “in 1940 the Census Bureau began to systematically estimate the undercount in the decennial census” •http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/cmb/cmbp/downloads/99feb1.html
Census Undercount • 6 1/2 months after the Census, a mandatory Selective Service Registration for males 21 through 35 • Penalties for non-registration: a fine of up to $10,000, a prison term of up to 5 years • (Palo Alto males… #18 among Stanford’s registrants was young John Fitzgerald Kennedy … a student at the graduate school of business) [Palo Alto Wiki] A Check on Underenumeration in the 1940 Census by Daniel O. Price American Sociological Review, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Feb., 1947), pp. 44-4
13% more Blacks, and 3% more Non-Blacks registered than predicted from the census Calculated that 8.4% of Black Americans and 5% of Non-Blacks missed on the 1940 census Social Science History 19:4 (winter 1995) http://news.yahoo.com/1940-us-census-records-show-black-undercount-175820718--spt.html?_esi=1
Census Overcount • Tacoma 1910 counted 116,268 people • In 1900 they had 37,714 counted • Massive fraud shown, and 33,296 names thrown out
Census Overcount
Census Date = 1/1/1920 Enumerated on 1/5/1920 San Francisco, CA
Enumeration Date (1/5/1920) San Francisco, CA
Privacy
Are #!%#!! you a pauper? Exhibit: 1890 Harper’s Magazine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Tobey
Catherine Curtis Senate Testimony
Commerce Sect. Hopkins Solution Two weeks before the census the Secretary of Commerce ruled that the income question could be answered in unsigned, sealed letters.
“Your Signature Is Not Required” Exhibit: Confidential Form
Envelope
Truthfulness?
New York Times April 1930
The Last Laugh… How the hell do you think I could answer if I couldn’t write? So-called English In 1897. In the Yes front room. No 1930 Census Slip A bootlegger
I consider this questionnaire a great joke. Congress is bad enough. Why make it worse?
Name Indexes • Efficient way of finding people • Don’t have to know much about the census format • Can go directly to right page image • Subscription services but some years are free at websites
Census Taker Situations • Unusual sounding names • Incorrect and false names • Abbreviated names or nicknames • Confidentiality and penmanship • Name entry mistakes
“Be particularly care- ful when enumerating a household that no person is reading the entries you are making or the entries you have Exhibit made for other households.” 1940 Enumerator Handbook Sects 20
Stoltz: “… many people from the West Coast wrote to Rockwell asking what the funny-looking stick at the feet of the census taker was and why he was wearing rubbers in a place where the sun always shines”
Exhibit: 1950 Enumerator Tools http://www.census.gov/pubinfo/www/photos/img/highres/Histo10h.jpg
Transcriber Problems • Poor quality census images –Faint writing, blurry, taped, ink blots, ripped, water marks, obscuring statistical marks • Handwriting interpretation • English not primary language
Transcriber Problems 1910 Census Pennsylvania
Watchnatenedget “Not christened yet”
Transcriber Problems • FamilySearch led volunteer project of 160,000 transcribers • 2 people saw same page, and a 3rd if conflicts in the transcription • Housing Schedule 1940 EXHIBIT • Housing Information from Blocks
Name Search Advice • Use Wildcards * ? –Smi* = Smith, Smithson, etc…. –Sm?th = Smith, Smyth, Smuth… • LESS IS MORE • Search for Children • Don’t Use Last Name • RELAX YOUR ASSUMPTIONS
Ray Lyman Wilbur Born April 13, 1875
https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/6935831733/galleries/
The Birth Year Assumption •March 1876 •Feb 1876 •Jan 1876 •Dec 1875 •Nov 1875 64 yr •Oct 1875 •Sept 1875 9/12 (75%) olds •Aug 1875 •July 1875 of 1875 births •June 1875 •May 1875 are 64 •Apr 1875 on the 1940 Census •Mar 1875 65 yr •Feb 1875 olds •Jan 1875
Why Location Searches? •Sometimes name indexes fail •To confirm a missed address •To look up “John Smith” •To find the history of a house • If there isn’t a name index
• Where to look: • Address Books • Birth/Death/Marriage Certificates • City Directories and Telephone Directories • NYC Digitized Phone Books 1940 • Diaries • Employment Records • Letters, Envelopes, and other correspondence • Local Newspapers • Naturalization Records • Photographs • Relatives • School and Church Records • Scrapbooks • Social Security Application
Enumeration District • Abbreviated ED • Area an enumerator counts • Has a unique, two-part number • Boundaries and ED number often change between censuses
Page Geography, Numbering
100% were asked these questions Short Form 40 Entry Lines Long Form Supplementary Questions 5% were asked these questions
Special Census Day 8th April- temporary lodgings, tourist facilities, flophouses, hotels
Regular Page 26 coverage 1 13 Page 27 Follow-ups & Missed 61 Page 29 4/8 Transients 81 1940 Enumerator Handbook: Paragraph 401
- Started as partnership between Steve and Joel in Jan. 2002 for 1930 census - Has search aids for a Site” - Known as “One-Step number of - censuses At stevemorse.org NOT .com - Over 200 utilities on it - Free site
1940 Tutorial Quiz: How to Access the 1940 Census in One Step
In 2011, One-Step site: about 80,000 hits/day 2,500,000 2,000,000 2,248,987 1,500,000 One-Step Hits 1,000,000 500,000 399,840 135,833 0 14-Mar 21-Mar 28-Mar 04-Apr 11-Apr 18-Apr 2012
1940census.archives.gov Designed for 10 million hits a day First 3 hours 22.5 million hits Later in 1st week- 100 million hits per day http://www.archives.com/blog/us-census/
http://www.archives.gov/research/census/presidents/images/hoover- 1940-transcript.pdf
3,343 days until the 1950 census! 1950
1950 Census Project Planning 1. Phase 1: What’s Possible, Get Resources 2. Phase 2: Protocols and Entry Software 3. Phase 3: Transcriptions, Volunteers Fewer unincorporated names 4. Phase 4: Correlate with namesCensus Less institutional 1950 No block definitions large cities Images, Online ED Maps?, NARA ED No 1940 to 1950 ED correlate data definitions, and Population Schedule No online 1950 ED maps Images Websites or ED definitions No 1950 films at NARA branches No budget (as usual!!)
1950 Census Project Planning 1. ~19 million more people than 1940 2. ~80,000 more EDs than 1940 3. 38 Reels of ED definitions (28 in 1940), cost $125 x 38 = $4,750!!
Scans taken = >30,000
STREET INDEXES NAME INDEXES SOCIOLOGISTS ONE-STEP NARA ED MAPS ARCHIVES.COM GENEALOGISTS ED DEFINITIONS PROQUEST ANCESTRY.COM HISTORIANS 1930 TO 1940 #S FAMILYSEARCH DEMOGRAPHERS LIBRARIANS MYHERITAGE.COM HEALTH PROVIDERS ECONOMISTS HERITAGEQUEST.COM

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Dr Joel Weintraub: Unique Aspects of the United States Census