Full Citation

Title: The Making of a Modern Census: The United States Census of Population, 1790-1940

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 1995

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Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is twofold: first, to analyze who and what influenced the content of the decennial census of population schedules from 1790 to 1940; and second, to examine census-taking procedures across the same time period. The audience of this work will also likely have a serious interest in the enumeration, correction, and tabulation of the United States census, albeit for slightly different reasons; to gain a sense of the relative accuracy of census data in relation to public use samples. The Making of a Modern Census: The United States Census of Population, 1790-1940, will fill two gaps in the literature of United States census history. These gaps are relevant not only to those with a casual or incidental interest in the United States census of population, but also to those users of aggregate and public use sample census data. Users of census data, no matter what their discipline, will be interested in who and what influenced the census schedule as well as the procedures in place to collect the data. The first gap pertains to a treatment of who and what influenced population schedule content and the second to the lack of procedural histories for U.S. population censuses prior to 1950. The Making of a Modem Census is divided into two parts. Part I analyzes which individuals and groups most affected the population schedule from 1790 through 1940 and, in relation to these actors, discusses some notable changes in the scope and content of the population schedule. The ambitious goal of Part II is to provide an integrated source of census procedure from 1790-1940. In order to delineate the process of enumeration for the first sixteen decennial censuses of population, four issues of procedural comparability are considered: the selection and quality of local administrators and canvassers; training and oversight provided by the national census office; public preparedness for enumeration; and provisions for correcting final returns. The final section, 'trials and tribulations of canvassers,' provides an enumerator-level perspective of the procedures in 'action.'

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Authors: Magnuson, Diana L.

Institution: University of Minnesota

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Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Publisher Location: Minneapolis, MN

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Other

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