CENSUS RESOURCES

 

Overview

 

General Overview:  The Census of the population of the United States is taken every ten years in years ending in 0.  The Census is required by Article 1 of the Constitution for the purpose of reapportioning the U.S. House of Representatives.  The first Census was conducted in 1790. 

 

In addition to simply counting the number of people, the census also provides information for researchers about the demographic, social, and economic conditions of a given area.  The exact questions that were asked have changed over time, reflecting changes in the structure of society and technology, etc.  These changes are important to remember when helping students locate data – the same question may not appear in consecutive censuses, thus making comparisons over time difficult.

 

Census Geography: Beginning with 1940, the Census began using the unique geographical breakdowns, Census Tracts, Block Groups & Blocks. The breakdown starts with the entire United States (Nation) at the largest, most general level and works down to the Block level, which is the smallest unit of data tabulation (with an average of 100 people.)

                       

NATION

Regions

States

       Counties

      Census Tracts

Block Groups

Blocks

 

Sample Data vs. 100% Data: Two kinds of data are collected during the census, sample data and 100% data. The short form questionnaire is sent to every household and covers basic demographic information. For 2000, this short form questions only covered Name, Age, Sex, Race, Hispanic Origin, and Relationship (to others in household.)  Because all of the questions on the short form are also on the long form, every answers these questions and they are referred to as “100% Data.’

 

The long-form questionnaire is sent to about 1 in 6 households and covers everything from Ancestry to Income to number of bedrooms in the house. Because the questions that appear on the long form are only answered by about 20% of the population, they are considered ‘Sample Data.’  For that reason, data for these questions will not be available at the smaller geographic (Block Groups & Blocks), because the sample size will be too small.

 

 

Genealogy vs. Statistics: Genealogists often make use of census information during the process of tracing their family histories.  You are likely to get questions from individuals looking for this type of information.  Here are some important things to know in answering these questions:

 

  • The items we have in our Census Collection deal with statistics…counts of people, not NAMES of people. 
  • We do have some older Census information on microfilm on the 6th floor.  The majority of it is for the southeast region of the United States and is not complete.  See the attachment A for a complete list with call numbers.
  • Provide the patron with the following contact information – both of these libraries are better suited for genealogical research:

 

Nashville Public Library’s Nashville Room – 862-5782

Tennessee State Library & Archives – 741-2764

 

 

 

Our Collection

 

Print

 

Our collection of print items are housed in the Census section of the GI/MS department.  They are arranged in a unique way using ‘Census Categories’, as well as Sudoc #s.  See the attachment B for a list of these categories.

 

Census Holdings

Decennial Census

1790-2000

Economic Census

 

Census of Manufacturing

 

Census of Agriculture

 

 

Determining which table you need is sometimes the most challenging part of using census information.  Each volume should have a table of contents to help you navigate. Attachment C contains examples of charts from three different census volumes that detail what information is available at what level of geography.  Spending a few minutes at the beginning of a search by looking at the tables can really save you time in the long run.

 

Online:  In addition to the paper volumes that we have in the library, a number of the older Census publications are available on the Census website.  In some cases, there are publications online that we no longer have in our collection. 

http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/hiscendata.html  AND http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/index.htm

 

 

 

Databases

 

American Factfinder  (http://factfinder.census.gov)

 The 1990 & 2000 Decennial Census information, along with 1997 & 2002 Economic Census data is available online through American Factfinder.  In addition, there is data for many communities from the American Community Survey.  Tutorials detailing how to use Factfinder are available under the ‘Help’ tab on the main page.

 

Historical Census Browser (http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/)  Provides access to census data from 1790-1960.  You can either browse by year or topic.  It’s important to note that data will only be available down to the county level in this database.

 

 

Other Resources

 

Statistical Abstract of the United States  [Call # -- C/2 (2) Census Collection]

We have a complete run of Stat Abstracts going back to 1878.

 

Historical statistics of the United States, colonial times to 1970

[Call # -- C 3.134/2:H62/789-970 Gov-Ref. Alcove] 
     

Historical statistics of the United States: earliest times to the present

(http://hsus.cambridge.org)

[Call # -- HA202 .H57 2006 Gov.Ref Alcove ….not yet available.]

An updated version of the earlier title above.

Vanderbilt Census page

(http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/romans/census/)

Larry created this page to pull together various Census resources, including prerun tables for Nashville and Tennessee.