Construction of a Panel Database from Linked Population and Agricultural Census Records, 1850-1880

该项目将根据现有的微观层面的联邦人口普查数据构建一个不平衡的小组。具体地说，它将把1850年、1860年、1870年和1880年美国北部城镇样本的联邦人口普查中个人、家庭和家庭的记录与这些社区在这些普查年的农业普查记录联系起来，这些普查年是唯一可以获得全面农业普查数据的年份。该小组的核心是对1860年农业和人口普查中广泛使用的贝特曼-福斯特样本的扩展版本，以纳入更多的西部农业(包括西海岸)，并提高东北农业的覆盖面。时间范围扩大到包括1850年以及1870年和1880年。几乎所有的个人数据都已经收集完毕。这一建议保障了记录关联和面板的创建及其分配。智力优点：1850-80年不仅是唯一可以创建人口普查和农业普查之间关联数据面板的时期，而且它也是一个在最近的学术中基本上被忽视的地区的根本性经济和社会变革时期：美国北部的农业地区。因此，它承诺通过提供一个新的、大规模的、用户友好的资源来重新开放这一领域的学术研究。小组中的社区正在发生的变化包括最初的欧洲人定居，不断扩大的交通网络，日益增长的城市化，以及农村停滞和人口减少。该小组提供了更多细节(尽管只针对有限数量的社区)，并提供了IPUMS等其他微观数据集中没有的基本时间序列维度。然而，它是对这些其他样品的补充，而不是替代。事实上，为了加强互补性，我们将使用IPUMS代码重新编码，并构建相同的变量(例如“自己的孩子”)。该项目的主要挑战是各个人口普查数据库之间的联系。具体地说，140个社区中每一个社区人口普查中的个人如果留在这些社区，将在不同的人口普查年联系在一起。此外，每年的农民将与他们在该镇经营的农场挂钩。记录的联系主要是通过个人的名字(但辅之以其他信息)。这项任务将面临所有收集和维护来自各种来源的记录的人所面临的挑战，这些来源包括生物医学记录、税务和安全服务以及历史学家和系谱学家。这些挑战包括数据差异和转录错误，这些错误会模糊和混淆真正的联系。虽然链接部分是计算机化的，使用了各种语音编码方案，并考虑到了老化对墨水和纸张的影响，但我们发现人类的参与是不可避免的。事实上，这是成功的关键，也是这一资金申请背后的主要考虑因素。广泛影响：虽然PI对这些数据有自己的研究议程，但主要目标仍然是创建作为公共利益的小组数据库。许多学者对这些数据及其在培养研究生和为研究生论文提供材料方面的潜在价值表示了兴趣。许多个体样本已经通过PI、USGenWeb和各种州和县的历史和家谱协会提供。事实上，USGenWeb已经成立了一个特别项目工作组来处理这些数据。其余的个人数据将在检查后不久提供。完成的小组将与ICPSR一起存档，并在PI的网页上提供，我帮助收集的其他数据库已经驻留在那里。

This project will construct an unbalanced panel from existing micro-level federal census data. Specifically, it will link the records for individuals, families and households from the 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 federal censuses of population for a sample of townships in the northern United States to the records of the censuses of agriculture for these communities in those census years which are the only years for which comprehensive agricultural census data are available. The core of the panel is an expanded version of the widely-used Bateman-Foust sample from the 1860 censuses of agriculture and population to include more western agriculture (including the West Coast) and to improve coverageof agriculture in the Northeast. Temporal coverage was expanded to include 1850 as well as 1870 and 1880. Virtually all the individual data have been collected. This proposal underwrites the record linkage and panel creation and its distribution.Intellectual Merit: Not only is 1850-80 the only period for which a panel of linked data between the census of population and the census of agriculture can be created but it is also a period of fundamental economic and social change in an area that has been largely ignored in recent scholarship: the agrarian northern part of the United States. It therefore promises to reopen scholarship in this area by providing a new, large-scale, user-friendly resource. Among the changes taking place in the communities in the panel are initial European settlement, a spreading transportation network, growing urbanization, and rural stagnation and depopulation. The panel provides much greater detail (albeit for just a limited number of communities) plus an essential time series dimension not found in other micro-datasets such as the IPUMS. However, it is a complement to rather than a substitute for these other samples. Indeed, to enhance complementarity we will recode using IPUMS codes and construct the same variables (e.g. "own children"). The principal challenge in this project is the linkage of the individual census databases one to another. Specifically, individuals in the census of population in each of the 140 communities will be linked across census years if they remain in those communities. Also farmers in each year will be linked to the farms that they operated in the township. Record linkage is primarily through the names of the individuals (though supplemented by other information). This task will confront the same kinds of challenges that face all who assemble and maintain records from assorted sources including biomedical records, taxes and security services as well as historians and genealogists. These challenges include data discrepancies and transcription errors that serve to obscure and confuse true links. Although linkage is partially computerized using various phonetic encoding schemes and also taking account of the effects of aging on ink and paper, we have found that human involvement is unavoidable. Indeed, it is critical to success and the prime consideration behind this funding request.Broader Impact: While the PI has his own research agenda for these data, the primary objective remains the creation of the panel database as a public good. Numerous scholars have indicated their interest in these data and their potential value in training graduate students and providing material for graduate theses. Many of the individual samples have already been made available through the PI, USGenWeb and various state and county historical and genealogical societies. Indeed, USGenWeb has formed a special projects taskforce to handle these data. The rest of the individual data will be made available shortly as it is checked. The completed panel will be archived with ICPSR and also made available on the web page of the PI where other databases that I have helped collect already reside.