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Census Records

Census Record Overview

Census Record Overview

US Census Population surveys produce records for through the functions carried out by the US Census Bureau. Archived census records can be accessed through the functions of the National Archives, with the applicable information being located online at the particular source of the www.archives.gov/genealogy/census/ webpage.
In this way, government-provided and verified data on the US census population can be accessed, not directly through the National Archives’ website, but rather to the physical facilities as are maintained by the National Archives and used to contain past census data, among other kinds of data.
Census records which pertain specifically to people who are no longer alive tend to be sought after as ways to learn about the family background of oneself, or of other people, as may be the case for historians and graduate students, and in this way can be referred to the online-accessible scans of microfilm catalogs maintained of such census records from the past.
Census data as pertains to the present can be referred to directly online and through the offices of the US Census Bureau, which maintains a site online at the address www.census.gov. Within this larger site, people can secure access to the informational source of the Statistical Abstract of the United States, a publication dating back to 1878 and kept updated after every new US census population survey.
The Statistical Abstract, which collects current census records, in addition to other governmentally-gathered data, allows people access to professionally issued statistics and interpretations based on up-to-date census data.

1921 Census

1921 Census

The 1921 census was carried out for the national populations of the various states under the administrative purview of the United Kingdom. In this respect, the census 1921 procedures followed in the steps of previous U.K. censuses, which had been carried out after ten year delays beginning with a census in 1801.
The 1921 census collected its various items of information from respondents within the country on June 19 of that year, a Saturday, in the evening, and thus based its conclusion on the current composition and size of the U.K. population on those documents. According to census 1921 histories, this process had been delayed to some extent, due to strikes occurring throughout the country and standing in the way of normal bureaucratic procedures. Originally, the government had intended the 1921 census to take place on the night of April 24, that same year.
As of yet, the various items of personal information collected in Census 1921 records on all of the people then living in the United Kingdom are unavailable to the curiosity and view of the general public. This limitation was established by U.K. privacy laws, in particular the 1920 Census Act, which had mandated a lengthy wait, of around a century, before the full contents of census 1921 and other forms of documentation could be made publicly available and viewable. At the moment, it is planned that the 1921 census will only become accessible in 2022, though petitions have urged the earlier release of census 1921 records.

1930 Census

1930 Census

The 1930 census was a nationally based survey of that year’s population numbers for the people of the United States by the government of that country. In this regard, the U.S. 1930 census was the fifteenth to be carried out in the nation. The 1930 census, as with most of the censuses that have occurred in the country after a date, was under the administrative purview of the Census Bureau. Today, the multitude of documentation generated by the 1930 census taking can be accessed through the storage medium of the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, as well as through the National Historical Geographic Information System.
The 1930 census is held, in terms of historical interest, to be significant in that it confirms and continues the finding produced by the previous U.S. census, which, as is the case for United States national surveys, came ten years before it, in the 1920 period. In this respect, the 1930 census revealed that the increase in the U.S. population, though continuing to some extent, reversing from the rate at which it had been increasing between ten year intervals at the beginning of the century.
Just as the 1910 and 1920 censuses showed the U.S. population rate of increase falling by around 5% in comparison with the consistency between the 1910 and 1900 census, a comparison of the 1920 and 1930 census showed a fall of around 5% in the extent to which the U.S. population increased, suggesting declining amounts of population to the country and stabilizing circumstances for population growth

1871 Census

1871 Census

The 1871 census was carried out in the United Kingdom. In this regard, the 1871 census carried out by the UK government of the time collected data from the primary territories of England Wales, in addition to the smaller territories of islands in the Channel between England and France but in English possession, and the Isle of Man.
Unlike previous United Kingdom censuses which had been carried out in the country, the 1871 census did not include the UK’s then-political possessions of Scotland and Ireland, which were surveyed separately.
The date of the 1871 census is fixed as being that of April 2, and in particular during the evening of that point. The 1871 census was carried out by forms for “enumeration” being given to individuals and households a few days before the census was actually performed.
The 1871 census concentrated on households, recording such various facts pertaining to a residence as its location, all of the people resident within it, whether they employed others or were employed by others, and whether they had any of the adverse health conditions then recognized (such as being an “idiot,” “imbecile,” or “lunatic”).
Due to the high rate of illiteracy within the UK at the time that the 1871 census was carried out, government employees carrying out the survey typically assisted people who had difficulty with completing the survey forms. The original documentation produced by the 1871 census has not lasted into the present, but the compilations of information generated have, and are currently kept as microfilms.
 

Understanding The 1841 Census

Understanding The 1841 Census

References to the historical event of the 1841 census should be understood as referring to a population census carried out for the United Kingdom. In addition to the actual information generated and still available from the 1841 census, this survey is considered historically significant beyond the normal degree of population census surveys in that it was the first such population census to be carried out in the form now considered a regular feature of developed nations.
In this regard, the 1841 census has relevance not only to residents of the United Kingdom, in terms of their national history and the genealogical backgrounds of their families, but also pertains to other residents of countries where censuses are regularly performed, such as the United States, where the census is a ten-year event under the control of a national Census Bureau.
The 1841 Census was performed, specifically, on the date of June 6, and the population census information which it returned to the government is accordingly understood to refer to June 6 at the stroke of midnight and the following day, a formulation which became traditional for population census events in the United Kingdom.
The 1841 Census is officially classified as HO (Home Office) 107, and is kept at the Public Record office. After the age of 15, people recorded by this population census did not have their age recorded exactly, but rounded down within five years. The 1841 census also asked people about their professions, and indicated whether or not they were born in their current county of residence.

1851 Census

1851 Census

The 1851 census was a survey carried out of the population of the United Kingdom and as such pertained to the people then resident in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. In the present, the 1851 census records generated from the first three countries are still accessible for public viewing and research, with those from Wales and England being stored in The National Archives and those from Scotland in The General Register Office for Scotland.
Few of the 1851 census Ireland records, on the other hand, are still extant, with the remnants being kept either in the Republic of Ireland’s National Archives of Ireland and the United Kingdom administered-Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
The 1851 census is looked to for, in addition to the limited but nonetheless significant scope of historical information which it currently accords for historical research, its significance in the general history of census-taking, as can be found to pertain to the United States and its Census Bureau-administered system, among others.
In this respect, the 1851 census was the second to be thus carried out on the United Kingdom, after the similar survey carried out ten years before. As with the 1841 census, the 1851 census stepped forward from earlier practices in census-taking in that it looked at the make-up of various households in the country. Moreover, the 1851 census expanded on the 1841 edition by looking at, in addition the county of residence of a subject, the town or parish where she or he was born.
 

1890 Census

1890 Census

The 1890 census was a nationally-based survey of the population of the United States. The historical data which would have been furnished by the 1890 census has been largely lost to modern-day inquiry, due to the destruction of the majority of the documentation generated from the census in a fire which swept the foundations of Washington’s Commerce Building thirty-one years later.
As such, the 1890 census now stands in historical records for its overall, comprehensive results, as amount to a population of 62,947,714 then found to be living in the United States. As an item of historical interest, it might be noted by the historically curious that the 1890 census was widely questioned by the U.S. public at the time of its compilation, due to pervasive beliefs that the true numbers of the American population at the time exceeded seventy-five million people.
The creation, processing, and storage of the 1890 census, in addition to its reception, are all of historical significance and interest. In regard to the first matter, the 1890 census stands before history for being the earliest to use punch cards. Whereas before census records took a full eight-year period to register, only a year was required to be devoted to the 1890 census.
The burning, at the aforementioned much later date, of the 1890 census records sparked a public push for surviving and future census records to be preserved in an as-yet to-be-established National Archives. Additionally, the 1890 census revealed a significant fall in Native American population numbers over a forty-year period.

1881 Census

1881 Census

The 1881 census was a survey carried out of the population of the “British Isles,” as the census’s field of inquiry was referred to at the time, and was administered on April 3 of that year. In this regard, 1881 census forms had been passed out to individuals and households several days before the census takers were sent around, and people were thus required to fill out questions answering basic questions about themselves and their place of residence.
1881 census information was accordingly collected on such various points of interest as the address of a household and its title, if any; its number of occupants; whether or not an individual member of the household was married, as well as the nature of his or her relationship to the household’s recognized head; and the age, profession, and site of birth of each household member.
In addition to England, the 1881 Census also collected information falling into these various categories from the areas, also under UK political jurisdiction, of the Isle of Man, islands in the channel between England France, and Wales.
The 1881 census accordingly produced two basic forms of documentation, as are of interest to historians, in the form of the initial response sheets filled out by the census subjects, and then the logs made by the 1881 census takers from the various replies they had collected. The former category for paperwork has not survived into the present, but the overall records of answers to questions have survived and are still extant for research purposes.

Quick Look Into The US Census Records

Quick Look Into The US Census Records

US Census records are produced through the offices of the Census Bureau of the United States federal government, as has been tasked with carrying out nationally applicable and accordingly wide-ranging surveys of the country’s current population, including those both legally registered and illegally resident, at decade-long intervals.
The United States Census is accordingly carried out upon the population of the country through a conception of the nation as comprising four distinct regions, identified as the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West, as well as from nine divisions, each representing a portion of one of the US Census data regions.
Accordingly, US Census records will be produced from one of the United States Census Divisions of the possible choices, starting at Division 1 and proceeding upward, of the Northeast’s New England and Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest’s East North Central and West North Central, the South’s South Atlantic, East South Central, and West South Central, and the West’s Mountain and Pacific United States Census division.
US Census records as individual pieces of documentation are used by the government and the elected representatives and appointed officials who administer it for the purpose of adjusting policy to the needs of the US populace as it is currently made out. In this regard, US Census data is inaccessible to the public for a 72-year period starting from its initial point of being collected. Instead, US Census data is made available to the public in the form of statistics and other summaries, while the complete US Census records are held at the National Archives.

1911 Census

1911 Census

The 1911 census was carried out for the people then living in the various areas under the dominion of the United Kingdom. As such, the census of 1911 was fixed in that year according to the established practice of the U.K. government, as had begun carrying out censuses in the year 1801 and afterwards had carried out censuses after every ten-year interval.
At present, the documentation gathered through the 1911 census can be searched online, a service offered to people for research purposes such as into questions of genealogy. This website can be found at: https://www.1911census.co.uk/search/tnaform.aspx.  
In terms of its historical significance, the census of 1911 for the peoples of the United Kingdom bears importance beyond the basic utility and interest contained in the documents which it produced. In this respect, the census of 1911 is set apart in that the original documents through which it was compiled, the questionnaires handed out to all of the households falling under the census’s dominion, are still extant.
That being said, the present availability of 1911 census records, according to the stringent privacy laws in effect in the U.K., has occurred only within specified bounds, mostly including the mandated exclusion of certain details collected in the records and esteemed to be potentially embarrassing. In this way, any one member of the U.K. who happens to look into the census of 1911 will not be able to discern details of personal disability, identified according to contemporary practice with now-disparaging terms like “lunatic” and “dumb.”