Digital Data from 19th Century Census

Question

If I wanted a digital copy of the census during the 19th century, how would I acquire a copy? Here, I want the data, not just to review online.

Carol Buswell · Answer

Do you want a digital copy of a census page?&#160; Or do you want to have complete digital copies of a whole census? Downloading a single page: You can download a copy of each page of the census individually from several online vendors (free and subscription) such as Family Search, Ancestry, Fold3, and the National Archives Online Catalog. On Ancestry, Fold3, and Family search, be sure to click "view image" (or a thumbnail of the page) for the actual census page and then there will be a place to download the document to your computer somewhere on the page.&#160; In the NARA Online Catalog, you just click the little arrow under the document online copy and save it to your computer Digital Copies of a whole census: The 1940 census is available in it's entirety on the NARA website, but you have to download each page individually to your computer.&#160; Or you can go to a facility of the National Archives or LDS Family History Centers and copy from microfilm (if they still have it).&#160; Call first to be sure they have a digital scanner.&#160; It will still be a page-by-page copy There are a few private companies that have scanned whole rolls of microfilm for sale as digital copies.&#160; You can search for them on Google.

Catherine Brandsen · Answer

Looks like I spoke too soon. A colleague says: There are other institutions that have created databases pulling from 19th-century decennial censuses.&#160; For example, the Minnesota Population Center has Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) USA at https://usa.ipums.org/usa/index.shtml .&#160; On the page listing the source for their samples, they indicate some contacts for obtaining some of the household data that includes names.&#160; The Minnesota Population Center also hosts the North Atlantic Population Project at https://www.nappdata.org/napp/ &#160;&#160; If the researcher is at a university, they may wish to check with their data librarian or see what is available through the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research ( ICPSR ).&#160; Obviously, these are non-government organizations.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; NARA does have various Census data starting with the 1900 Census and some of these files are available for download from the Catalog.&#160; Some of this data includes samples at the household level, but no names.&#160; For example: 1900 Census Public Use Sample: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/596407 and 1940 Census Public Use Sample: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/601838 (As always, links to outside organizations do not imply endorsement.)

Catherine Brandsen · Answer

Hi John,

Colleagues have suggested a few places where you may be able to get digital data or statistics. It looks like they all charge a fee.

Historical Statistics of the United States Millennial Edition Online

University of Virginia Library

Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-1970

Digital Data from 19th Century Census

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