1880_United_States_Census

1880 United States census

1880 United States census

10th US national census

The 1880 United States census, conducted by the Census Office during June 1880, was the tenth United States census.[1] It was the first time that women were permitted to be enumerators.[2] The Superintendent of the Census was Francis Amasa Walker.[3] This was the first census in which a city—New York City—recorded a population of over one million, and the first census in which the 20 most populated cities all recorded over 100,000 residents.

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Data collected

Five schedules were authorized by the 1880 Census Act, four of which were filled out by the enumerators:[4]

  • Schedule 1 (Population), which was similar to that used for the previous census, with a few exceptions.[5]
  • Schedule 2 (Mortality), which used the same inquiries as in 1870, and added inquiries to record marital status, birthplace of parents, length of residence in the United States or territory, and name of place where the disease was contracted, if other than place of death.
  • Schedule 3 (Agriculture), which greatly expanded inquiries concerning various crops (including acreage for principal crop), and included questions on farm tenure, weeks of hired labor, annual cost for fence building and repair, fertilizer purchases, and the number of livestock.
  • Schedule 5 (Manufacturing), which expanded to include information on the greatest number of hands employed at any time during the year, the number of hours in the ordinary work day from May to November and November to May, the average daily wages paid to skilled mechanics and laborers, months of full-and part-time operation, and machinery used.

Schedule 4 (Social statistics) was the responsibility of experts and special agents, rather than the enumerators.[4] The majority of the data came from correspondence with officials of institutions providing care and treatment of certain members of the population. Experts and special agents also were employed to collect data on valuation, taxation, and indebtedness; religion and libraries; colleges, academies, and schools; newspapers and periodicals, and wages.[4]

Special agents were also charged with collecting data on specific industries throughout the country, and included the manufactures of iron and steel; cotton, woolen, and worsted goods; silk and silk goods; chemical products and salt; coke and glass; shipbuilding; and all aspects of fisheries and mining, including the production of coal and petroleum.[4]

Full documentation for the 1880 population census, including census forms and enumerator instructions, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, which contains microdata.

Data availability

The original census enumeration sheets were microfilmed by the Census Bureau; after which the original sheets were transferred to various state archives, libraries, or universities.[6] The microfilmed census is available in rolls from the National Archives and Records Administration. Several organizations also host images of the microfilmed census online, along which digital indices.

Microdata from the 1880 population census are freely available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System.

Results

The 1880 census determined the resident population of the United States to be 50,189,209, an increase of 30.2 percent over the 38,555,983 persons enumerated during the 1870 census.[7] The mean center of United States population for 1880 was in Boone County, Kentucky.

The results from the census were used to determine the apportionment for the 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st, and 52nd sessions of the United States Congress.

The processing of the 1880 census data took so long (eight years) that the Census Bureau contracted Herman Hollerith to design and build a tabulating machine to be used for the next census.[8][9] The 1880 census also led to the discovery of the Alabama paradox.

Source: Table I, Population of the United States, by States and Territories[10]

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References

  1. [1]
    1880 Census: Instructions to Enumerators from IPUMS, a website of the Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota
  2. [2]
    From Inkwell To Internet: 1880 from the U.S. Census Bureau
  3. [3]
    Billings, John S. (1902). "Biographical Memoir of Francis Amasa Walker 1840–1897" (PDF). National Academy Press. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
  4. [4]
    from the U.S. Census Bureau
  5. [5]
    Scanned images of Schedule 1 (both low-resolution and high-resolution) are available from Historical Forms and Questions: 1880 at the U.S. Census Bureau website
  6. [6]
    Algonquin Area Public Library District. "Census Secrets" (PDF). Retrieved May 17, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  7. [7]
    Resident Population of the United States from a State of Wyoming website
  8. [8]
    Anderson, Margo J. (2015). The American Census, A Social History, 2nd ed. Yale. p. 102. "The final volumes of the 1880 census were published in 1888" thus 1880, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 – eight years at least
  9. [9]
    Tabulating machines from an Early Office Museum website
  10. [10]
    1880 Census: Volume 1. Statistics of the Population of the United States (PDF)
  11. [11]
    The District of Columbia is not a state but was created with the passage of the Residence Act of 1790.
  12. [12]
    In 1880, South Dakota and North Dakota together formed the Dakota Territory, and so the census reported their combined population of 135,177. 1880 Census: Volume 1. Statistics of the Population of the United States (PDF)
  13. [13]
    Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, U.S. Census Bureau, 1998
  14. [14]
    "Regions and Divisions". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on December 3, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
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