HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Constitution requires only a decennial census be taken to provide a population count.
Since the first census in 1790, however, the need for useful information about the United States' population and economy
became increasingly evident. The process of counting the population began August 2, 1790 under the authority of [then]
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. This process lasted about eighteen months. Fewer than 4
million people lived in the United States in 1790, but they were scattered throughout a largely
undeveloped country. Seventeen United States Marshals hired as many assistants as deemed necessary
to travel on horseback to ride through the countryside to count most of the population. Many people
refused to cooperate because they questioned why the government needed this personal information.
The decennial census steadily expanded throughout the nineteenth century.
By the turn of the century, the demographic, agricultural, and economic segments of the decennial
census collected information on hundreds of topics. The work of processing these data kept the
temporary Census Office open for almost all the decades following the 1880 and 1890 censuses.
Recognizing the growing complexity of the decennial census, President Theodore Roosevelt asked
Congress to convert the temporary Census Office into a permanent agency in 1902.
The Census Office is currently the statistical clearinghouse for the federal government.
It employs a multitude of full-time and temporary employees.
TECHNOLOGY AND THE HOLLERITH SYSTEM
There was a time in the nineteenth century when the flood of immigration and industrial expansion
created a need for advancements in what became known as data processing. This need was met by the
new high technology of the day consisting of wooden cabinetry, electric dials, and perforated paper
cards. It was the Eleventh Census of the United States, the "lost" census of 1890, bemoaned by
researchers, which was the stimulus for this high technology. The 1890 census and the machines
invented to aggregate its results were the beginnings of modern information technology as we know it.
To read more about the history and process of this innovative system, click the following link:
Hollerith System
(http://www.census.gov/history/www/census_then_now -
http://www.oz.net/~markhow/writing/holl.htm)
IMAGE NOTES
The census images below contain a wealth of information beyond
the simple locations of ancestors. They provide insight as to the family travels, makeup,
naturalization, entry date, and a host of over things. Enlarged images can be viewed by clicking
the picture of each individually. Additional notes about the censuses can be viewed by hovering
your cursor over the image.
Giovanni Girotti
(Missouri) |
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Ben Mattivi
(Missouri) |
Giovanni Girotti
(Wyoming) |
Mary Girotti
(Missouri) |
Edith Girotti
(Missouri) |
Lena Girotti
(Missouri) |
1925 - Kansas State Images |
John Mattivi
(Kansas) |
John Mattivi
(Kansas) |
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