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The Visual Representation of Data

By Jutta Seibert

Elmer R. Kottcamp, Weather
Vane, c. 1941, watercolor and
graphite on paper, 43.9 x 31 cm.
Courtesy of the National
Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Visual representations of data help us understand numbers and their relationships with each other at their best, at their worst they misrepresent and distort what they represent. In our data-driven world visual literacy has become a critical component of information literacy. Thus, it should come as no surprise that this year the Library included a data visualization competition in its Love Data Week lineup.

Humans are remarkable adept at creating and understanding visual representations of data. While experts are divided on whether or not to count paleolithic cave drawings as early examples of data visualization, there is general consensus that maps are visual data communication tools. The information encoded on maps can be highly complex but nevertheless easy to grasp given a basic familiarity with coding conventions for maps. Some of these conventions are so ubiquitous that they are at times considered universal. This may be true today, but visual codes have changed over time. The four cardinal points are an interesting case in point. While we may consider the placement of the North at the top of a map as universal, not all maps follow this convention: Some Medieval European maps show East, where Jerusalem was situated, at the top of the map, Islamic maps often show the South at the top, and last, but not least, modern GIS systems show the travel goal and not one of the cardinal directions at the top.

Modern computing technology has put a wide range of data visualization tools at our fingertips. We are only a few clicks away from transforming data points on a spreadsheet into picture-perfect pie charts, bar graphs, tree maps, and scatter plots. In fact, creating visualizations is generally easier than understanding some of them. There is evidence that many data visualizations produced today are either nonsensical, pedestrian, or outrightly misleading. Numerous websites and publications are dedicated to the misrepresentation and distortion of data through visualizations. Similarly, a range of academic journals are dedicated to the topic of data visualization in various fields ranging from business to science, and the humanities. In a world where enormous amounts of data are continuously collected, both intentionally and unintentionally, data analysis and data communication are considered basic skills in many professions. Today, visual and data literacy are important components of basic information literacy.

Minard, Charles Joseph. “Representation of successive human loss during the Russia campaign of the French Army, 1812-1813.” Courtesy of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Truly great data visualizations are rare. They tell a story and focus our attention. No specialized data analysis training is needed to understand their message. One of the most widely referenced examples is Charles Joseph Minard’s visualization of the human loss suffered by the French Army during the 1812-13 invasion of Russia and subsequent retreat. Minard’s mash-up of a map and flowchart poignantly shows the stark realities of human loss caused by war. Edward Tufte, a widely respected authority on visualizations and author of multiple works on the topic, calls it “the best statistical graphic ever drawn” on his website.

Explore our recommended reading list below if you are interested in the topic and join us on Friday, February 16 at 10 a.m. for Falvey’s first Data Visualization Competition awards ceremony.

Recommended Readings and Websites

Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 



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Irish Newspaper Archives on trial!

By Jutta Seibert

Looking for news from Ireland? We’ve got you covered. Falvey Library has arranged trial access to Irish Newspaper Archives, a collection of over 200 current and historical newspapers covering all Irish counties. The Archives are updated daily and you can expect to read today’s issues of The Belfast Telegraph, The Corkman, The Donegal News, the Irish Independent, the Tipperary Star, and many other newspapers from Ireland and Northern Ireland whenever you log on. Also available are the archives of a long list of since defunct newspapers, such as The Freeman’s Journal (1763-1924), the Nation (1842-1897), and Punch (1844-1925). Those of our readers who have consulted the Irish Radical Newspapers collection in the past will be familiar with the search interface and collection platform.

Trial access to the Irish Newspaper Archives will be available until October 20. We noticed that the Archives’ response times are slow and ask for your patience. Let us know if you would like to recommend the Archives for the Library’s permanent collection.

Related resources in the Falvey collections:

  • Irish studies research guide
  • The Irish Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
    Presents a complete archive of the Irish Times back to 1859 (except for the most recent two years) and the Weekly Irish Times (1876-1958).
  • Irish newspapers in Falvey’s Digital Library
    Available titles include The Free State, The Irish Felon, The Irish People, The Irish Tribune, The Irish Worker and People’s Advocate, The Irishman, The United Irishman, and The Waterford Chronicle.
  • Irish newspapers on microfilm in the Falvey collection
    Titles available include: An-Phoblacht/The Republic, Belfast News-letter, Dublin News, Evening Freeman, Evening Telegraph, Freeman’s Journal, Irish Freedom, Irish Times, Irish Tribune, Irishman, Pilot, The Peasant, United Irishman, and The Weekly Nation.
  • The Irish Press
    A weekly newspaper dedicated to Irish nationalism for an Irish American audience. It was founded by Joseph McGarrity and published in Philadelphia from 1918 to 1922.
  • Radical Newspapers, 1886-1993 (Irish Newspaper Archives)
    Digital archives of more than 100 newspapers, bulletins, and pamphlets covering a broad sweep of nationalist, republican, feminist, and socialist publications.

Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 



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Show Your Love – Adopt a Dataset!

By Jutta Seibert

At long last, Love Data Week is here! Every year the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, better known as ICPSR, hosts Love Data Week in February and invites the academic community to adopt datasets to show their love for data-driven research.

At its core, ICPSR is a data archive that offers a range of value-added services such as online analysis, educational programs, and data management tools. Students, faculty, and staff associated with Villanova University have access to the complete menu of services and archived datasets. Questions regarding ICPSR should be directed to the University’s official ICPSR representative, Social Sciences Librarian Nicole Daly.

The sheer size of the archive is difficult to grasp for anyone not familiar with ICPSR. However, finding relevant data is amazingly easy. Search terms are matched not just to variables or dataset descriptions but also to data-related publications. Most important of all, ICPSR is not just for political scientists and sociologists, as its name may imply; humanists and historians are among the scholars who deposit qualitative as well as quantitative data. ICPSR hosts self-published replication data sets through openICPSR. Keep this in mind for the next time a research grant requires you to share your data for replication purposes.

To show my love of data I adopted the Berry Slave Value Database. Choosing one dataset from the multitude of data available on the topic of slavery was not easy. So many options and so little time. In the end it came down to a choice between Dr. Berry’s dataset, which offered historical sale and appraisal prices covering the years 1797 through 1865 from ten U.S. states, and the data archived by Drs. Fogel and Engerman, which include historical sale and appraisal prices covering the years 1775 through 1865 from eight southern states. I chose to adopt Dr. Berry’s dataset, which was submitted through the OpenICPSR program. OpenICPSR datasets can only be analyzed by downloading them from ICPSR into statistical software, whereas many of the ICPSR curated datasets can be analyzed online on the ICPSR website. The Berry Slave Value Database features research data that Dr. Berry collected for her monograph The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, From Womb to Grave, In the Building of a Nation, which is available at Falvey in print as well as electronically.

Falvey staff invites you to take a closer look at what ICPSR has to offer and to adopt a dataset this week whether you are a humanist or a social scientist. For more information about ICPSR and some of the other data resources Falvey offers, join us throughout the week in one of our lunch workshops. Join us online using the hashtag #LoveData23 to see how institutions around the world are celebrating Love Data 23.


Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 



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Falvey offers trial access to the Art & Architecture ePortal

By Jutta Seibert

Falvey currently offers trial access to the Art & Architecture ePortal (A&AePortal), an authoritative source of academic art and architecture books. Electronic access to art, art history, and architecture monographs and journals is a somewhat recent development. Reproduction quality of image and copyright permissions were among the major drivers for this delay. Technological changes in recent years have resulted in electronic image quality that is often superior to that in print media. Covid-19 access restrictions to print collections accelerated and incentivized the transition to e-books in art and art history.


A&AePortal is a great example of a high-quality and innovative e-book collection in this discipline. It features a collection of authoritative works on art and architecture including artist monographs, surveys, museum catalogs, and catalogues raisonnés. Most works are part of the catalog of Yale University Press publications complemented by selected books from other highly regarded university and museum presses including electronic access to the acclaimed The Image of the Black in Western Art series edited by Bindman, Gates, and Dalton and published by Belknap Press.

Falvey owns many of the works in print but some of these critical works have been lost or damaged over the years and are currently out of print. Online access offers the convenience of easy access to often oversized and weighty books. In some cases black and white images that appeared in the print publications have been replaced with high-quality color copies. The portal features a searchable image archive, citation and annotation tools, as well as a personal book shelf.

Library staff invites you to explore the A&AePortal. Trial access to the collection will end on December 30th. We are looking forward to your comments.


Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 



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100 Years of Japanese News in English: Explore the Japan Times

By Jutta Seibert

Villanova faculty members, students, and staff who are interested in Japanese society, culture, and politics can currently explore the archive of the Japan Times, the longest running Japanese newspaper in English language. Trial access to the archive will be available until Aug. 5.

Motosado Zumoto launched the Japan Times in March of 1897 and served as its founding editor. His goal was to promote Japanese perspectives and values among Westerners and to give Japanese people the opportunity to read and discuss local and international news in English. Japanese business people, students, and foreign residents represented the bulk of the newspaper’s audience. While the Japan Times styled itself as an independent daily, there was always a measure of government influence. Prince Ito Hirobumi, a four-time prime minister of Japan, financed the paper for some time. In 1933, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs appointed Hitoshi Ashida, former ministry official, as chief editor, reducing the Times to an outlet for Imperial Japanese government propaganda.

Also included in this database is The Japan Advertiser, a competing newspaper which eventually merged with the Japan Times. The Advertiser was written by and for missionaries, diplomats, merchants, and journalists who were based in Japan. Search results can be limited by imperial period. The archive includes extras and supplements as well as images and ads. The most recent issues currently available in the archive are from 2021.

A link to the collection will be available on the Databases A-Z list until the trial ends on Aug. 5.


Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 



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UK Parliamentary Papers Now Available Through Falvey

By Jutta Seibert

You asked for it and we delivered: Falvey recently acquired permanent access to the digital archive of UK Parliamentary Papers. The archive comprises documents from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, as well as some earlier papers. The twenty-first century collection is not available to the Villanova community, but some of the papers from this period are freely available through the UK’s Parliamentary Archives.

The House of Parliament, as seen from Lambeth.
Image taken from “The Earth and Its Inhabitants. Europe. Vol. 4, The British Isles” by Élisée Reclus. New York: Appleton and Co., 1881, p. 184. Courtesy of Hathi Trust.

Research applications are endless given the scope of the archive. Its contents hold wide appeal for scholars from a range of disciplines, including political science, history, and Irish studies. They cover a vast sweep of events tracing the political discourse on matters large and small. Expect to find sessional papers, acts, bills, agreements, public petitions, and reports among the archived documents. Among the many issues and events covered figure universal suffrage, the slave trade and its abolition, the poor laws, child labor, mandatory vaccination, a long list of wars, national trade statistics on products such as cotton, coffee, tea, sugar, timber, and rubber, government funded expeditions such as the ill-fated arctic expedition led by Sir John Franklin, British overseas colonies and their struggles for independence, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland to name just a few topics.

The archive offers an advanced search interface and search facets that will narrow results by date, document type, Parliament chamber, and subject. Document features, such as maps, plans, tables, graphs, and illustrations, are indexed and easy to identify. Documents can be downloaded in PDF format.

This archive does not generate document citations, but the Details view includes common and Cockton titles, date, series, document number, and a permalink; in short, all the necessary elements. I am including below a selection of documents that illustrate the broad sweep of archival sources included in this archive.

Let us know if you have any further questions or visit the ProQuest Guide to UK Parliamentary Papers. Access to the archive is provided via the Databases A-Z list and the Library’s catalog.

A Sampling of Documents from the UK Parliamentary Papers Archive

Illustration of the work performed by Margaret Hipps, age seventeen, in a UK coal mine.
Taken from “Children’s Employment Commission. First Report of the Commissioners. Mines,”
published in London by William Clowes and Sons in 1842 (fig. 19, p. 95). UK Parliamentary Papers (ProQuest)


Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 



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Falvey Expands Access to Russian News with Acquisition of Izvestiia Digital Archive

By Jutta Seibert

Stamp commemorating
the 50th anniversary of Izvestiia.

Falvey Library recently acquired the complete digital archive of Izvestiia (Известия) from East View. Next to the Pravda, Izvestiia is likely the most widely recognized newspaper in Russia. In print since 1917, it was once the official organ of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR but has changed hands several times since the collapse of the Union. It remains a popular and widely respected news source in Russia today.

The Izvestiia digital archive offers the Villanova community a unique opportunity to explore life in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. It goes without saying that this is a Russian language archive. The search interface includes a virtual keyboard to facilitate full text searching using the Cyrillic alphabet. A standard Western keyboard can be used to enter search terms in transliterated (Romanized) Russian. Alternatively, one can also browse the archive by date. A small selection of Izvestiia articles is available in The Current Digest of the Russian Press for those looking for translations, but only back to 1949 and in some cases only in condensed format and always without illustrations. Note that The Current Digest typically lags a week or two behind actual events due to the logistics of selecting and translating news.

Izvestiia, January 24, 1924.

The coverage of the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis illustrates well the different opportunities presented by these two news archives. Izvestiia journalists covered the events extensively as they unfolded. Indeed, the paper’s no holds barred coverage, which included many explicit images, led to the ouster of its editor-in-chief Raf Shakirov. Scholars looking for translations will find a sparse selection in The Current Digest issue from September 29 of the same year, published four weeks after events started to unfold. None of the controversial images published in Izvestiia are available through The Current Digest. On the plus side, The Current Digest brings together content from a wide range of Russian news sources in translation.

East View offers a well-designed search interface which can be used to explore a single as well as multiple archives simultaneously. I already mentioned the virtual keyboard that facilitates searching in writing systems other than the Latin alphabet. Available alphabets include old Russian, Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian. The advanced search interface presents typical search features, including date limits and author and publication title search fields. Results can be sorted by publication date, relevancy, publication source, article title, word count, and author if they are indexed. The search results page includes an Excerpts toggle that reveals text excerpts with highlighted search terms for each result.

Articles of interest can be read online in their original formatting, downloaded as pdf files, or printed directly. Available citations in MLA, APA, and Chicago style formatting include persistent URLs which can be readily shared with others. Note that citation formatting needs to be reviewed as author names and article titles are often missing. For example, East View offers the following Chicago style citation for the article “Russia’s Far East Dilemma” by Natasha Doff, which appeared in the Moscow News on August 21, 2012:

“Page 1” Moscow News. 2012. https://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/72935691.

Readers can easily move from reading a single article to browsing the complete issue of a publication page by page.

East View search interface.

Unfortunately, the Izvestiia digital archive is updated only once a year. Currently, the archive includes content up to the end of December 2021. 2022 issues will be loaded in March or April of next year. A link to the archive can be found on the Library’s Databases A-Z list, in the catalog, and on the Russian area studies research guide.

Russian news sources available through Falvey Library
  • Izvestiia Digital Archive, 1917- (East View)
    Offers digital access to one of the longest running Russian newspapers. The archive covers the Soviet era in its entirety as well as the collapse of the Union and the Russian Federation. Yearly updates are added in the spring of the following year.
  • The Current Digest of the Russian Press, 1949- (East View)
    Presents weekly selections of Russian-language press materials, translated into English.
  • Moscow News Digital Archive, 1930-2014 (East View)
    Offers access to the contents of the longest running English-language newspaper published in Russia.
  • Imperial Russian Newspapers (East View)
    Presents open access to selected Russian newspapers published between 1782 and 1917.

Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 



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A Fresh Take on African History: Oxford Research Encyclopedias

By Jutta Seibert

AMODDO, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Falvey Library expanded its history reference collection with the addition of The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History published under the umbrella of the Oxford Research Encyclopedias (ORE) project by Oxford University Press. The collection currently consists of over 450 peer-reviewed essays written by recognized experts in the field. Essays are regularly updated, and new content is continuously added to the online platform. Thomas Spear, Professor Emeritus of African History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, serves as the editor in chief of the African History encyclopedia project. Scholars can search across 25 subject encyclopedias hosted on the platform or focus their search on The Encyclopedia of African History. The University currently has access to ten out of 25 encyclopedias including American, Latin American, and Asian history. A small selection of essays from all encyclopedias is freely accessible online.

For the longest time African history has been neglected by publishers. The few encyclopedias with a focus on Africa which have been published in recent decades were limited in scope. ORE offers a refreshing departure with its broad interdisciplinary approach. Essays included in The Encyclopedia of African History range from “Africa in the World: History and Historiography” by Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia to “The Zanzibar Revolution and Its Aftermath” by G. Thomas Burgess. Essays such as “Comics in Colonial Africa” by Christophe Cassiau-Haurie and “Football in Lusophone Africa” by Nuno Domingos illustrate the broad scope of the project. The shared ORE platform facilitates discovery of related content in other encyclopedias. Pertinent examples include “Colonial Rule and Its Political Legacies in Africa” by Amanda Lea Robinson and “Land Grabs: The Politics of the Land Rush Across Africa” by Pauline Peters from The Encyclopedia of Politics and “The Black Atlantic and the African Diaspora” by Walter C. Rucker and “Ancient Egyptian Religion” by Korshi Dosoo in The Encyclopedia of Religion.

While distinctly academic in nature, essays are written in a style that makes them accessible to undergraduates and mature scholars alike. Essays generally begin with a summary before offering a comprehensive overview of the topic together with its historiography. They also identify available primary sources and digital archives. Bibliographies include links to the Falvey collections. New essays are added monthly.

The Library’s Databases A-Z list includes a listing for Oxford Research Encyclopedias. Direct access to The Encyclopedia of African History is also available via the Library’s catalog.


Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 



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Falvey Resources: Correcting the Scholarly Record Through Retractions

By Jutta Seibert

Scholarly monographs and peer-reviewed journal articles hold positions of trust in the academic community. This trust is grounded in the peer-review process and the editorial rigor of academic presses. Much has been written about the reliability and sustainability of peer review, but comparatively little is known about the ways in which academic communities deal with the fallout of retracted publications and the existing publishing record, particularly regarding monographs.

In 1997, a group of academic editors who were concerned about author misconduct gathered informally to discuss best practices and later formalized their collaboration with the foundation of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). It has published a range of guidelines to date, including their Principles of Transparency for Scholarly Publishing, Guidance on Predatory Publishing, a Code of Conduct for Editors, and Retraction Guidelines. Many academic publishers and their editors follow the COPE retraction guidelines, which include, among others, the following reasons for retractions: the fabrication, manipulation, or falsification of sources and/or data, plagiarism, and experimental or mathematical errors.

Academic journals follow widely shared and robust practices to identify retracted journal articles. Typically, a statement of retraction preceding the article itself informs the reader about the reasons for retractions as does a “Retracted” watermark in case the reader missed the statement. For example, the article about fraternal socialism by Charles K. Armstrong, published in volume 5 of Cold War History, is clearly identified as retracted for reasons outlined in the attached statement of retraction. COPE does not recommend to delete retracted articles, as they are part of the scholarly record, may have been cited, may continue to be cited, and, indeed, scholars may want to consult them.

Unlike in the case of journals, there appear to be no standard practices for dealing with disputed monographs. While scholarly journals are published mostly in electronic format, monographs are still widely acquired in print format for library collections. Once a library acquires a print monograph it is out of the reach of its publisher. In the past, libraries inserted retraction notices into issues of print journals in their collection, but no comparable practice existed for print books. Most academic publishers simply withdrew disputed monographs from their catalog.

However, new and used copies of “retracted” books continue to be sold through the independent book trade for years to come. Recent digital publication models for monographs offer publishers an opportunity to identify “retracted” works. So far there appears to be little appetite to do so, but the recently established COPE working group to support book editors and publishers may yet address this need.

The question of what to do with “retracted” monographs is one that Falvey Library recently had to address in the case of Tyranny of the Weak by Charles K. Armstrong. The author was accused of falsification, fabrication of sources, and plagiarism. Retraction Watch and Wikipedia offer detailed accounts of the affair. In 2019, Cornell University Press, which had first published the book in 2013, withdrew the book from its print catalog, but did not issue a public statement as to why it “retracted” the work. Amazon and other book vendors continued to trade in existing print copies and JSTOR continues to offer electronic access for institutions who purchased an electronic copy.

At the time, historians in related fields of study were widely aware of the scandal through professional communication channels. After all, Armstrong was a well regarded faculty member at Columbia University and had won the prestigious John King Fairbank Prize of the American Historical Association for Tyranny of the Weak in 2014. He returned the award in 2017 after first accusations of plagiarism and source fabrication surfaced in 2016.  Students and the general public continue to read and reference Tyranny of the Weak trusting in the pedigree of its author and the press that published the work. Readers can find it in well over 700 libraries according to WorldCat records. Amazon and other vendors continue to sell new and used print copies. And, once again, it can be bought in electronic format from de Gruyter. De Gruyter does not inform the public about the history of the book, but features numerous positive reviews that predate the scandal.

After weighing available options and consulting with history faculty, Falvey Library decided to keep the book in its collection but also informed readers of its history by inserting the following note into its print copy and the related catalog record: “Cornell University Press has withdrawn this book from its catalog after substantiated accusations of plagiarism and source fabrication. The Library decided to retain its copy but to alert its patrons to the issue. Details about the case can be found on Retraction Watch (https://retractionwatch.com/).” The main rationale for retention was the integrity of the academic publication record. Tyranny of the Weak is widely cited and scholars should be able to consult it. Those that consult the book here at Villanova University will find the inserted “retraction” note at the front of the book. Alas, the same cannot be said for copies requested through InterLibrary Loan.

Recommended Resources:

Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Library.

 

 


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Just Released: The 1950 Census Records

By Jutta Seibert.

On Friday, April 1, the National Archives released the 1950 census in digital format. Confused? Didn’t the Census Bureau just release data from the 2020 data? Aren’t 1950 census data yesterday’s news?

Let’s take a closer look: Article I, Section 2 of the US Constitution mandates a population count every ten years to determine the number of representatives and direct taxes for each state in the Union. Thus, we have a snapshot of the US population once a decade, starting in 1790. Population counts are released as soon as possible after the decennial enumeration. The summary data are published by the Census Bureau. However, names, addresses, and data units too small to preserve anonymity are not part of the publicly available data. The so-called “72-year rule” protects individual census answers for 72 years.

Last week, on April 1, 2022, 1950 census records passed the 72-year threshold and entered into the public domain.

In principle, enumerating the population to determine equitable representation is a straightforward mandate, but the census, its questionnaires, and its results have been disputed again and again. Today’s census forms are noticeably different from the 1950 census form and bear little resemblance to the forms used in 1790. Enumerating the population is a monumental and expensive undertaking, and Congress has taken advantage of its census mandate to learn more about the nation. Questions were added and dropped as they became obsolete. For example, the 1930 census captured the presence of radio sets in a household, the age at first marriage, languages spoken in a home, and English language proficiency.

Reverend Smith enumerates a Navajo family during the 1930 Census.

Other census questions were and remain contentious, such as questions about personal wealth, citizenship, and race. The 2020 census did not include a citizenship question, despite pressure by the Trump administration, but it was a standard question for many years and part of the 1950 questionnaire. Answers to questions probing individual estates were generally considered unreliable and have repeatedly been changed. Today, the home ownership questions are the last reminders of Congress’ interest in the financial well-being of the general population.

The census question probing the racial makeup of the nation has persisted throughout the Census’ history with few changes apart from the addition of “racial” categories. For the first time, the 2020 census asked people of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin to fill in their ethnic as well as racial identity. In future years the question about sex may be disputed, and other options may be added as our understanding of this category evolves. For now, only the “male” and “female” categories are recognized answers.

Keypunch operator, 1950 Census

Can we at least be sure that everyone is counted, even if we don’t agree how individuals should be counted? People have been left out of the census for many reasons. For example, American Indians were not counted until 1860 and even then, only those American Indians who had “renounced tribal rules” were enumerated. The 1850 and 1860 censuses enumerate only “free” people. The enslaved population was enumerated in separate slave schedules under the names of their enslavers. They remain to this day nameless in the census records. Other reasons for counting errors include lack of trust in the government and underpaid enumerators.

Despite their many flaws and shortcomings, census records offer unique insights into the composition of the US population and are popular among family historians who mostly access them through genealogical databases, such as Ancestry. The Villanova community has free access to Ancestry Library through Falvey Library. Alas, the complete 1950 census records will not be available in Ancestry Library until later this summer as indexing and correcting computer-generated data remains a time-consuming process. For those who cannot wait, there are the records just released by the National Archives. The digital copies of the microfilmed records offer interesting research opportunities.

Start with your grandparents or great grandparents. Was somebody in your family a residential student at Villanova College? Then take a look at the records of tract D-97, 23-216, Radnor Township, Delaware County, which have just been released. They record the resident population of the College and the Augustinian Monastery as enumerated on April 4, 1950. The College had considerably expanded after the end of the second World War, thanks to the GI bill, and counted more than 800 residential students and many more non-residential students who were counted at their place of residence. The residential student population was all male and all white, except for two Chinese students. While only a comparatively small number of foreign students were enrolled in those years, many of them hailed from Latin America and may have identified as Mexican, Chicano, Puerto Rican, or Cuban on the most recent census form. A small number of female students were enrolled at the College, but none of them lived on campus until the College of Nursing became an autonomous unit in 1953. Try to find Father Daniel Falvey, OSA, after whom the Library was named and who served as the College Librarian in 1950 among the residents of the College. Can you tell us where and when he was born? It’s on the record! Let us know if you would like to learn more about the census.

1950 Census record, Delaware County, tract D-97, 23-216.

Related resources:

Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 



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Last Modified: April 5, 2022

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