Your Librarian
Anne Zald
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Contact:
Anne Zald
Subjects: Government Information; Regulatory Compliance; Gender & Sexuality Studies
Northwestern University Library
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
Make an Appointment
Subjects: Government Information; Regulatory Compliance; Gender & Sexuality Studies
Northwestern University Library
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
Make an Appointment
847-467-6441
Guides & Documentation
Most links below go to the Library catalog, where you will find location information for print volumes as well as links to online editions.
To find additional books about the U.S. Census use the following subject headings in NUSearch (advanced search):
- United States -- Census -- History
- United States. Census Office -- History
- United States -- Census -- 22nd 2000
Counting Americans : how the US Census classified the nation by Call Number: Main Library Stacks HA181 .S3413 2017Publication Date: 2017"By tracing the evolution of the categories the United States used to count and classify its population from 1790 to 1940, Paul Schor shows that, far from being simply a reflection of society or a mere instrument of power, censuses are actually complex negotiations between the state, experts, and the population itself. The census is not an administrative or scientific act, but a political one. Counting Americans is a social history exploring the political stakes that pitted various interests and groups of people against each other as population categories were constantly redefined."
What Is Your Race? by Call Number: Main Library 305.80097 P944w ALSO available as EBookPublication Date: 2013Prewitt reviews the many flaws and challenges presented by the racial categories used in the U.S. Census.
To use the EBook Edition use the link provided in this NUSearch record.- 200 Years of U.S. census taking: : population and housing questions, 1790-1990. byCall Number: Main Library Government Information C 3. 2: T93Publication Date: 1989
- Bureau of the Census catalog of publications, 1790-1972. byCall Number: Main Library Government Information C 3.163/2-2:790-972Publication Date: 1974Census years 1790 - 1970
- Dubester's U.S. census bibliography with SuDocs class numbers and indexes byCall Number: Main Library 1 East - Reference Section 016.3173 U58c 1996Publication Date: 1996Census years: 1790-1940
Encyclopedia of the U. S. Census by Call Number: Main Library 1 East - Reference Section 304.60723 E56ISBN: 1568024282Publication Date: 2000Census years: 1790-2010
"... more than 100 concise, definitive articles on the content, procedures, history and politics of the decennial census and related topics ... Most articles include references for further reading; many also point the reader to online resources for census information."- Geographic areas reference manual. byCall Number: Main Library Government Information C 3.6/2:G 29/4Publication Date: 1994Census years: 1790-2000. Online edition also available.
- Census Instructions byCensus years: 1790, 1850-1950, 1980-2010
Instructions provided to the U.S. Marshalls (1790-1870) and specially trained census takers (1880-2010) for conducting the census and completing census questionnaires. 
Map Guide to the U. S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920 by Call Number: Main Library 1 East - Reference Section 911.73 T498mISBN: 0806311886Publication Date: 2005Census years: 1790-1920
The county has always been used as the basic Federal census unit. Genealogical research in the census, therefore, begins with identifying the correct county jurisdictions. This work shows all U.S. county boundaries from 1790 to 1920. On each of the nearly 400 maps the old county lines are superimposed over the modern ones to highlight the boundary changes at ten-year intervals. Many other useful features included.- Measuring America : the decennial censuses from 1790 to 2000 byCall Number: Main Library Government Information C 3.2:M 46/2Publication Date: 2002Census years: 1790-2000. Online edition also available.
Includes questionnaires used for each census and the instructions to enumerators. Beginning in 1940 descriptions of the sampling methods employed are also included. 
Population Information in Nineteenth Century Census Volumes by Call Number: Main Library 1 East - Reference Section 304.60973 S391pISBN: 0897741226Publication Date: 1983Census years: 1790-1890
Population Information in Twentieth Century Census Volumes, 1900-1940 by Call Number: Main Library 1 East - Reference Section 304.60973 S391poISBN: 0897741641Publication Date: 1985Census years 1900-1940
Population Information in Twentieth Century Census Volumes, 1950-1980 by Call Number: Main Library 1 East - Reference Section 304.60973 S391popISBN: 0897744004Publication Date: 1988Census years 1950-1980
Procedural History of the 1940 Census of Population and Housing by Call Number: Oak Grove Library Center--Request Online Large 304.60723 J52pISBN: 0299101207Publication Date: 1986Census years: 1940- Twenty censuses : population and housing questions, 1790-1980 byCall Number: Main Library Government Information C 3. 2: C 33/ 33Publication Date: 1979Census years 1790-1980
- Uses for questions on the Census 2000 forms: federal legislative and program usesCensus year: 2000
Shows the wording of census questions for the 2000 Decennial Census and provides explanations for why each question was asked in this way and how the data is used. Includes Appendix A: Statutory Requirements for Census Data; Appendix B Subjects in 1990 and 2000; Census in Which Subject was First Asked - 100 years of data processing : the punchcard century byCall Number: Room B190 C 3. 2: D26/10Publication Date: 1991This brochure documents the celebration held June 20, 1990 marking the centennial of the use of punch card data processing by the Census Bureau. HathiTrust Online copy
Demographic Dimensions of the New Republic by Call Number: 312.0973 M126dISBN: 0521243092Publication Date: 1983This book provides the first comprehensive and consistent analysis of vital statistics and migration patterns for the United States between the Revolution and the Civil War. It is anchored in the one available source for nationwide estimates, the decennial censuses. It attempts to provide, for black and white populations, a consistent set of estimates of birth and death rates, rates of natural increase, and net international and interregional flows. For the black population, it also estimates the changing pace of manumissions in the antebellum decades. The census estimates are also conditioned by a wide range of historical evidence, both quantitative and non-quantitative, ranging from evidence on slave smuggling to ship traffic during the War of 1812. The results are two-fold: a set of data and a set of questions suggested by the data that promise novel challenges for historians of the antebellum era.
Catalog of United States census publications, 1790-1945. by Call Number: Oak Grove Library Center C3.2: P96/8/ 790-945Publication Date: 1950"A comprehensive listing of all materials issued by the Bureau of the Census and its predecessor organizations."
Print edition
Search & view online via HathiTrust
1971 reprint available by request from Oak Grove Library Center
