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Perspectives on Historical U.S. Census Undercounts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Miriam L. King  and
Diana L. Magnuson
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Extract

There are three sources of information about undercounts in nineteenth-century U.S. censuses: demographic analyses of net undercounts by age, sex, and race at the national level; record-linkage studies of gross undercounts for local communities; and contemporary testimony of the types and bases of underenumeration. This article reviews the strengths and limitations of each of these sources, assesses the extent of their agreement, and discusses the bases of their disagreement.

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Social Science History , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , Winter 1995 , pp. 455 - 466
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1995 

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