The1880 United States census, conducted by theCensus Office during June 1880, was the tenthUnited States census.[1] It was the first time that women were permitted to beenumerators.[2] The Superintendent of the Census wasFrancis 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.
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 theprevious census, with a few exceptions.[5]
Schedule 2 (Mortality), which used the same inquiries as in 1870, and added inquiries to recordmarital 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, andworsted 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 theIntegrated Public Use Microdata Series, which contains microdata.
The original census enumeration sheets weremicrofilmed 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 theNational Archives and Records Administration. Several organizations also host images of the microfilmed census online, along which digital indices.
^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
^Tabulating machines[2] from an Early Office Museum website[3]
^1880 Census: Volume 1. Statistics of the Population of the United States[4] (PDF)
^The District of Columbia is not a state but was created with the passage of theResidence Act of 1790.
^abIn 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[5] (PDF)
30.2%)
