Urban History Template

The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History has an excellent series of essays about immigration and migration to the Cleveland region, some of which contain data. CSU's The Northern Ohio Data and Information Service or NODIS, has information on the region's population in 1990 and 2000, as does the Mandel School at CWRU, which has a "Can Do" database that possesses much information on Cuyahoga County by neighborhood from 1980 through 2000. Also, the Cleveland City Planning Commission has information on its website. And, finally, the University Library at CSU has a GREAT virtual reference tool on statistics. Also, I developed a table of census data for Ohio, Cuyahoga County, and townships for the period from 1860-1900. It is delineated into a number of categories and although hardly comprehensive past students have found it useful. It is formatted as an excel document.

The United States Census Bureau also includes historical data on its website, see for example:
The United States Census Bureau, "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-born Population of the United States: 1850-1990"
The United States Census Bureau, Selected Historical Decennial Census
Population and Housing Counts

For more data on the population of small areas within Cleveland from 1930 to the present, use the census materials available at the reference desk in CSU's library. Making sense of tract and block level data can be difficult, and the University of North Carolina libraries has a primer on using these guides. SEE http://www.lib.unc.edu/reference/govinfo/census/smallhist.html.

For a more exhaustive list of documents and materials related to the census, including many online sources, see American Library Association Government Documents Round Table, Government Information Technology Committee's report on the Historical Census. (They also have a "Census 2000 Toolkit".)

Assignment:

1 Prepare for Class Discussion by reviewing the U.S. Census Bureau's brief history of itself; you will also want to review the Historical United States Census Data Browser at the University of Virginia.

Be prepared to discuss the general history of the census and how it is organized--especially the census of the population.
Review the Historical United States Census Data Browser at the University of Virginia and become familiar (spend 30 minutes with the website) in how it works. To get familiar, determine the black population of Ohio from 1800 through 2000.
Consider the issues involved in using the census as a source by thinking about how the category of "race" was constructed over time by the U.S. Census Bureau. How were African Americans counted? Why were African Americans counted? How did you go about determining the African American population of Ohio?
What are the challenges of using this website? What other information do you need to know in order to make the census useful to your study? What sorts of things might you ask? What strategies should you adopt in using census data?
Finally, be prepared to discuss the census as a historical source more generally.

2 Identify in what census tract your site along Euclid Avenue or in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood resided in the 2000 census. Use NODIS, CANDO, or some other reference resources online (or in the library) to do this.

What census tract was it in in the 2000 census; what neighborhood is that?
What about 1990, 1980, 1970, 1960, 1950, 1940, 1930? Hint: You need to go to the reference stacks in the library to discover this information?
Tell me the general demographic trends evident in your site over time; do so in terms of overall population, its racial make-up, and income composition.
How would you go about analyzing this data?

Bring a copies of your notes and results to class, one to hand in for me and one that you can use to take notes. Also, I recommend putting your results in a simple excel spreadsheet.

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Background: A Bird's Eye View of Philadelphia ®Mark Tebeau