Collaborations Between IPUMS and Genealogical Organizations, 1999–2022

Steven Ruggles

doi:10.51964/hlcs12920

Collaborations Between IPUMS and Genealogical Organizations, 1999–2022

Steven Ruggles

History (Twin Cities)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

From 1999 to 2019, IPUMS collaborated with genealogical organizations to develop massive individual-level census datasets spanning the 1790 through 1940 period, and we are currently working on the 1950 census. This research note describes how our genealogical collaborations came about. We focus on our collaborations with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Family and Church History Department (later known as FamilySearch) and the private genealogical companies HeritageQuest and Ancestry.com.

Original language	English (US)
Journal	Historical Life Course Studies
Volume	13
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.51964/hlcs12920
State	Published - Jan 5 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Historical Life Course Studies is a no-fee double-blind, peer-reviewed open-access journal supported by the European Science Foundation (ESF, http://www.esf.org), the Scientific Research Network of Historical Demography (FWO Flanders, http://www.historicaldemography.be) and the International Institute of Social History Amsterdam (IISH,

Funding Information:
The opportunities for IPUMS to collaborate with FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, and Heritage Quest were largely fortuitous. Our collaboration with the LDS began when I stumbled across an Internet posting about the 1880 census transcription while surfing the net. The Heritage Quest collaboration was stimulated by a random comment by a proposal reviewer. Our collaboration with Ancestry began with an idea of Richard Suzman for an effective use of economic stimulus funds on a 1940 index, which led to my whining presentation at a meeting that happened to be also attended by the key person at Ancestry.com. Much has to do with being in the right place at the right time. As Herbert Fisher (1936, p. lx) expressed it, historians should “recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and unforeseen." The other big factor in the success of these collaborations has been the ability to raise substantial funding very quickly. Without the two decades of continuous support from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Institute on Aging, these genealogical collaborations would have been impossible.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Ruggles.

Keywords

Census data
Genealogy
IPUMS

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abstract = "From 1999 to 2019, IPUMS collaborated with genealogical organizations to develop massive individual-level census datasets spanning the 1790 through 1940 period, and we are currently working on the 1950 census. This research note describes how our genealogical collaborations came about. We focus on our collaborations with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Family and Church History Department (later known as FamilySearch) and the private genealogical companies HeritageQuest and Ancestry.com.",

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Collaborations Between IPUMS and Genealogical Organizations, 1999–2022

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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