Library History 251

• Social Explorer (1790 to present)
  Access to data from the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, religious congregations, and other sources, with options to create thematic and interactive maps and reports.
• Ancestry Library Edition
  Access to more than 1.2 billion names, primary source documents, census records, and images and a variety of genealogical and historical research features.

Comparing Aggregate Data

• Go to Social Explorer. The first time you access the site, sign up for an account (this will allow you to use the storyboard feature).
• Select the “maps” link at the top
• Under "US Demography", click on "Start Now"
• In the search box in the top left corner, search for Holyoke, MA and select the first option (Holyoke, MA, under "Place") - once you get a map view, you can use the zoom tools to see individual streets
• In the top left corner, click on "Change Data". The scroll bar allows you to select past years (e.g., 1980, 1990, 2000, etc.). Other data points are listed by category (e.g., Race, Income, Housing, etc.).
• For optimal visualizations, select "Show data by Tract", and "Visualization type: Shaded Area" (under the "Change Data" menu.
• Click on the "Tell a Story" link in the bottom right corner to compare decades. After adding the first snapshot, click on the "Add" button in the top right corner, and select "Single Map". Then change the data point to the following decade.

The goal of this assignment is to track changes in the city of Holyoke over time from 1900 to the present. Each group will pick a specific city neighborhood designated by an intersection.

• High/Cabot St.
• Lyman/Bridge St.
• Maple/Lyman St.
• Pleasant/Lincoln St.

Contents
I. Identifying enumeration districts (Historical)

II. Browsing historical census surveys (Historical)

Historical Census Research

I. Identifying enumeration districts

Contemporary census information is gathered according to census tracts, but in the past the geography of data collection has varied quite a bit. Before searching Ancestry Library, you will need to identify the enumeration district (ED) for your intersection. Note: These EDs will likely be different from year to year, so you have to go through these steps for each year.*

1. Go to http://stevemorse.org/census/index.html to obtain the ED for past censuses.
2. There is a drop-down menu at the top of the page. Select the year of interest (i.e., 1900).
3. There is a drop-down menu to the left of the page that allows you to select the state (i.e., Massachusetts).
4. Now select your city (i.e., Holyoke).
5. You will now be able to select your street, and then a cross street.
6. There should be a list of enumeration districts common to your selections, which will help you locate your street in the digitized census surveys found in Ancestry Library.

*This site doesn't seem to work for 1920. Use the following enumeration districts for 1920:

• High/Cabot Street) Ward 6, District 62
• Lyman/Bridge Street) Ward 1, District 31
• Maple/Lyman Street) Ward 4, District 51
• Pleasant/Lincoln Street) Ward 7, District 71

II. Browsing historical census surveys

Having identified relevant enumeration districts, you will now need to browse the U.S. Federal Census surveys for the appropriate year to see what information is available for your street. Note: You probably won't find your exact intersection. Rather, you will be looking in generally the same neighborhood from decade to decade. The enumeration districts ensure that you are able to find the same neighborhood.

1. Go to Ancestry Library. If you're off-campus, you'll be prompted to log in; see our page for accessing library resources off-campus for more information.
2. Click on the "Search" tab at the top and select "Census & Voter Lists".
3. In the "Narrow by Category" menu on the right, select "U.S. Federal Census Collection".
4. Scroll down to the "Included data collections" and select the year of interest (i.e., 1900).
5. In the "Browse this collection" menu on the right, select your state, and your county (Hampden).
6. Holyoke is broken up into multiple wards, and each ward will have multiple enumeration districts (EDs). You will have to click through each ward until you identify the ED for your intersection.
7. When you find your ED, click on the link, and that will take you into the digitized census surveys (you will likely see a pop-up window with tips for using the image viewer).
8. You will probably need to zoom in order to find your street, which will be displayed along he left side of each census survey. Your street probably won't be on the first sheet, so you will need to browse through the pages (or images) by clicking on the right arrow icon at the top, righthand corner of the image viewer. Note: To increase visibility, you might click on the "Image Only" link at the top, lefthand corner of the image viewer.
9. Once you have found your street, take note of the kind of data that was collected. What kinds of questions were asking? How were people categorized? Are there patterns for a given street? Note: The questions will be displayed along the top of the census survey. There is also an "Ancestry Index" below the image that provides some of the text (If you clicked on "Image Only", as mentioned above, you will need to click on "View All" to display the Ancestry Index.

• Reference Universe
  Searchable index of the library's entire reference collection, both print and electronic.

Anderson, Margo J., ed. Encyclopedia of the U.S. Census. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2000. Call #: Reference HA37.U55 E52 2000 Catalog link. See pages 115-163 for overviews of each decennial census.

Tompkins, Vincent, Judith Baughman, Victor Bondi, and Richard Layman, eds. American Decades. Detroit: Gale Research, 2001. Call #: Reference E169.12 .A419 1994 Catalog link.