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National Enumeration District to Correctional Institution Crosswalk (1880, 1900-1940)

kh6458

Hello all,

I am an academic researcher with a tall task: I'm looking to construct a database linking enumeration district identifiers to the names of all correctional institutions in the country, preferably for the decadal census years of 1880 and 1900-1940, with 1910 being of primary interest. I first must ask if anyone is aware of such a dataset existing already? I have not found one yet.

I do believe I understand how one may be constructed; to my knowledge, correctional institutions are supposed to have their own enumeration district. The excellent resources concerning enumeration district descriptions, accessible at stevemorse.org, have been a great help in initial research. It appears as though, since they are large and there aren't very many, state prisons should mostly be easily identifiable using enumeration district descriptions and a little legwork, but I believe this information will need to be supplemented with some other information or technique of which I am currently not aware to obtain smaller institutions.

This is because, in the records that list the correctional institutions in the country (see table 1 of this document for 1910, for instance, usa.ipums.org/.../03322287no121-130ch01.pdf) there are numerous county and city jails that do not appear in the descriptions of the enumeration districts. For instance, none of the ED descriptions for Autauga County, AL mention any sort of correctional institution in Prattville (where the 1910 prison source lists as the location for the Autauga county jail). Manually reviewing enumerators' worksheets or enumeration maps, again with the help of the tools at stevemorse.org, might provide the missing link in identifying the enumeration district numbers for institutions, but this would presumably be almost incredibly tedious.

Does anyone have suggestions about how to go about this and/or other extant data sources of which I should be aware? All help would be greatly appreciated.

  • 0

    The rules for setting up 'special' enumeration districts might change between census years.  For 1940 the work by Robert M Jenkins on 'Procedural History of the 1940 Census of Housing and Population" states "Separate enumeration districts were constructed for federal and state prisons, reformatories, mental institutions, and all other institutions having more than 100 inmates...."  When we produced our Census ED Finder, we included the names of any special EDs.  For instance, if you go to to https://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html, choose 1910 at the top, accept Alabama as the state, for City or town select Other (specify) and then type in the new box:  Jail... you get no EDs.  If you enter the word prison you will see 13 EDs for Alabama 1910 that has that word within the ED #.

  • 0

    Kh... email the people who put together the stevemorse.org material and we might show you how to get the full ED definitions database for the years you want.

  • 0

    KH, 

    I don't know of an existing database that already provides the information you seek, but the transcribed Enumeration District descriptions at stevemorse.org are the best place to start to create such a database.  The Census Bureau did not designate all institutions as separate EDs; only when they were large enough under the criteria used by the Bureau's Geographer for the particular decennial census.  However, within normal EDs, known institutions were usually supposed to be "separately stated" by the enumerator.  In other words, reported on their own sheet(s) of paper with, of course, the institution name at the top. You are also likely to find that some institutions are not on their "own" page(s) but share page(s) with families that were not part of the institution.

    I am not sure what you mean by "enumerators' worksheets" - there is no such thing extant.  The enumerators were provided with a written description of their ED (see the ED descriptions at stevemorse.org) and, at least in 1950, a map or maps.  The written ED descriptions for 1880-1950 are conveniently accessible at stevemorse.org, as you have found.

    The enumerators' copies of maps are not extant but NARA holds the "Office" copy of the maps, that is to say, the map set used and annotated by the Bureau's Geography Division staff at the Washington office to craft the Enumeration Districts.  Such maps - usually "road maps" or similar - were obtained by the Bureau from a variety of sources and often do not indicate the location of jails and other institutions.  Some of the Enumeration District maps in NARA custody are online at Enumeration District and Related Maps, 1880–1990 (National Archives Identifier 821491), at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/821491.  The 1950 enumeration district maps and ED descriptions are also available at https://1950census.archives.gov/.  For information or to view ED maps that are not online contact the Cartographic reference branch (you'll see their contact information when you visit https://catalog.archives.gov/id/821491).  

    You may find this article concerning the 1930 census helpful - https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/fall/1930-eds.html - as well as this video concerning the 1950 census - Mapping the 1950 Census: Census Enumeration District Maps at the National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/calendar/genealogy-series/2022#Maps%20by%20Oswald

    Claire Kluskens
    Genealogy/Census Related Records Subject Matter Expert 
    National Archives and Records Administration 
  • 0 in reply to Joel Weintraub

    Thank you for that information! This appears to be the best way to do it I've found so far.

  • 0 in reply to Claire Kluskens

     Hi Claire, Thanks so much for this response. Indeed institutions do not always have their own district. 

    I believe my current strategy will be to use the ED descriptions, and information on the scans indicating the "institution name" at the top.

  • 0 in reply to Joel Weintraub

    Ah I see, would this be a database listing all EDs and their descriptions in a year without having to make a search query for each state or county? That could be quite useful! 

  • 0 in reply to kh6458

    You're welcome.  Also be aware that Enumeration District numbers and boundaries change from census to census, so determining the ED number for an institution in one census does not mean it will have the same ED number in the preceding census, or next census.