1930 Census – WWII Collection?
Mar 31st, 2009 by sharbrough
This past week, Footnote announced a “Great Depression Collection.” The content was identified as the Population Schedules from the 1930 US Federal Census, and historical newspapers from the period. The newspapers have been on the site for some time previously, but that’s a common marketing approach to which Footnote is not immune. Re-branding and re-launching web content is a doctrine for web marketers who have taken the PT Barnum course. It seems to me that the Great Depression Collection is not a collection, in the broad sense of the term, but a 1930 Census, wrapped in old newspapers.
There is a bit of a hint that the Great Depression Collection is intended to illuminate our current economic landscape. Researching historical records about the previous hard landing for the economy might involve understanding the causes of the last one, and I’m not sure that the census explains that very well. The newspapers of the time are full of explanations, many of which history has shown to be less causative than originally hoped. There are five “major city” newspapers at Footnote, but none of them include years later than 1923. For the year 1930, there are 22 Small Town Papers on the site. The term “depression” can be found in 21 of them, but not every occurrence refers to the economy. There’s precious little of probative value in a discussion of economics to be found in this collection. But that’s not a bad thing, it’s just an indication that the labels have a bit of salesmanship involved in their selection.
It further seems to me that the 1930 Census is more properly viewed as a great enhancement to Footnote’s already considerable World War II collection. A bit of arithmetic will tell you that anyone serving in the military when WWII ended in 1945 should have been at least 17 years old, indicating a birth no later than 1928. And in fact, you can generally find everyone who served in WWII in the 1930 Census. When you do, you find them in the context of a family – either as parents or children. In a sense, you find what they were fighting for, in the war.
