Primary sources

Showing English 2130 students how to find and use Primary Sources gives me a chance to advocate the use of Ancestry.com Library Edition. The Library Edition is only available on campus through GALILEO.

My favorite primary source in Ancestry is the Federal census. Each Federal census provides slightly different information. Since the beginning of Federal census taking in 1790, the name the head of the household was enumerated. The Head of the Household was usually the oldest male but sometimes a woman was noted as Head of Household. Starting in 1850, each person who lived in the household, whether kin or not, was named. Some census noted the relationship of each person to the head of the household.

I was showing Mrs. Alden's American Literature class how to find Frederick Douglass in Ancestry. I did a search with thousands of hits. Showing the Advanced search and the exact limiter brought our results to a manageable level of a little over 1600 names. The 1930 census (latest census available) had quite a few Frederick Douglass' noted. My question was- what do you know about Frederick Douglass? Could the author, Frederick Douglass, be in the 1930 census?

Credo Reference serves as a quick (and authoritative) search option - Douglass, Frederick (1818 - 1895). The brief biography lets me know that the Frederick Douglass enumerated in 1930 is not the Frederick Douglass I'm looking for. I also learn that Mr. Douglass was born in Maryland. The location is another piece of information I can use when looking in the census (or any other primary document).

Back to Ancestry. Since Mr. Douglass died in 1895, I start my search with the 1880 census (the 1890 census was burned and is incomplete). F W Douglass is noted as being born in 1820 in Maryland. I point out the census is notorious for getting the ages not quite right. When we look at the original census image, we see F.W. as head of household, his wife Anna, and four granddaughters (now there's a story). His occupation was U.S. Marshall. On one side of the Douglass family lives a white family, on the other side a black family. Mr. Douglass is noted as mulatto. An integrated neighborhood documented in the 1880 census.

Watching students eyes light up as they see the possibilities for adding primary source information to their projects is priceless.



-kss