Philadelphia Social History Project: Grid Data, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880

This component of the Philadelphia Social History Project examines the demographic composition of city grid squares using census data from years 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880. The collection consists of two types of data files: (1) grid tallies, and (2) grid dictionaries. The grid tally files consist of counts of individuals living in PSHP grid squares, with totals broken down by race/ethnicity, sex, and age. The grid dictionary files link lines in the census manuscripts to PSHP grid squares, allowing users to follow the movements of census-takers as they moved house-to-house on foot, adding individuals to the printed census manuscript forms. The "grid" network consists of a set of vertical and horizontal lines drawn at fixed intervals across a city map, forming the foundation for the spatial organization of the data. The grid dictionary files show when census-takers crossed from one grid square to another; each row in the grid dictionary describes a set of rows that are in a specific grid square by listing the starting page/line and the ending page/line.