The Great Plains Population and Environment Data Series is a study that was assembled by an interdisciplinary research team led by Myron Gutmann of the National Science Foundation and the University of Michigan between 1995 and 2004, as part of a research project funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The goal of the project was to amass information about approximately 500 counties in 12 states of the Great Plains of the United States, and then to analyze those data in order to understand the relationships between population and environment that existed between the years of about 1870 and 2000.
Contents
- Great Plains Population and Environment Data Agricultural Data 1870 1997 United States
- Great Plains Population and Environment Data Social and Demographic Data 1870 2000 United States
- References
The project team includes historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and demographers at the University of Michigan, Colorado State University, and the University of Saskatchewan, with consultants at other universities.
Great Plains Population and Environment Data: Agricultural Data, 1870-1997 (United States)
The agricultural data distributed here are all data about counties. The data falls into four broad categories: about the counties, about agriculture, about demographic and social conditions, and about the environment. The information about counties (name, area, identification code, and whether the project classified the county as part of the Great Plains in a given year) is embedded in each of the other data files, so that there will be three series of data (agriculture, demographic and social conditions, and environment), containing individual data files for each year for which data are available. The United States Census of Agriculture has been conducted since 1850 on a regular schedule that was decennial until 1920, and more frequently thereafter (every five years from 1925 to 1950, then in 1954, 1959, 1964, 1978, and every five years since 1982). The agricultural data included in this collection consist of a single data file for each agricultural census year between 1870 and 1997 that includes selected material compiled as part of the United States Agricultural Census. The county-level agricultural data produced by the United States government as part of the census constitute a consistent series of measures of changing agriculture and land use.
Great Plains Population and Environment Data: Social and Demographic Data, 1870-2000 (United States)
The social and demographic data included in The Great Plains Population and Environment Data Series consist of a single data file for each decennial year between 1870 and 2000, covering 10 of the 12 Great Plains states. Information on a variety of social and demographic topics was gathered to historically characterize populations living in counties within the United States Great Plains, in terms of: (1) urban, rural, and total population, (2) vital statistics, (3) net migration, (4) age and sex, (5) nativity and ancestry, (6) education and literacy, (7) religion, (8) industry, and (9) housing and other characteristics. These data include selected material compiled as part of the United States population census. The United States Census of Population and Housing has been conducted since 1790 on a regular schedule that is decennial. The county-level social and demographic data produced by the United States government as a result constitute a consistent series of measures capturing changes in the United States population's size, composition, and other characteristics. A subset of the variables available from the short and long-form survey questionnaires of the United States Census of Population and Housing (as compiled for counties) was extracted from previously existing digital files. In addition to information from the decennial census of the population, county-level data were drawn from an assortment of existing digital files as well as sources that were manually digitized. Other data include compilations of county-level information gathered from various federal agencies and private organizations as well as the agriculture and economic censuses. Supplementing these compilations are manually digitized consumer market data, religious data, and vital statistics, including information about births, deaths, marriage, and divorce.