Studies dealing with the demographic events of any given period from the early historical up to World War I.
Comprehensive surveys, notes of sources, and items on the state of research. Particularly concerned with the period before modern vital registration was introduced and censuses were taken. Historical items that primarily pertain to one specific demographic variable are classified first under the specific heading and then cross-referenced to this heading.
62:20564 Bailey, Mark.
Demographic decline in late medieval England: some thoughts on
recent research. Economic History Review, Vol. 49, No. 1, Feb
1996. 1-19 pp. Oxford, England. In Eng.
"The causes of
prolonged demographic decline in late medieval England are the subject
of vigorous debate among historians, mainly as a result of the lack of
reliable data. Traditionally, historians have pointed to the
persistence of epidemic and endemic disease, but recent explanations
have tended to focus upon economic changes after the Black Death which
enticed women into the workforce and thus depressed fertility. This
article questions both the empirical and the theoretical basis of this
revisionism, and explores an alternative hypothesis to explain the
transition from a `late-medieval' demographic regime where mortality
dominated to an `early modern' regime where fertility was
paramount."
Correspondence: M. Bailey, University of
Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge CB2 1TA, England.
Location: Princeton University Library (PR).
62:20565 Bideau, Alain; Brunet, Guy;
Desjardins, Bertrand; Prost, Michel. The reproduction of
the population in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
centuries. Some French and Quebecois examples. [La reproduction de
la population aux XVIIe, XVIIIe et XIXe siècles. Exemples
français et québécois.] Annales de
Démographie Historique, 1995. 136-48 pp. Paris, France. In Fre.
with sum. in Eng.
"This article examines the descendants of
four cohorts of couples formed in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries (two cohorts in two French mountain valleys and one on the
Ile-d'Orléans in Quebec). The children are separated into four
categories according to their fate (deceased while still unmarried,
unknown fate, married but childless, `useful children'). `Useful
children', a concept used in population genetics, are those who in turn
bear children. In all three places, the useful children represent only
from 26 to 31% of births." The results indicate that the
contributions of couples to the next generation vary considerably:
nearly half of the couples studied left no "useful children"
behind them, whereas a small minority of couples made an ample
contribution.
Correspondence: A. Bideau, Université
Lumière Lyon 2, Centre Pierre Léon, URA CNRS 223, Maison
Rhône-Alpes des Sciences de l'Homme, Lyon, France. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
62:20566 Cartier, Michel. Family
and population in China from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century in
the light of a recent study by Liu Ts'ui-Jung. [Famille et
population en Chine du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle à la
lumière d'un ouvrage récent de Liu Ts'ui-Jung.] Annales
de Démographie Historique, 1995. 149-59 pp. Paris, France. In
Fre. with sum. in Eng.
Using data from a recent study on lineage
population and socioeconomic change in China, the author attempts to
reconstruct some demographic trends from the sixteenth century onward.
The data involve a large sample of 260,000 individuals born between the
thirteenth and nineteenth centuries. He concludes that there was a
major deterioration in mortality from the middle of the eighteenth
century, which was associated with an increase in widowhood and a
decline in fertility.
Correspondence: M. Cartier, Ecole des
Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 22 avenue du
Président-Wilson, 75116 Paris, France. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
62:20567 Houdaille, Jacques.
Puritans and Virginians. Population: An English Selection,
Vol. 7, 1995. 204-10 pp. Paris, France. In Eng.
The author compares
the development of populations that established colonies in Virginia
and Massachusetts in the 1600s. Data are provided on age at first
marriage, fertility, first birth interval, mortality, marriage cohort
reproduction, and the never-married.
For the original French
version, see 60:40530.
Correspondence: J. Houdaille,
Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques, 27 rue du Commandeur,
75675 Paris Cedex 14, France. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
62:20568 Janczak, Julian K.
Development of Polish demography in the years 1918-1993.
Polish Population Review, No. 6, 1995. 327 pp. Polish Demographic
Society: Warsaw, Poland. In Eng.
These are the proceedings of a
conference on the demography of Poland in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. The conference was held in Warsaw, November 22, 1993. The 15
papers cover such topics as population trends in general, internal
migration, mortality, urbanization, family planning, religious and
ethnic groups, marriage age, natural increase, the use of
ecclesiastical registers, and family
reconstitution.
Correspondence: Polish Demographic Society,
Al. Niepodleglosci 164, Room 3, 02-554 Warsaw, Poland. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
62:20569 Mayhew, N. J.
Population, money supply, and the velocity of circulation in
England, 1300-1700. Economic History Review, Vol. 48, No. 2, May
1995. 238-57 pp. Oxford, England. In Eng.
"The importance of
monetary and demographic factors in the later medieval and early modern
`price revolutions' has been much debated. This article analyses this
long period in the terms of the Fisher Identity MV=PT, but also fully
recognizes the importance of demographic change, and its impact on GDP.
Tentative estimates of money supply and GDP are discussed, and from
them velocity of circulation is deduced. Velocity has tended to fall
over this period, but rising Tudor velocity is regarded as a symptom of
economic distress."
Correspondence: N. J. Mayhew,
University of Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford,
England. Location: Princeton University Library (PR).
62:20570 Pfister, Christian.
Population history and historical demography, 1500-1800.
[Bevölkerungsgeschichte und historische Demographie, 1500-1800.]
Enzyklopädie Deutscher Geschichte, Vol. 28, ISBN 3-486-55014-4.
1994. viii, 151 pp. R. Oldenbourg Verlag: Munich, Germany. In Ger.
This work provides a summary of research on the population and
historical demography of Germany during the period 1500-1800. Theories,
sources of data, and methods are first reviewed. Subsequent sections
deal with population change, marriage patterns, illegitimacy,
fertility, mortality, internal and international migration, and spatial
variations in reproductive behavior. A bibliography is also
included.
Correspondence: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Rosenheimer
Strasse 145, 81671 Munich, Germany. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
62:20571 Woods, Robert. The
population history of Britain in the nineteenth century. New
Studies in Economic and Social History, ISBN 0-521-55279-6. LC
95-18742. 1995. x, 71 pp. Cambridge University Press: New York, New
York/Cambridge, England. In Eng.
This is one monograph in a series
designed to introduce students and their teachers to some key issues in
British economic and social history. This study concerns the causes of
demographic change in Britain over the course of the nineteenth
century. "The author combines an examination of migration,
marriage patterns, fertility and mortality with a guide to the sources
of population data available to historians and demographers. Of the
issues with which he deals, three are of particular significance.
During this period emigration, and especially migration to the towns,
radically altered the distribution and composition of the British
population. This also affected the prospects of marriage and the
chances of life or premature death. In the second half of Queen
Victoria's reign there was a revolution of social attitudes which
initiated the move towards family limitation, resulting in the rapid
reduction in family sizes. This was also the period in which the
benefits of substantial advances in public health began to improve the
quality of life, especially in urban
Britain."
Correspondence: Cambridge University Press,
Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP, England.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Applications of demographic methodology to the records of the past. Relevant items are coded here and, if of more general interest than to historical demography alone, are cross-referenced to N. Methods of Research and Analysis Including Models .
62:20572 Galley, Chris; Williams, Naomi;
Woods, Robert. Detection without correction: problems in
assessing the quality of English ecclesiastical and civil
registration. Annales de Démographie Historique, 1995.
161-83 pp. Paris, France. In Eng. with sum. in Fre.
"Reliable,
good quality source material is required for any demographic study. By
selecting specific examples from York during the parish register period
and Sheffield during the civil registration period deficiencies in both
ecclesiastical and civil registration [in England] are discussed with
reference to how they affect infant and adult mortality calculations.
In particular, the extent to which the deaths of very young infants
were registered is considered in detail. Bourgeois-Pichat's biometric
test, Farr's early life tables and Coale and Demeny's model life tables
have all been used to correct inaccuracies within original sources. We
consider the limitations of each of these methods and suggest that a
reassessment of the quality of vital registration data and the methods
used to make corrections is needed in order to make further advances in
historical demography possible."
Correspondence: C.
Galley, University of Liverpool, Department of Geography, P.O. Box 147,
Liverpool L69 3BX, England. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
62:20573 Kasakoff, Alice B.; Adams, John
W. The effect of migration on ages at vital events: a
critique of family reconstitution in historical demography.
European Journal of Population/Revue Européenne de
Démographie, Vol. 11, No. 3, Sep 1995. 199-242 pp. Dordrecht,
Netherlands. In Eng. with sum. in Fre.
"Demographic rates of
historical populations have usually been calculated using only data
from stayers alone. Can they be extrapolated to the population as a
whole? Ruggles has recently pointed out, using both logic and a
computer simulation, that stayers experience vital events earlier in
life than movers due to migration censorship: those who experience them
later in life have often migrated away from the community being
studied. We show that stayers do indeed marry and die at younger ages
than do movers, using a genealogical database on the [U.S.] North
(1620-1880). These differences are caused, however, both by migration
censorship and by genuine differences between the two groups and the
places they lived. Therefore changes over time among stayers are not
good indicators of changes in the population as a whole because they
are affected by changing migration rates. Thus no simple `correction
factor' can be extrapolated to estimate the general population; neither
stayers (nor movers) constitute a `baseline' or `normal' process: both
must be considered together in order to gain an accurate picture of the
population as a whole."
Correspondence: A. B.
Kasakoff, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
62:20574 Zoltan, David. Decay of
villages--population censuses at the end of the seventeenth
century. [Falupusztulas--a XVII. szazad vegi osszeirasok.]
Statisztikai Szemle, Vol. 73, No. 7, Jul 1995. 591-9 pp. Budapest,
Hungary. In Hun. with sum. in Eng.
"The study raises an
interesting methodological problem of population history research: the
authenticity of bygone population censuses (in this case at the end of
the 17th century [in Hungary]), their scientific applicability, and the
interpretation of data...in these documents. The final conclusion of
the study is that checking the data of population censuses from several
aspects and accurate critics of the sources are extremely
important...."
Location: Princeton University Library
(SPR).
