Large Databases: Results and Best Practices

HSN Workshop at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam
17-18 May 2001

Introduction

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For a large part of the historical community working with databases is common practice nowadays. However, the databases historians are working with differ enormously. Besides databases made for individual purposes, very large databases are developing which are not built for a specific research project but serve more general purposes and have an archival function too. Surely, most important in this field are the historical-demographic databases which are being built especially in Northern America and Western Europe. The main purpose of these institutional databases is the entering, integrating and enriching of data collected from population registers, vital registries or census material. Examples are the databases in Quebec, one for the 17th and 18th century and one for the 19th and 20th century; the Swedish databases of Umea for the 18th and 19th century and of Stockholm for the period 1870-1920. At the moment a lot of energy is going into the computerization of the 19th and 20th century national censuses of Norway, Canada and the USA (IPUMS-project). In the Netherlands the Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN) is collecting data about the life histories for a sample of a half percent of the population born between 1822 and 1922 (ca. 77.000 persons).
By organizing a workshop on the results and best practices of large databases, the HSN has two objectives. First of all it aims to stimulate scientific research which increases the use of the HSN-database by using it in a comparative way. Scientific issues will be discussed by comparing evidence furnished by an analysis of the Netherlands' database with evidence from a foreign counterpart. Each topic will be discussed by two scholars who are experts on the subject. Secondly all participants will be asked to discuss the future development of this type of large database. This will be done by way of establishing a protocol 'Best practices for large databases on historical populations' and by discussing the draft application for a grant to complete the entering of the life histories of all persons which have been selected by the HSN.¹
This workshop has been supported financially by the Council for the Humanities of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).

Program

Thursday

Chair (morning) Dr. I. Maas, Universiteit Utrecht

09.15 - 09.30
Welcome

09.30 - 11.15
Illiteracy
Illiteracy decline in the Netherlands, 1770-1870
  Dr. O.W.A. Boonstra, Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen
Dutch Illiteracy Decline in European Perspective
  Prof. dr. D.M. Vincent, Keele University, UK
  Commentator Dr. C.A. Mandemakers, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis Amsterdam

11.30 - 13.15
Infant and Childhood Mortality
Inequality and Infant and Childhood Mortality in the United States in the Twentieth Century
  Prof. dr. M.R. Haines, Colgate University, Hamilton NY, USA
Social class differentials in infant and child mortality in urban and rural areas: three Dutch regions, 1812-1912
  Prof. dr. F.W.A. van Poppel, Nederlands Interdisciplinair Demografisch Instituut, Den Haag,
  Dr. C.A. Mandemakers, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis Amsterdam
  Commentator Dr. Th. L.M. Engelen, Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen

13.15 - 14.15
Lunch break

Chair (afternoon) Prof. dr. M.M. van der Linden, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis Amsterdam /Universiteit van Amsterdam

14.15 - 16.00
Social mobility and homogamy in a comparative perspective
  Dr. M.H.D. van Leeuwen, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis Amsterdam
  Dr. I. Maas, Universiteit Utrecht
  Dr. A. Miles, University of Birmingham, UK
  Dr. J.P. Pelissier, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in Paris, Ivry, France
  Commentator Prof. Dr. H.B.G. Ganzeboom, Universiteit Utrecht

16.15 - 18.00
Family migration during the child-bearing period in 19th Century Holland and the American North: A comparative Analysis based on Genealogies and Population Registers
  Prof. dr. J.W. Adams, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA
  Prof. dr. A. Kasakoff, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA
  Dr. J. Kok, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis Amsterdam
  Commentator prof. dr. J.M.W.G. Lucassen, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis Amsterdam/Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Friday

Chair (morning) Dr. H. Knippenberg, Universiteit van Amsterdam

09.30 - 11.15
Family ties and social mobility, China and the Netherlands
  Prof. dr. H.B.G. Ganzeboom, Universiteit Utrecht
  Dr. C. Campbell, Sociology, Hershey Hall, Los Angeles, USA
  Commentator Dr. A. Miles, University of Birmingham, UK

11.30 - 13.15
Migration and destination
Settlement process of German migrants in the Netherlands, 1860-1960
Dr. L.A.J.C. Lucassen, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Dr. C. Lesger, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Migration in France, sources, problems and methods, 1850-1920
Prof. dr. L. Page Moch, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
Commentator Dr. J. Kok, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis Amsterdam

13.15 - 14.15
Lunch break

Chair (afternoon) Prof. dr. A.F. Heerma van Voss, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis Amsterdam/Universiteit Utrecht

14.15 - 15.30
Discussion draft application: 'Dutch Laboratory for 19th and 20th Century History. Construction of a database with life course data and social-economic key figures for the Netherlands, 1800-2000'

15.45 - 17.00
Discussion draft protocol: 'Best practices for large databases'
  Commentator Dr. L. Dillon, Inst. of Canadian Studies, Univ. of Ottawa

17.00  Drinks

1. The application will be submitted to the Investment Program of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).