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Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose : the new History Data Service Richard Deswarte

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose : the new History Data Service Richard Deswarte. Teaching and Learning in History Conference, 1-3 April 2009. Overview. Who we are What we do HDS Collection. Who we are. Originally founded in 1993 as the History Data Unit

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Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose : the new History Data Service Richard Deswarte

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  1. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose: the new History Data Service Richard Deswarte Teaching and Learning in History Conference, 1-3 April 2009

  2. Overview • Who we are • What we do • HDS Collection

  3. Who we are • Originally founded in 1993 as the History Data Unit • Following the creation of the Arts and Humanities Data Service in 1995 was renamed the History Data Service • From 2003-2008 was one of the five centres of the Arts and Humanities Data Services – AHDS History • From April 2008 reverted back to History Data Service (HDS) • Slimmed down team of historians and IT specialists • Part of the UK Data Archive, University of Essex

  4. What we do HDS collects, preserves and disseminates digital resources that support historical research and teaching.

  5. What we actually do • Collect and preserve historical digital resources • Provide access via a fully searchable and indexed catalogue record to a wide-ranging collection of historical digital resources • Create thematic special collections, and enrich and enhance selected data collections • Offer guidance on creating and documenting digital resources from historical sources • Raise awareness of the value of historical data collections and their potential for secondary use

  6. HDS Collection Over 650 separate data collections transcribed, scanned or compiled from historical sources.

  7. Temporal coverage • The studies cover a wide range of historical topics, from the fifth century to the mid-twentieth century. • Religion, Dynasty and Patronage in Rome, 440-840 • Credit, Class and Community: Working Class Belfast, 1930-2000 • Trans-National Database and Atlas of Saints' Cults, c.700-2000

  8. Geographic coverage Primary focus of the collection is on the United Kingdom, it also includes a significant body of cross-national and international data collections. • European State Finance Database • Social History of Alcohol in East Africa, 1850-1998 • Prohibition Movement in the United States, 1801-1920 • Demography of Sri Lanka, 1900-1954

  9. Transcribed Texts Violence in Early Modern England: a Regional Survey, 1600-1800; Cheshire • The aim of this project was to carry out a systematic analysis of crimes of violence tried in the courts of the county of Cheshire, in the period 1601-1800 • Statistics relating to homicides prosecuted at the Court of Great Sessions at Chester • Supplementary data dealing with non-homicidal violence from the County Quarter Sessions of Cheshire and the Chester City Sessions

  10. Statistical Data Parish Register Aggregate Analyses, 1662-1811; 404 Data (Population History of England 1541-1871) • Vital statistics taken from parish registers as part of the work of Schofield and Wrigley and the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure • An important set of historical data generated by volunteers • Work done by HDS to increase its usefulness

  11. Geographic Data • Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata • Enclosure, Rating, Drainage and Sanitary Maps of England and Wales in Public Archives, 1598-1936 • GIS of the Ancient Parishes of England and Wales, 1500-1850

  12. Strengths • 19th and 20th century economic and social history • Census data (1881 100% sample; 1851 2% sample; local census returns) • Great Britain Historical Database online • Taxation materials • Welsh and Irish historical statistics • Electoral data • Criminal court records (e.g. a collection of datasets on violent crimes 1600-1900) • Agricultural statistics • State finance data • Economic indicators/industrial production data

  13. Finding data • Search the UK Data Archive Catalogue which provides access to catalogue records and documentation for all the holdings of HDS and the UK Data Archive • Data can be browsed by theme via a search by Subject Keyword, as an search option in the Data Catalogue • http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/Lucene/Search.aspx • Search using the old AHDS Cross-Search Catalogue which cross searches the catalogues of the five services formerly making up the subject centres of the AHDS • http://www.ahds.ac.uk/collections/index.htm

  14. Accessing Data Available to higher and further education users free of charge for teaching, learning and research purposes • UK Data Archive - all our studies can be ordered online via the UK Data Archive's online ordering system following registration • Online Data - The Online Historical Population Reports Website (histpop), Contemporary and Historical Census Collection (CHCC)

  15. Online resources - histpop • The Online Historical Population Reports Website provides online access to the complete British population reports for Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1937 • 200,000 pages of census and registration material for the British Isles as well as ancillary documents from The National Archives, critical essays and transcriptions of important legislation • Provides a wealth of textual and statistical material which offer an in-depth view of the economy, society (through births, deaths and marriages) and medicine during the 19th and early 20th centuries. • Direct searching of the content and enhanced browsing through the collection by date or geography • http://www.histpop.org/

  16. Online resources - CHCC • Contemporary and Historical Census Collection (CHCC) improves access to individual-level demographic data from the manuscript census enumerator's books and two major collections of aggregate-level demographic data - the Great Britain Historical Database and the Database of Welsh Historical Statistics. • Users can order online subsets from the transcribed census enumerators' books of the 1881 census for England and Wales • CHCC also allows users to order specific tables from the Great Britain Historical Database and the Database of Welsh Historical Statistics • Unfortunately access to CHCC is only available to members of the UK higher and further education community • http://hds.essex.ac.uk/history/data/chcc.asp

  17. UKDA Collections – Edwardians • Paul Thompson’s Family Life and Work Experience Before 1918, 1870-1973 • First national oral history project in UK – interviews of 444 people born in Edwardian period • Basis for Thompson’s renowned book The Edwardians: the remaking of British society (1975, 1992) • Open ended interviews ranging between one and six hours in duration • 444 transcripts available in PDF documents for download • Thematic browsing of transcripts and a searchable catalogue of all the interview summaries are available via Qualidata Online • http://www.esds.ac.uk/qualidata/online/data/edwardians/introduction.asp

  18. Upcoming projects – I-CeM • Integrated Census Microdata (I-CeM) project will bring together more than 200 million individual records from censuses for Great Britain between 1851-1911 • Joint project between the History Dept at Essex and the UKDA – led by Professor Kevin Schürer & Dr Edward Higgs • Will create largest collection of its kind in world and potentially lead to the creation of a Victorian Panel Survey • Will combine computerised versions of censuses from that period to create a unique online historical resource full of vast amounts of information on every house, household and individual in the country for that period • Will be a great HDS collection of the future

  19. Further information http://hds.essex.ac.uk/history/

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