The U.S. Census Bureau has always been ahead of the curve when it 

comes to employing women. Ever since 1880, when it started using 

professional enumerators rather than U.S. marshals, the Census 

Office has employed women in that role. With the advent of the 

Hollerith tabulating machine in 1890, women moved into the role of 

keypunchers. By 1909, 10 years before the 19th amendment granted 

national women's suffrage, over 50 percent of the Census Bureau’s 

624 permanent employees were women. As women proved 

themselves as capable as the men, and with the increasing number of 

women in the workforce, it became harder for the Census Bureau to 

justify assigning all supervisory positions to men. By 1920, the 

Census Bureau would once again push forward appointing the first 

five female supervisors, as well as the first three female expert chiefs 

of divisions. Many of these pioneering women who worked on the 

census in these early years also broke through in other fields, such as 

law, medicine, education, activism, journalism, and the arts.

Nannie M. Lancaster was born on 

May 21, 1853, in Alexandria, VA. At just 1 month old, Nannie’s

family moved across the Potomac River to Washington, DC, 

where Nannie would make her home for the rest of her life. 

Nannie’s father, John, held several government positions, 

including temporary postmaster and as a clerk in the treasury 

and auditor’s departments. Later in life, he worked as a 

merchant. Nannie’s mother, Rosetta, kept house and took care 

of Nannie and her seven brothers and sisters. Rosetta died in 

1863. Nannie’s father remarried, giving Nannie three more halfsiblings before he passed away in 1876. Although there is little 

information on Nannie’s early education, based on her later 

social mobility, career, and affiliation with the Catholic church 

and religious charities, it is most likely that she attended a 

prestigous Catholic girls school—like her sister Amelia, who 

attended the Academy of the Visitation in Georgetown, DC.

By 1870, at the age of 17, Nannie had moved in with her sister 

Amelia and her husband. That same year, Nannie attended a 

dance academy in Georgetown—considered a necessity for the 

social education of young women in those days—and spent her 

youth and early adulthood polishing her music and writing skills. 

In 1880, Nannie joined the U.S. Interior Department, where she 

worked as a copyist and computer on the decennial census. The 

1880 Census marked an impressive expansion over previous 

censuses and the results, encompassing demographic, social, and 

economic statistics, as well as special reports on Alaska and American Indians, filled 22 volumes.

 

Census Clerk, Community Activist, Journalist

The Evening Star (Washington, DC) 

October 27, 1930

Nannie’s 1880 census, showing her 

working for the Department of the 

Interior, which included the 

temporary 1880 census office.

The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD) January 13, 1890
By 1883, the vast majority of temporary census workers had 

completed their work, and while many found work in other 

sectors of the government, like the treasury, patent, or pension

offices, Nannie decided to pursue her passion of writing. Some of 

Nannie’s earliest stories appear in Washington’s The Evening Star, 

as well as other regional papers in the mid-1880s, and several 

featured women. To help support herself during her freelance 

writing and journalism career, Nannie also taught music.

In 1890, Nannie once again found herself drawn to government 

work as a computer for the 11th Census of the United States. The 

1890 Census revolutionized census taking through the use of 

Herman Hollerith’s tabulation machine, which greatly reduced 

the amount of time needed for compiling raw census data. 

However, the 1890 Census took a similar amount of time as 

previous census to complete the tabulation due to the increased amount of information collected. 

In fact, 1890 marks the high point for the amount of 

queries conducted as part of a decennial census. In 

addition to the same subjects as those from the 

1880 Census, new entries included questions about 

ownership and indebtedness of farms and homes

and detailed questions of surviving Union veterans

and their widows. Another new question dealt with 

race and included "Japanese" as a category for the 

first time.

Following her work with the 1890 Census and the 

subsequent drawdown of temporary employees, 

Nannie returned to teaching music and freelance 

journalism. Several newspapers, including The 

Washington Times, The Washington News, and The 

New York Tribune published her work. As part of her 

dedication to her profession, Nannie helped 

establish an industry group for women, The National 

League of American Pen Women, in 1897. In 1905, 

Nannie began her career at The Evening Star, one of 

Washington’s leading local papers, and worked there 

for 25 years. Although Nannie wrote articles on a variety of subjects, she also had charge of two 

weekly society columns, “Around the City” and “News of the Clubs,” for which she received the 

most recognition. Nannie’s timely updates on club business helped inform the variety of women’s 

groups who spearheaded some of the major social changes of their day, such as prohibition, social 

work, and the women’s suffrage movement.

In addition to her reporting about 

women’s clubs, Nannie also held 

membership in several 

organizations, such as the Women’s 

City Club, the 20th Century Club, the 

Catholic Women’s Circle, the 

Women’s Relief Committee (a Grand 

Army of the Republic affiliate) and 

the Susan B. Anthony Foundation. 

Nannie worked at The Evening Star

until her passing on October 27, 

1930, in Washington, DC. The Census Bureau is proud of Nannie’s pioneering civil service, 

journalism, and contributions to her community.

The Evening Times (Washington, DC) July 10, 1897

The Evening Star (Washington, DC) November 18, 1925

Two of Nannie’s most popular columns from The Evening Star

HB-18-0008