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 had 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 

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 by 

appointing the first five female supervisors, as well as the first 

three female expert chiefs of divisions. 

Olive Mizpah Riddleberger was born on January 21, 1870, in 

Woodstock, VA, the second of seven children in a notable political 

family. Her father, Harrison Holt Riddleberger, was a former 

Confederate officer, lawyer, and well-known Virginia politician. He 

was elected as a third party candidate for the Readjusters(a 

coalition of Republicans, conservative Democrats, and AfricanAmericans). Harrison was in state politics from 1871 to 1882, and 

served as a U.S Senator from 1883 to 1889. Harrison had a 

particularly fiery temper—he once fought two duels in one day, 

and had multiple detentions or arrests, the most memorable of 

which occurred on his last day in the Senate. Olive attended the 

Shenandoah Female Institute for most of the 1880s and after 

graduation she gained employment with the Census Office in 1889 

as a stenographer.

Olive’s employment began a career that spanned almost 

50 years. In 1892, Olive advanced to the position of 

computer. She helped handle the calculations and 

computations facilitated by the groundbreaking Hollerith 

counting machine,which the Census Office employed for 

the first time during the 1890 census. Starting in 1897, 

Olive pursued higher education in her free time and 

studied mathematics and statistics at Columbian University (later George Washington University) for 

two years. Although she did not get a degree, the advantages of her extra education changed the 

direction her career.

An Expert Statistician

Washington Evening Star (Washington, D.C.); 2 Jan 1916

Riddleberger Family 1880 Census 

The Sandusky Register (Sandusky, OH); 19 Dec 1890
In 1901, Olive advanced to the position of clerk and, in 

1902, was one of the original members of the Census 

Bureau when it became a permanent agency under the 

Department of Commerce and Labor. As Olive’s career with 

the Census Bureau flourished, she expanded her work 

duties. In 1908, she worked as a clerk on the Cuba Census 

and in 1909,she received a promotion to clerk in the 

populations division. By 1916 Olive was an expert 

statistician at the Census Bureau and the protégé of chief 

statistician William C. Hunt. In this role, Olive used her 

extensive knowledge of the counting machines and assisted

in the preparatory planning of the 1920 Census, including 

the handling of the returns and their statistics. 

With over two decades of experience in the 

Census Bureau, Olive encompassed all of the 

attributes an expert chief of division would need. 

In 1920, Olive received the appointment as expert 

Chief of the Geography Division, and oversaw the 

complete and accurate mapping and assignment 

of census districts. After this success, Olive did 

not slow down. In 1930 she became the assistant chief statistician for the Population Division. In 

this role, Olive oversaw the collection of data from the final returns, along with her assistant, Alice 

V. Hagan. She, along with Chief Statistician Dr. Leon E. Truesdell, supervised the statistical 

calculations and final reportsfor the Fifteenth Census of the United States.Olive also prepared 

other statistical reports such as the Topical Index of Population Census Reports, 1900-1930. She was 

an active member of the American Economic Association and the American Statistical Association.

In 1936, after five decennial censuses and 46 years with the 

Census Bureau, Olive retired from public service. Having 

lived a life devoted to her work, Olive never married or had 

children. Instead,she found happiness in her later years 

living with her brother Frank, her nephew, and grandnieces 

and nephews. Olive spent her remaining days in her 

hometown of Woodstock, Virginia, and passed away on 8 

January 1958, just a few weeks short of her 88th birthday. 

Olive’s groundbreaking path through the Census Bureau 

relied on education and hard work, an example many have 

since been able to follow.

Washington Evening Star (Washington, D.C.); 2 Jan 1916

Columbian University, where Olive 

attended classes for two years, 

became George Washington University 

in 1904.

Riddleberger Family 1940 Census 

HB-17-0006