DOI: 10.3886/icpsr07698.v2
title: Comparative Cities Teaching Package
title: Version 2

description: Comparative Cities is a teaching package designed to introduce students to analysis of manuscript schedules of the nineteenth century census for social, urban, family, and demographic history. The files are designed for use with SPSS. It was initially developed at Brown University with assistance of a project grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The file is organized to illustrate contrasts among cities at different stages of industrialization and the demographic transition in Europe and America: Pisa, Italy (1841), Amiens, France (1851), Stockport, England (1841 and 1851), and Providence, R.I. (1850, 1865, and 1880). The rural district around Pisa and part of Providence County are also included. There are approximately 1400 cases with information for individuals in each of eleven subfiles. These are random samples from the original 1:10 house samples for the four places made to permit flexible and economical student use. Summaries imbedded in the file permit analysis at the individual, household, or nuclear unit level. There are 142 variables for each individual. The package also contains a coursebook with explanation of each variable, a dictionary with occupational titles that appear in the censuses, course syllabus, and other instructions for use. The files are being used in the separate ongoing research of the two principal investigators and should be used for instructional purposes only. This teaching package can be supplied as two card-image data files, two files of SPSS instruction cards, and associated printed documentation. The package has also been updated with several files designed to be used with microcomputers. Included in the updated materials are four text files (Contents of Tape, Coursebook, Explanatory Materials, and Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Codes), a file of SPSSx data definition statements for use with PC-SPSSx, and a file of data definition statements for use with the Consortium's ABC statistical analysis package. Nine separate sub-files, each derived from the original census data and designed for analysis on micro-computers which are equipped with PC-SPSSx or ABC, are also provided. Finally, the package includes two mainframe SPSSx "Export" files which contain all of the data collected for each city. While these latter files duplicate the SPSS files contained in the earlier Comparative Cities package, they have been modified for use with SPSSx. The original Comparative Cities Teaching Package files can still be supplied as well. These files are oriented towards use of SPSS Version 9 on mainframe computers.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS0: Study-Level Files 
 DS1: File CENSUA 
 DS2: File CENSUB 
 DS3: README - Description of Contents of Datasets 3-19 
 DS4: CCMAN - The Comparative Cities Coursebook 
 DS5: CCNOT - Sample Course Syllabus and Further Notes on Use of The File 
 DS6: CCDIC - The Comparative Cities Dictionary 
 DS7: SPSXPC - The Data Definition Program for Use of the 'PC' Raw Data Subfiles with PC-SPSSx 
 DS8: SPSABC - The Data Definition Program for Use of the 'PC' Raw Data Subfiles with the ABC Package 
 DS9: PSAC41 - The PC Raw Data File for Pisa County 1841 
 DS10: PSAT41 - The PC Raw Data File for Pisa Town 1841 
 DS11: AMNS51 - The PC Raw Data File for Amiens 1851 
 DS12: STOC41 - The PC Raw Data File for Stockport 1841 
 DS13: STOC51 - The PC Raw Data File for Stockport 1851 
 DS14: PROT50 - The PC Raw Data File for Providence Town 1850 
 DS15: PROT65 - The PC Raw Data File for Providence Town 1865 
 DS16: PROC65 - The PC Raw Data File for Providence Countryside 1865 
 DS17: PROT80 - The PC Raw Data File for Providence Town 1880 
 DS18: NCENA - The SPSSx Export File Corresponding to CENSUA 
 DS19: NCENB - The SPSSx Export File Corresponding to CENSUB