Southern agricultural households in the United States, 1880
By: principal investigators, Richard Sutch and Roger Ransom
Edition: 1st ICPSR release.
Series: ICPSR -- 9430; ICPSR (Series) -- 9430
Publisher: University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Business and Economic Research; Center for Research in Management Science [producers; Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor
Published: 1990
Place of publication: Berkeley, CA; Ann Arbor, MI
Format: computer file /
Subjects: Farms; Statistics; Size of Farms; Census, 1880
Description: This data collection describes the organization of agriculture and the operation of the Southern economy following the Civil War, with emphasis on the relationship between race and tenure status of farm operators. Economic and agricultural data were compiled from the 1880 Census of Agriculture. Information provided includes the location of the farm (region, state, county, and enumeration district), tenure of the farm operator, number of acres in tillage, meadows, woodland, and other uses, type of crops being farmed and production figures, and the number of various livestock (horses, mules, oxen, cows, sheep, and swine). Additionally, data are presented on the value of the farm, farm implements, livestock, and farm products, and costs associated with fences, fertilizer, and wages. Demographic information drawn from the 1880 Census of Population includes the race, literacy, age, and birthplace of the farm operator, number of people living in the house, and number of people working on the farm.
Notes: Description based on: documentation.

ICPSR data class: Class IV.

Numeric census data

County-level data from eleven Southern states (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas).

System requirements: ASCII, 9 track, odd parity, 6250 bpi.

86 variables.

The South was divided into economic regions that were relatively homogeneous, and one or more representative counties were selected from each region. This group of farms was then sampled at a minimum rate of 10 percent, blocks of five farms each being selected with a skip interval of 45 farms.

Ransom, Roger L. and Richard Sutch. One kind of freedom : the economic consequences of emancipation. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Moen, Jon R. "Changes in the productivity in Southern agriculture between 1860 and 1880," in Robert W. Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman (eds.), Without consent or contract. Technical papers : the rise and fall of American slavery, vol. 1. New York : W.W. Norton, 1990.