>From: [email protected] >Reply-To: [email protected] >To: [email protected] >Subject: What you may have heard! >Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 19:54:00 EDT > >Hi Cousins, >The information I recently posted from another Cousin's L-listing has >been>corrected. Thought I would pass on what I have learned. It's nice to >find>out what is really right.>Sorry I passed on bad info. >Betty White>Santa Barbara, CA >What you heard was a bunch of hokum. Go to the following URL and read >the>truth>in Dic Eastman's On Line Genealogy Newsletter of 156 Nov. 2000: >http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/eastman/2915.asp >The information put out on the 1960 U.S. Census is a lot of hokum. I've >extracted an item from Dick Eastman's On Line Genealogy Newsletter of 15 >Nov.>2000 on the subject. The original is available at Ancestry.com's home >page.If>you still have the name of the person who furnished this erroneous >info, you>might want to pass the below on to him/her and suggest they >thoroughly>investigate matters beofre spreading erroneous info.>Cheers, Jim >Gordon>Laurel, MD USA>960 U.S. Census Myths and Facts For years I have >heard stories about the 1960 U.S.>Census. The stories vary a bit, but >usually say something like, "The 1960 U.S.>Census was stored on >now-obsolete computer media, and there is no longer any>equipment to read >it. The census data has been lost because of the change in>technology." I >always doubted that story. I was just starting my>career in computers in >the late 1960s and early 1970s, and I remember well the>tape drives of that >era. I spent many hours repairing those half-inch and>three-quarter-inch >tape drives! I think I still could disassemble and>reassemble a Honeywell >204B-9 half-inch tape drive while blindfolded. That>device was a maze of >electronics (without integrated circuits), disk brakes, a>big vacuum pump, >and numerous solenoids. The tape drive weighed several>hundred >pounds. I know that half-inch tapes created on those drives in the early >'70s>can still be read by the tape drives of today. The tape drives of the >early>'60s were in a different format, but I would still be surprised if >the data>was>entirely lost. However, it wasn't until Phil Drajeske asked me >about the 1960>U.S. Census story that I decided to investigate.In the past >few weeks I have read several articles and >also have corresponded with David G.Hendricks, a historian at the U.S. >Census>Department. Here is what I learned: The 1960 census returns were >microfilmed in 1961 for>long-term storage. In addition to the microfilm, >the Census Bureau also>creates>many reports from the information obtained >in each census. These reports are>mostly demographic in nature. They >describe the ethnic make-up of the U.S. >population; they document American migration patterns and even tell how >many>bathrooms are in the average American home.In 1961, the staff at the >Bureau of the Census had>access to a brand-new electronic behemoth known as >a "computer." In order to>simplify some of the data analysis that the >Census Bureau must conduct, the>staff used the new computer to create the >"microaggregation files" that>contain>statistical information. This >information had been entered on punch cards in>earlier censuses, but >magnetic tape was the storage medium of choice in the>'60s. The Bureau of >the>Census had the required data keypunched and then stored on 9,121 reels >of>magnetic tape: 7,297 reels created with UNIVAC II-A tape drives; 1,678 >tapes>created with UNIVAC III-A tape drives, and another 146 magnetic tapes >created >on still other brands of tape drives. The reports needed were generated >and>printed on paper. Once the reports were completed, the tapes were >placed in>storage.Following consultation with staff of the >National>Archives in 1975, the Census Bureau created a plan to provide for >the>"adequate>retention of the 1960 data." The plan specified that the >Census Bureau would>copy only 642 reels of tape onto more modern storage >media, at least modern by>1975 industry standards. The other reels of tape >were deemed to be unimportant>and of no long-term value. All of the stories >about loss of 1960 Census data>revolves around the 642 reels of tape >readable only by UNIVAC II-A tape>drives.By 1975, the UNIVAC II-A tape >drives were obsolete.>Despite the challenge, the Census staff managed to >find some old tape drives>still in use that could read the tapes. These old >drives were installed on a>computer system that also had newer drives >installed, so a tape conversion >seemed simple. By 1979, the Census Bureau had successfully copied 640 of >the>642 II-A tapes onto newer- format tapes. The two tapes that were not >copied>were, in fact, missing. The missing tapes had 7,488 records, or >about 0.5>percent of the total of approximately 1.5 million records on all >II-A tapes>that had been identified as having long-term value. Of the 640 >tapes that were>located, only 1,575 records (or less than 0.2 percent of >the total number of>valuable records on II-A tapes) could not be copied >because of deterioration.The bottom line is that 99.3 percent of the >1960>microaggregation data was saved on modern tape formats and can be read >today.Remember, too, that the findings of the original study had already >been>published on paper in the 1960s, and that paper is preserved.As >mentioned earlier, censuses prior to 1960 had the>microaggregation data >entered on punch cards. However, those cards were always>thrown away after >the studies were completed and published (on paper). The>loss>of 0.7 >percent of the 1960 microaggregation data files on magnetic >tape>doesn't>seem like such a big loss. That is still 99.3 percent more >data preserved than >that of any earlier census. As historian David G. Hendricks of the U.S. >Census>Department>wrote to me, "These files performed their function, and >all of the data is>available on paper, if not electronic, form; so none of >the information from>the 1960 census has been lost." All this discussion of magnetic tape really isn't>important to genealogists anyway. All of the microaggregation files on >magnetic>tape mentioned here did not have any genealogical value, since >there were no>names or street addresses listed. Genealogists should have no >fears about>"missing data." The magnetic tapes only stored a subset of the >census data, a>subset of no interest to genealogists.The original 1960 U.S. >Census documents were recorded >on>microfilm, and all that microfilm is still in good condition, locked up >at the>National Archives. In compliance with U.S. laws, the complete 1960 >U.S. Census>documents on microfilm will be released to the public in the >year 2032, 72>years after the original enumeration. I hope to be around to >read those>films! _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com