Exploring the 1920 Census in Boulder, CO

Exploring the 1920 Census in Boulder, Colorado

Overview

This is a digital humanities project which focuses on exploratory research to understand immigration to Boulder, Colorado in 1920. I focused on an era prior to increased restriction on immigrants in the early 1920s. It makes use of data visualization and analysis to explore the foreign born population in Boulder County at the time. The project uses the census to explore both large scale trends, and explore individual stories and communities.

Process

The project started with background research into immigration policy during the early 20th century in the United States. Research was also done into existing immigrant groups in Colorado at this time, and how life was different among different foreign groups and native born groups. I also focused on understanding differing views of immigration to the US, and particularly how immigration was different in the Western US than in the East.

I was awarded an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Grant to fund further research in the project from CU Boulder. Census data was analyzed focusing on key economic and social factors that may differ among groups. This led to the production of a poster which was presented at the American Historical Association’s 2019 annual meeting in Chicago at the Undergraduate Poster Session.

Additionally, I was a teaching assistant for a Freshman Seminar class that taught similar strategies for exploratory research focusing on census data. I helped students formulate research questions and use data analysis tools to explore those questions.

This is the poster that was presented. It focused on the differences that existed among ‘earlier,’ more established immigrant groups (i.e. English and Swedish) that were reminiscent of native born groups. These were in contrast to more recent groups such as Italians and Germans who were had less economic opportunity. It also explored how the demography of lodgers (people who rented rooms in other households) was reflective of these trends.