SRP Year
1985-1986
Principal Investigator(s)
Study Description
This project was a historical analysis of work and family life, based on random samples of individuals drawn from the U.S. Censuses of Indianapolis in 1860 and 1900 (500 individuals between the ages of 18 and 40 in each year). Researchers subsequently followed each individual and his or her immediate family using the City Directory of Indianapolis, the manuscript schedules of the U.S. Census, and other historical records.
Using these data, the project considered a broad range of topics, including changes in family structure and size over time, the influence of family size and sibling composition (the number of brothers and sisters) on the mobility chances of individuals, differences within families in occupational success or failure, trends in occupational and class mobility over time, and changing patterns of women's participation in the paid labor force.
Research Team
Norma Shepelak
Linda Dahlberg
Holly McCammon
Robert White
Sources of Support
This study was supported by funding from the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University-Bloomington.
Related Scholarly Output
Publications
- Robinson, Robert V. 1993. “Economic Necessity and the Life Cycle in the Family Economy of Nineteenth-Century Indianapolis.” American Journal of Sociology 99(1):49–74.
- Robinson, Robert V. 1995. “Family Economic Strategies in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Indianapolis.” Journal of Family History 20(2):1–22.
- Robinson, Robert V. 1996. “Making Ends Meet: Wives and Children in the Family Economy of Indianapolis, 1860–1920.” Indiana Magazine of History 92(3):197–234.