Comparative Study of Street Directories and Census Returns for 1871

Abstract

Social and urban historians are increasingly aware of the need to develop new methods of examining large populations. The literature shows the ingenuity with which these problems are being solved. Municipal, parish and census records, which have previously been ignored because their use was impractical, can now be processed with ease and efficiency. The historian must still select from the available sources the one that is most suitable for his particular purpose.