GEOGRAPHY FOR THE TWENTIETH DECENNIAL CENSUS
(pp. 1 – 12)
William E. Simmons
Assistant Director
Michigan Metropolitan Information Center Center for Urban Studies
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan
Abstract
There will be an enormous amount of data coming from the 1980 Census of Population and Housing. Over the next few years, more information will be made available than from any of the previous nineteen enumerations. In a money saving gesture, however, the U.S. Census Bureau recently announced cutbacks in its publication program. The elimination of several publication series and the lack of ZIP Code tabulations will no doubt create problems for many data users. There will nevertheless be tens of thousands pages of data in print, as well as the more detailed data to be available in machine-readable form. Summary data for two types of unique geographic areas which in the past appeared in printed reports will be on microfiche and computer tape alone. For these and other geographic areas more detailed cross-tabulations for many data items will be found in nonprint form.
PROFILES OF PENNSYLVANIA: SELECTED CURRICULUM OPPORTUNITIES
(pp. 13 – 27)
Les Solomon
College Curriculum Support Project
Data User Services Division
Bureau of the Census
Washington, D.C.
Abstract
April 1, 1980, marked the official date for the Nation's twentieth decennial census. This massive information gathering process culminated almost a decade of planning, followed two centuries of historical precedent, and documented the period since the last census as being one of the most fascinating decades in our Nation's history. To those who failed to appreciate the importance of population and housing facts in the conduct of the Nation's political, economic, and social life, it was surprising that the collection of "mere numbers" would create so much interest (even to the point of litigation) by city and State officials, various interest groups, and the research community. Much earlier in our history, however, a French statistician noted the importance of the census by declaring that the United States presents a phenomenon that is without parallel in history--"that of a people who instituted the statistics of their country on the very day that they founded their government, and who regulated by the same instrument the census of inhabitants, their civil and political rights, and the destinies of the nation."
THE SPATIAL CONVERGENCE OF HUMAN FERTILITY PATTERNS: PENNSYLVANIA, 1960-70
(pp. 28 – 39)
Joseph W. Bencloski
Department of Geography
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Abstract
It is a commonly shared axiom that American society is becoming increasingly undifferentiated as socio-economic characteristics among regional sub-groups of our population continue to lose their distinctiveness. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of convergence in the regional patterns of human fertility levels among Pennsylvania's 2571 Minor Civil Divisions (MCD's) between 1960 and 1970. More specifically, it is hypothesized that the range of regional differences in fertility rates will be smaller in 1970 than in 1960. This hypothesis is based on numerous studies of human fertility at the national level, which conclude that there is a tendency for regions to become more alike in terms of fertility as time passes.