Abstract
This chapter is based on a survey conducted in 1890 by the Census Office of the vital statistics of over 10,000 Jewish families who as of December 31, 1889 had been in the United States for five or more years (Billings Report). It begins by discussing the origin and nature of the survey and two individuals involved in the project, Billings and Solomons. It then discusses the demographic characteristics of the survey respondents and compares their occupational distribution by gender with that of the white population in general from the 1890 Census.
Jewish families were identified through congregation lists. The respondents were predominantly foreign born of German-Jewish ancestry. Compared by gender with the white population in the 1890 Census, the Jews, especially Jewish women, were less likely to report they were engaged in an occupation. Jewish men reporting an occupation were engaged primarily in sales (57 percent) and clerical (20 percent) occupations, while the Jewish women reporting an occupation were engaged primarily in sales, clerical, craft, and teaching jobs. In contrast, the total white population was employed primarily in laborer, agricultural, operative, and servant jobs.
This is a revision of the original article published in Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 19(2), Winter 2001, pp. 53–75. I appreciate the assistance I received in preparing this chapter from David Pemberton of the History Branch, U.S. Bureau of the Census, and Denise D. Meringolo, Curator, Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington. I also value the research assistance of Abraham D. Chiswick and Hector Vielma. Very helpful comments on an earlier draft were received from Carmel U.Chiswick, Joseph Ferrie, Lloyd P. Gartner, and Evelyn Lehrer.
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Notes
- 1.
At that time “vital statistics”(data on fertility, marriages, morbidity, mortality, etc.) were the responsibility of the Census Office which was part of the Department of the Interior.
- 2.
Although many local surveys of Jews were conducted by Jewish communities, the next nationwide surveys may have been the 1970 and 1990 National Jewish Population Surveys. The Department of Health and Human Services frequently includes religion in its surveys on fertility and health status, and many non-government surveys (e.g., NORCs General Social Survey) include questions on religion. The samples of Jews in these surveys are usually small as Jews constitute a small proportion of the population of the United States, currently just over 2 percent.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
Billings also published an article, “Vital Statistics of the Jews,” that appeared in the monthly periodical The North American Review, which was reprinted in The American Jews Annual for 5653 AM, (Billings 1894), the forerunner of the American Jewish Year Book. This article was based on the survey and the report. Unlike the Billings Report itself, the article had only a few short tables, with much of the statistical material reported in prose.
- 6.
Letter to author from Lloyd P. Gartner, Tel Aviv University, November 1, 1994. For a popular reference, see Ande Manners (1972).
- 7.
Care is required in understanding the term “race” in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was often applied to what today would be referred to as white ethnic groups, including Jews. Billings writes: “In the following paper the terms ‘Jewish race’ and ‘Jews’ are used to designate the people ordinarily so called, considered as the descendants of those who returned to Palestine after the Babylonian captivity, but without reference to their religious beliefs or practices. The terms ‘Hebrews’and ‘Israelites,’ which are commonly used as synonyms for Jews, are not here employed, because they have a different historical significance” (Billings , 1891, p. 70). Yet in this same article Billings occasionally uses the term “Hebrews,” although he most often uses “Jews.” The “race” question in the census did not differentiate among white ethnic groups. For example the “race” question for each person in the 1890 Census was: “Whether white, black, mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, Chinese, Japanese, or Indian,” where Indian meant Native American (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1973).
- 8.
The questionnaire, which apparently no longer exists, is not likely to have asked religion as the survey had “no religious … bearing” and the Billings Report and his subsequent articles do not include any references to mixed Jewish/non-Jewish households or to non-Jews sampled in error.
- 9.
Sachar reports a higher figure, 300,000 Jews by 1870 (1990, p. 185), while Gilbert indicates 300,000 Jews in 1880 (1992, p. 83).
- 10.
Similar problems exist in contemporary surveys of Jews. Many Jewish communal surveys conducted in the late twentieth century rely on the list sampling mechanism and mailing procedure. Even the random digit dialing technique used for telephone interviews in the 1990 and 2000 National Jewish Population Surveys tended to miss assimilated and isolated Jews.
- 11.
Unfortunately, most of the original manuscript records from the 1890 Census of Population were destroyed in a fire (see Blake 1996). As a result, it has not been possible to create modern computer data files of random samples from the 1890 Census, as has been done by now for nearly all of the other Censuses since 1850.
- 12.
- 13.
So, even in 1890, the last sentence in a social science report was a call for more and better data and more research.
- 14.
Although data were not collected as to the cultural origins of the Jews, based on maternal birthplace Billings writes: “The great majority are undoubtedly of the Ashkenazim from Northern Europe, and there were very few families among them of the Sephardim, or Spanish Jews” (Billings 1891, p. 73).
- 15.
“Of these 10,618 families the heads of 1332 were native born; 8263 had been in the United States fifteen years and over, 221 from ten to fifteen years, 552 from five to ten years, 128 under five years, and for 124 the period of residence in the United States was unknown.” (Billings 1890, p. 5). No explanation is offered for the sum of the categories exceeding the total by two family heads.
- 16.
The geographic concentration of the Jewish population in the Billings Report compared to the United States population, 1890:
- 17.
- 18.
Few youths age 15 and over were enrolled in school in 1890. The data on the gainful employment of all white men and women are from the published tables from the 1890 Census of Population. See Census Office (1897).
- 19.
The comparison of the occupational distributions of Jewish and white non-Jewish men from 1890 to 1990 can be found in chapter 5 or Chiswick (1999).
- 20.
Billings comments on the higher proportion of births among the Jews than among others in June and December–January in the 5 years under study (1885–1889). The implication is a higher proportion of conceptions in April and September. He reports that in these five years the average date for Passover (presumably the first day) was April 14 and for the Jewish New Year, September 18. The return home during these important holidays of the Jewish merchant/peddler husbands, who were often away for long periods of time, could account for this seasonal pattern. Although the different seasonal pattern in births is mentioned only in passing in Billings (1890, p. 10), the data are reported and discussed in Billings (1891, p. 37).
References
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———. 1891. Vital Statistics of the Jews. The North American Review 152 (410): 70–84.
———. 1894. Vital Statistics of the Jews. In The American Jews Annual for 5653AM, 33–46. New York: Leo Wise & Co.
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Appendices
Appendix A: Billings Report Table on Occupational Attainment
Appendix B: Conversion of Occupational Categories in the Billings Report Into the Nine Broad Occupational Classifications
Occupations | Males | Females |
|---|---|---|
Prof/Tech | Lawyers; Physicians and surgeons; Others in Class A | Teachers; Musicians and teachers of music; Others in Class A |
Managerial | Bankers; Officials of companies; Hotel keepers, etc. (Class D) | Class D |
Clerical | Accountants; Collectors; Others in Class B | Stenographers and typewriters; Accountants, Bookkeepers, Clerks and copyists; Others in Class B |
Sales | Wholesale merchants; Salesmen; Dealers (retail and wholesale); Hucksters; Others in Class C | Saleswomen; Dealers not specified (retail); Others in Class C |
Service | Barbers, Janitors, Launderers, Nurses, Policemen, Soldiers, Under takers, Others in Class E | Class E |
Craft | Butchers, Cigar makers and Tobacco workers; Clock and watch repairers; Jewelers and opticians; Compositors, printers, pressmen; Tailors, Others in Class G. | Milliners, Dressmakers, Others in Class G |
Operativea | … | … |
Laborer (excl. Farm laborers) and Servant | Laborers, Messengers, and Servants (Class F) | Servants; Others in Class F |
Agriculture (incl. Farm laborers) | Farmers, Planters and overseers; Stock-raisers, Herders and drovers, Others in Class H | Farmers, Planters, Stock-raisers, etc. (Class H) |
Appendix C: Conversion of Occupational Categories in the 1890 Census Into the Nine Broad Occupational Classifications
Occupation | 1890 Census occupational categories |
|---|---|
Males | |
Prof/Tech | Clergyman; Lawyers, Physicians and surgeons; Officials (government), Professors and Teachers |
Managerial | Hotel and boarding/lodging house keepers; Restaurant and Saloon keepers; Bankers, brokers and officials of banks; Merchants and dealers; Builders and contractors; Manufacturers and officials of manufacturing companies |
Clerical | Agents (real estate, insurance, etc.) bookkeepers and accountants: Clerks, copyists, stenographers, typewriters. |
Sales | Commercial travelers; Hucksters and peddlers, Salesman |
Service | Barbers and hairdressers; Bartenders; Watchman, Policemen, Detectives; Hostlers and livery stable keepers; Messengers, packers and porters |
Craft | Bakers; Blacksmiths and wheelwrights; Boot and shoe makers and repairers; Brick and tile makers and terra cotta workers; Cabinet makers and upholsterers; Carpenters and joiners; Coopers; Machinists; Marble and Stone cutters; Masons (brick and stone); Millers (flour and grist); Painters, glaziers, and varnishers; Plasterers; Plumbers and gas and Steam fitters; Printers and compositors; Saw and planning mill employees, etc.; Tailors; Woodworkers (not otherwise specified) |
Operative | Miners and quarrymen; Engineers and fireman (non-locomotive); Boatmen, Canalmen, Pilots and Sailors; Steam railroad employees (incl. locomotive engineers and fireman); Telegraph and Tele phone operators; Apprentices; Butchers; Cotton, Woolen and other textile mill operators; Harness, Saddle, Truck, Valise, Leather case and pocketbook makers; Iron, steel, and other metal workers; Leather couriers, dressers, finishers and tanners; Tobacco and Cigar factory operatives |
Laborer (excl. Farm laborers) and Servant | Gardeners, florists, nurserymen, and vine growers; Lumberman, raftsmen, and wood choppers; Fisherman and Oystermen; Laborers; Servants |
Agriculture (incl. Farm laborers) | Agricultural Laborers; Farmers, planters and overseers; Stock raisers, herders, drovers. |
Females | |
Prof/Tech | Professors and teachers; Musicians and teachers of music |
Managerial | Boarding and lodging housekeepers |
Clerical | Bookkeepers; Clerks, stenographers, typewriters |
Sales | Saleswomen |
Service | Housekeepers and Stewardesses; Nurses and Midwives |
Craft | Boot and shoe makers and repairers; Dressmakers; Milliners; Tailoresses |
Operative | Cotton, woolen and other textile mill operators; Seamstresses, etc.; Tobacco and Cigar factory workers |
Laborer (excl. Farm laborers) and Servant | Laborers, Laundresses, Servants |
Agriculture (incl. Farm laborers) | Agricultural laborers; Farmers, planters and overseers |
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Chiswick, B.R. (2020). The Billings Report and the Occupational Attainment of American Jewry, 1890. In: Chiswick, B. (eds) Jews at Work. Studies of Jews in Society, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41243-2_3
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