Public health measures against neonatal tetanus on the island of Vestmannaeyjar (Iceland) during the 19th century

The article presents a study of neonatal tetanus on the tiny island of Vestmannaeyjar (Iceland) during the 18th and 19th centuries. At an early date, Vestmannaeyjar was known for its high levels of mortality from neonatal tetanus. This appalling mortality is analysed, inter alia, on the basis of parish registers at the individual family level. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, more than three out of four newborns on the island died during the first 2weeks of life. At the beginning of the 19th century, Icelandic and Danish authorities had already showed great interest in improving infant survival on Vestmannaeyjar. In 1827 a physician was appointed to the island and by the late 1840s the disease was successfully fought on the island. The achievement on Vestmannaeyjar is a good example of how the sanitary movement was able to bring about important improvements in infant survival long before the breakthrough of the bacteriological revolution.     

Unwed mothers in the city. Illegitimate fertility in 19th-century Geneva

The rise in illegitimate fertility in the late 18th and early 19th centuries has often been related to increasing economic and social vulnerability in the urban industrializing world. Many studies using macro-level data or analyzing individual characteristics of unwed mothers have found support for the vulnerability hypothesis. In this article, we investigate illegitimate childbearing in early 19th century Geneva in a longitudinal perspective. Relating events (illegitimate births) to the population at risk (single women), our multivariate analysis shows that the segment of the female population assumed to be most vulnerable – immigrants and maids – did not have a higher risk of illegitimacy. However, the substantially increased risk among women who already gave birth to illegitimate children indicates the existence of a small but highly vulnerable group of women.     

Infant mortality in Bremen in the 19th century

This article analyses the development of infant mortality in the port city of Bremen within a disaggregated framework, using the available material from civil birth and death registers, as well as the census returns for 1862, 1871, 1885, 1895, and 1905. The analysis focuses on a number of factors that affected infant mortality, including breast-feeding, female labor-force participation, social class, and migrant status. Particular attention is paid to the age structure of infant mortality in relation to stillbirths and reproductive mortality, as well as registered trends in neonatal and postneonatal mortality. The Bremen data also provide a basis for analyzing infant mortality by cause of death and seasonality. By incorporating disaggregated demographic and socioeconomic data, the authors are able to offer some new insights into the determinants of urban infant mortality trends in the 19th century.     

Unwed mothers in the city. Illegitimate fertility in 19th-century Geneva

The rise in illegitimate fertility in the late 18th and early 19th centuries has often been related to increasing economic and social vulnerability in the urban industrializing world. Many studies using macro-level data or analyzing individual characteristics of unwed mothers have found support for the vulnerability hypothesis. In this article, we investigate illegitimate childbearing in early 19th century Geneva in a longitudinal perspective. Relating events (illegitimate births) to the population at risk (single women), our multivariate analysis shows that the segment of the female population assumed to be most vulnerable – immigrants and maids – did not have a higher risk of illegitimacy. However, the substantially increased risk among women who already gave birth to illegitimate children indicates the existence of a small but highly vulnerable group of women.     

Midterm Elections and Economic Fluctuations: The Response of Voters Over Time

Abstract: Recent empirical work (Alesina and Rosenthal 1995; Erikson 1990) has shown that economic conditions may not have influenced House midterm elections since 1915. I argue that economic conditions may have influenced House midterms in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Congress dominated economic policy‐making, parties offered starker positions on economic issues, and national issues dominated House elections. As the 20th century progressed, congressional power over the economy declined, the parties converged over certain economic policies, and district‐level forces grew more important in elections. I test the stability of the relationship between the economy and House midterms over time, using F‐tests to show how the impact of macroeconomic conditions has changed in House midterm elections from 1872 to 1994. The results indicate that the gross national product (GNP) influenced House races before 1913 but, as the 20th century continued, the importance of the economy on House midterms declined.     

Rethinking the medical causes of infant death in early modern Europe: a closer look at church registers and medical terminology

The historical roots of the prevailing hypothesis about the main causes of high infant mortality in Europe in the last four centuries are presented in detail focusing on German sources and publications. Assumptions about infections being the main cause of deaths during infancy clearly need to be reevaluated. The terminology of early sources has passed many steps of translation and interpretation. In the old church registers, wording in the local vernacular merely described the most visible symptoms before the final stages of diseases. Scientific medicine and its terminology repeatedly went astray before real pediatric competence was acquired in the nutritional physiology of infants. The combination of different kinds of evidence points to serious flaws in the prevailing hypothesis, while source data and publications confirm a different conclusion: inadequate nutrition due to early weaning and unsuitable substitute food caused the specific set of symptoms described in the historical sources. Medical evidence about infant malnutrition in developing countries supports this new interpretation.     

The limits of policy

This article uses public documents and first-hand accounts of late 19th and early 20th centuries child life to examine attempts by public policymakers in the United States and New Zealand to change the quality of rural child life in those countries through compulsory schooling and other related measures. These attempts, however, largely failed due to the demands of the farming economy and the unwillingness of public officials to go to extraordinary lengths on behalf of farm children, as opposed to urban children. Rural children's lives would be changed, not by policy, but by technological developments and the vagaries of the farm economy.     

The limits of policy: Rural children and work in the United States and New Zealand, 1870–1920

This article uses public documents and first-hand accounts of late 19th and early 20th centuries child life to examine attempts by public policymakers in the United States and New Zealand to change the quality of rural child life in those countries through compulsory schooling and other related measures. These attempts, however, largely failed due to the demands of the farming economy and the unwillingness of public officials to go to extraordinary lengths on behalf of farm children, as opposed to urban children. Rural children's lives would be changed, not by policy, but by technological developments and the vagaries of the farm economy.     

Political Journals in Germany

Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries possessed a wealth of monthly political journals. The period after the Second World War saw a renaissance of monthly journals, which offered orientation to a populace disoriented by National Socialism and war. Today there is a limited number of monthly political journals and their total circulation does not exceed 100,000. But their readership constitutes the small group of citizens who take an interest in politics and in political discourse. Their quantitative influence cannot be measured, their qualitative influence cannot be overestimated. The article focuses mainly on the magazines Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte and Die Politische Meinung. The former is supported by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, the latter by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.     

Ghosts of terror wars past?

In the wake of 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan, then of Iraq, with all the talk of a renewed Clash of Civilizations, came a revival of interest in the lessons from what seemed to be the direct antecedent, namely the Barbary Wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At that time, too, America had seemed to be forced to defend itself economically and militarily against a fanatical foe which rationalized crimes in the name of religion to wage terror against innocents. There are indeed close analogies between the two; but they are almost exactly the opposite of what much popular (and some official) belief holds true. If today it has become clear that most justifications for the current Terror War were fabrications intended to cloak other agendas at home and abroad, when the Barbary Wars are subjected to serious scrutiny, much the same forces advancing much the same agendas appear at work. Nor are the “politics of fear” new in American history. During the Barbary Wars, carefully cultivated fears of a rising Islamintern served to: divert public attention from domestic political problems; suppress political dissent; provide cover for regressive fiscal changes; cloak offensive militarism in defensive guise; and ride roughshod over both conventions of international diplomacy and normal standards of criminal justice, all rationalized by a sense of Christian mission.     

Differentials in overall and cause-specific mortality among infants born in and out of wedlock,Stockholm 1878–1925

This study investigates differentials in the decline of cause-specific infant mortality by marital status of the mother in Stockholm (1878–1925) and factors contributing to the explanation of these differentials using computerized records of individual entries from the Roteman Archives. Included in the analysis were 120,094 children less than 1 year of age who lived in Södermalm during this period. Cause-specific mortality rates were calculated for three time periods. Cox's regression analysis was used to study the relationship between overall and cause-specific risk of infant death and of being born in and out of wedlock in relation to a set of variables. Infant mortality rates and mortality risks were higher among children born out of rather than in wedlock. The most pronounced differentials in cause-specific mortality rates between these groups of children were seen in cases of diarrhea. The socioeconomic status of the household head and number of children in the household were statistically significant with infant mortality, but explain only part of the excess mortality risk of children born out of wedlock. In Stockholm at the turn of the 19th century being born out of wedlock was strongly associated with poor health outcomes, particularly in diarrheal diseases, pneumonia/bronchitis, and immaturity/congenital causes.     

Migration and the household: Urban living arrangements in late 19th- to early 20th-century Russia

Examining population census data for the late 19th and early 20th century, this article examines the impact of rural–urban migration during the first wave of Russia's industrialization on urban living arrangements. The author finds effects that echo the experience of other industrializing nations, notably the proliferation of board and lodging arrangements, and phenomena that are more peculiar to the Russian situation. Notably, the system of landholding and associated legal and fiscal constraints complicated migrants' separation from the village and put a premium on cyclical and return migration rather than outright urbanization. These conditions were conducive to the formation of collective non-family households of labour migrants, artely, which were an important mechanism for cutting living expenses and increasing the share of earnings remitted to the village and the family household back home.     

Migration and the household: Urban living arrangements in late 19th- to early 20th-century Russia

Examining population census data for the late 19th and early 20th century, this article examines the impact of rural–urban migration during the first wave of Russia's industrialization on urban living arrangements. The author finds effects that echo the experience of other industrializing nations, notably the proliferation of board and lodging arrangements, and phenomena that are more peculiar to the Russian situation. Notably, the system of landholding and associated legal and fiscal constraints complicated migrants' separation from the village and put a premium on cyclical and return migration rather than outright urbanization. These conditions were conducive to the formation of collective non-family households of labour migrants, artely, which were an important mechanism for cutting living expenses and increasing the share of earnings remitted to the village and the family household back home.     

Differentials in overall and cause-specific mortality among infants born in and out of wedlock,Stockholm 1878–1925

This study investigates differentials in the decline of cause-specific infant mortality by marital status of the mother in Stockholm (1878–1925) and factors contributing to the explanation of these differentials using computerized records of individual entries from the Roteman Archives. Included in the analysis were 120,094 children less than 1 year of age who lived in Södermalm during this period. Cause-specific mortality rates were calculated for three time periods. Cox's regression analysis was used to study the relationship between overall and cause-specific risk of infant death and of being born in and out of wedlock in relation to a set of variables. Infant mortality rates and mortality risks were higher among children born out of rather than in wedlock. The most pronounced differentials in cause-specific mortality rates between these groups of children were seen in cases of diarrhea. The socioeconomic status of the household head and number of children in the household were statistically significant with infant mortality, but explain only part of the excess mortality risk of children born out of wedlock. In Stockholm at the turn of the 19th century being born out of wedlock was strongly associated with poor health outcomes, particularly in diarrheal diseases, pneumonia/bronchitis, and immaturity/congenital causes.     

Family strategies concerning migration and occupations of children in a market-oriented agricultural economy

This study focuses on family labor strategies in the 19th and early 20th centuries, using a database containing vital information on the lives of some 3000 persons born around 1830, 1850, and 1870 in the Groningen clay soil region—a predominantly agrarian area in the northern part of the Netherlands. Working-class families were moving from short-term survival strategies to long-term investment strategies in the last decades of the 19th century. Like other occupational groups, they tended to keep their children at home in larger numbers instead of finding them jobs as live-in workers—a change probably facilitated by improving real wages. Although such a change in family strategy implied lower earnings in the short run, children who stayed home experienced more upward social mobility in later life than those who left home early to become live-in servants. The increased preference for long-term investment strategies is also apparent in migratory patterns. Independent of the phases in the family cycle, working-class families became more inclined to migrate over longer distances, especially to America where unskilled laborers had better prospects.     

Infant mortality in town and countryside: northern Germany, ca. 1750–1850

The discussion still continues among researchers about the causes for the decline in infant mortality in widespread parts of Europe at the turn of the 19th century. This article is based on sources such as unpublished statistical material from Prussia, parish registers, and lineage and village genealogies. As these sources are broken down by town and countryside and into various phases of infant mortality, they provide evidence for further reflection that may be fruitful. Thus, several causes for the decrease in infant mortality and ways of diffusion can be excluded and the impact of others delimited. The present study concludes that research should pay more attention to changes in infant care than it usually does.     

Power and inheritance

A widespread inheritance pattern in eastern and southeastern Europe was based on equally partible male inheritance and excluded women from inheritance and dowry. The western transition zone to the other predominant European inheritance systems coincided with the Hajnal line, which divides the distribution of European marriage patterns in historical times. New evidence is added to the historical depth of the cultural–historical transition zone already postulated by Mitterauer. Since the early Middle Ages, this zone also marked the border region of two basic European agrarian systems: the western Grundherrschafts system, which led to the intervention of landlords into inheritance patterns and family structures of the serfs and the non-interventionist tributary systems, which left inheritance practices based on customary laws untouched until the second half of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The above-mentioned inheritance pattern, which was also widespread in Asia, allocated a huge amount of power to the agnatic core of the family and was part of a patriarchal system shaped by patrilineality, patrilocality, low age at marriage, complex family forms, and fragmentation of the soil when demographic transition set in.     

Birth and death in a new land attitudes to infant death in colonial Australia

The goldrush colony of Victoria, Australia, was a favoured destination for aspirational emigrants from nineteenth-century Britain. Yet the persistence of high rates of infant mortality blighted the happiness of many first and second generation immigrant families alone in a new land. Drawing on birth, death and inquest records this paper interrogates the experience of infant death amongst the poorest families in the capital city popularly known as ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ during the second half of the nineteenth century. Although few infants died alone, the familial and community networks in which they were enmeshed were not always committed to their survival. While the paper argues that there was a hierarchy of value which determined the degree to which the death of a child would be welcomed or mourned, it also contests popular notions that evil baby farmers and unfeeling mothers were a major cause of infant death.     

Birth and death in a new land attitudes to infant death in colonial Australia

The goldrush colony of Victoria, Australia, was a favoured destination for aspirational emigrants from nineteenth-century Britain. Yet the persistence of high rates of infant mortality blighted the happiness of many first and second generation immigrant families alone in a new land. Drawing on birth, death and inquest records this paper interrogates the experience of infant death amongst the poorest families in the capital city popularly known as ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ during the second half of the nineteenth century. Although few infants died alone, the familial and community networks in which they were enmeshed were not always committed to their survival. While the paper argues that there was a hierarchy of value which determined the degree to which the death of a child would be welcomed or mourned, it also contests popular notions that evil baby farmers and unfeeling mothers were a major cause of infant death.     

Farm transmission and the commercialization of agriculture in northern Maine in the second half of the 19th century

The transition to capitalism has been one of the most discussed issues in the historiography of the rural United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the typology, and the “market revolution” construed upon it, are problematic. The article explores some of these problems by examining the commercialization of eastern Canadian agriculture, which was a prolonged process starting in the beginning of the 19th century in the St. Lawrence–Great Lakes axis and ending during the 1960s in the outlying parts of Quebec, Ontario, and the Maritime Provinces. It is difficult to identify clear trends in the numbers yielded by evidence from this region for the time period in question. Highly commercial farms were more likely than the others to transfer all their property to their children. Deficit farmers were much more likely than the others to transfer all their property to outsiders. But the data do not support the view that farmers who were keen on turning their farms into moneymaking businesses adopted property transmission practices that were markedly different from the others. And before the 1830s, there was really no need to have strategies in place because land was plentiful.