Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Description of Activity
The webinar was led by two experts on Census research: Jessamy Carlson, Family and Local History Engagement Lead at The National Archives and Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan, Professor of Design History and Theory and Associate Dean Research at the University of Portsmouth.
Jessamy Carlson introduced the audience to the 1921 Census, and associated resources such as the general and county reports, and indexes. Using examples from her own research, Jessamy explained the format of the 1921 Census, how it differs from previous iterations and how it could be used for a variety of types of research, from personal to family to institutional and community histories.
Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan spoke about her experience of using the 1921 Census - from research on individual people and family history to houses and streets. Using examples from her recent book Ideal Homes and BBC Two's A House Through Time, she explained what the Census can tell us about people's domestic and working lives. She focused especially on why the number of rooms occupied in a dwelling matters and what other information can be used to supplement the Census records.