Philadelphia Almshouse Hospital Birth Records, 1848-1873

Individual-level data on mid-Nineteenth Century births at the Philadelphia Almshouse Hospital, an institution for the poor. Variables include age, marital status, place of birth, parity, birth type, infant sex, birth weight, and labor duration details. The dataset was compiled by Claudia Goldin and published by Harvard University Press.

Use Cases

• Analyze birth weight determinants based on maternal age, parity, and length of gestation variables.
• Study labor duration patterns based on recorded times for stages of labor and total duration.
• Examine demographic trends based on maternal place of birth, marital status, and infant sex.

Strengths

• Contains over 15 specific variables per record, including detailed labor and infant measurements.
• Covers a defined 25-year period (1848-1873) from a specific historical institution.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Harvard University Press

Collection Method

Compiled from historical hospital birth records.

Time Range

1848-1873

Geography

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA