Die Historizität der Verdatung: Konzepte, Werkzeuge und Praktiken im 19. Jahrhundert

Abstract

This essay explores the use of the concept of “data” during the nineteenth century. It traces the development of manual data driven research decades before the introduction of Hollerith machines and electronic computers. Census statisticians in late-nineteenth century Prussia employed moveable paper tools to assemble numerical information in novel ways; their actions fundamentally recast processes of compilation. The paper considers the epistemic impact of moving data inscribed on tons of paper, reconstructing the logistics of a circulatory compilation system spread across the Prussian capital. The movement of data in Wilhelmine Berlin reached outward from the statistical bureau to encompass the homes of many women, enlisted in a minutely-orchestrated putting out system. The essay scrutinizes the social and intellectual requirements necessary to classify, sort, and aggregate the information on the loose paper slips fast and without error. For all of their inventiveness, Prussian statisticians were neither the first nor the only ones to gather, process and visualize data in imaginative ways. As this essay demonstrates, many so-called “Baconian” sciences developed similar tools and practices to those of Prussian statisticians. Making and moving data sparked historical sensitivity in disciplines well beyond population statistics, from taxonomy to paleontology, yielding unexpected revelations.