Title: Why do the History of Statistics?
by Margo Anderson
This talk will take place on 9/25 at 3:30 pm ET. Register for Zoom here.
Abstract: As an historian, my answer is that practicing statisticians, researchers, and the public need it for current work. We look back because we find problematic, “the way we do things.” Or we find anomalous information, e.g., the recent interest group thread on Emil Gumbel, and once we start to explore, the pandora’s box opens and we’re hooked on finding out more.
I’ve collaborated on both sides of the question, writing for historians on why they need to understand the history of statistics [writing in the Journal of Women’s History], and with statisticians [Stephen E. Fienberg, William Seltzer, panels of the Committee on National Staitstics] on how historical knowledge can enhance current research]. We’ll discuss a few examples and ask attendees what they want to know about the history of statistics from their vantage point.
Bio: Margo Anderson is Distinguished Professor Emerita [ History & Urban Studies] at the University of Wisconson - Milwaukee. She specializes in American social, urban and women's history and has research interests in both urban history and the history of the social sciences and the development of statistical data systems, particularly the census. Her publications include the second edition of The American Census: A Social History (Yale University Press, 2015); Encyclopedia of the U.S. Census: From the Constitution to the American Community Survey (ACS), 2d ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2011), coedited with Constance F. Citro and Joseph J. Salvo; and a coedited volume with Victor Greene, Perspectives on Milwaukee's Past (University of Illinois Press, 2009). With UWM Professor Amanda Seligman, she is Lead Editor of the Encyclopedia of Milwaukee. In 2006 she served as the President of the Social Science History Association.