Causes of death sources around the world

ZOOM Link

Lecturers: Dr. Elena Crinela Holom, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca; Dr. Grażyna Liczbińska, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań; Dr. Michail Raftakis, University of Bologna

Content: This lecture will provide an overview of available and digitized sources on individual and aggregate causes of death across Europe, covering roughly the early 19th to mid-20th centuries. It will also incorporate insights from questionnaire responses collected from participants in the COST Action CA22116 – The Great Leap. Lastly, by drawing on (historical) sources, the lecture will provide insights into how causes of death were registered and classified by doctors, priests, and civil servants.

Objectives:

• Introduce the main types of data sources containing cause-of-death information.
• Present key findings from the survey, covering both aggregate-level and individual-level data.
• To present and facilitate a collaborative discussion with participants on selected sources of cause-of-death data.

Requirements: Active participation.

Recommended reading:

• Alter, G. & Carmichael, A. (1996). “Studying Causes of Death in the Past: Problems and Models”. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History 29 (2): 44-48.
• Alter, G & Carmichael, A. (1999). “Classifying the Dead: Toward a History of the Registration of Causes of Death”. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 54(2): 114–132.
• Janssens, A. & Devos, I (2022). “The Limits and Possibilities of Cause of Death Categorisation for Understanding Late Nineteenth Century Mortality”. Social History of Medicine 35(4): 1053–1063.