Leon Edgar Truesdell was born on March 15, 1880, in Rowe, Massachusetts. He was the son of Clarence and Lina V. Truesdell. After graduating in 1903 from the Leland and Gray Seminary in Townshend, Vermont, he enrolled at Brown University. He earned both an A.B. and A.M. degree in four years, graduating with the class of 1907. While at Brown he was the editor of the student publication
Truesdell and Constance Ethel Cole (1886-1957) were married on June 19, 1916. They had two daughters, Constance Emma, born in 1918, and Miriam Helen (1924-2006).
After graduating from college, Truesdell held several positions as a high school principal in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and worked part time as a research assistant for Professor Walter G. Everett, a professor of philosophy at Brown. In 1911, he obtained a position as a clerk in the Bureau of Fisheries in Washington, D.C. Truesdell quickly transferred to the Bureau of the Census, where he worked from 1911 to 1914. After working as a field assistant in the Department of Agriculture for five years he returned to the Bureau of the Census in 1919. From 1925 to 1948 he was the Chief of the Population Division, when he was promoted to the position of Chief Demographer. After he retired in 1950 Truesdell worked as a consultant for the Bureau until 1967.
Both the 1930 and 1940 censuses of the United States and the 1935 census of Puerto Rico were prepared under Truesdell's supervision. He also wrote a number of monographs related to the study of population, among them
Truesdell was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Statistical Association; a member of the American Economic Association; and was president of the Population Association of America from 1939 to 1940. In 1928, he was elected to membership in the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., whose members are selected based on their meritorious original work in science, literature, or the arts, or are recognized as distinguished in a learned profession or in public service. When he retired from the Bureau of the Census in 1950 Truesdell received an exceptional service award from the Commerce Department in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to census statistics of population and to long term improvement of the professional staff, techniques, and publications of the Bureau of the Census".
Truesdell passed away on January 12, 1979, in Washington, D.C. His daughter Miriam stipulated that a bequest be made in memory of her father to the Phi Beta Kappa Foundation after her death. The Leon Edgar Truesdell Fund was established in 2006 as a permanent fund within the Foundation to provide unrestricted support for its programs.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Leon E. Truesdell papers, Ms. 2011.004, Brown University Library.
The Leon E. Truesdell papers, date from 1882 and 1973 with the bulk of the materials dated from 1902 to 1972. They contain correspondence to and from Truesdell, his personal and professional writings, and other related material such as newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and several photographs of Truesdell.
Series 1. Inventory by Leon E. Truesdell is a typewritten inventory of Truesdell's papers that he compiled between 1971 and 1973.
The next three series contain correspondence. The letters written by Truesdell are copies of the originals. Most of the correspondence is related to his career as a statistician and demographer at the United States Bureau of the Census.
Series 2. Correspondence regarding published works contains material dated between 1923 and 1967. Each subseries in Series 2 concerns a book written by Truesdell with the exceptions of Subseries D. Proposed farm census of Puerto Rico and Subseries E. Puerto Rico correspondence after 1940. Truesdell included this correspondence in the "published works" section of his papers because it was so closely related to his work on the Census of Puerto Rico in 1935.
Series 3. Professional correspondence is arranged by topic and includes letters written between 1912 and 1971. Most of this correspondence is between Truesdell and other demographers and statisticians.
Series 4. Personal correspondence contains letters written between 1905 and 1967. The letters regarding pronunciation and the Latin requirement for college admission were originally in the section of Truesdell's inventory labeled "minor activities". The remaining correspondence is between Truesdell and several Brown University faculty members after his graduation in 1907.
Series 5. Education contains material dated between 1899 and 1972. It includes papers written for high school and college courses, material for classes in short story writing and personal efficiency, and material for a class in religious studies called "Delta class". Most of this material is from "List X. Miscellaneous items" and "List H. Early manuscripts" in Truesdell's inventory.
Series 6. Manuscripts contains both professional and personal writings for publication. This material is dated between 1911 and 1972. Truesdell's arrangement of the numbered manuscripts, which are all on statistical topics, has been retained. Other material in this series is arranged by topic. Truesdell's list of his published works is also included here.
Series 7. Reprints contains reprints of some of Truesdell's early writings when he was a student at the Leland and Gray Seminary as well as some of his professional publications. A complete list of these titles as well as his notes on their contents is in the section of Truesdell's inventory labeled "Reprints and minor publications on official business".
Series 8. Personal and biographical consists mostly of biographical material regarding Truesdell and his family, his employment history, and several photographs of Truesdell. Also included are papers from his service on the finance committee of the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. and several cards and pamphlets about the Buff Wyandotte chickens he raised on his farm in Vermont before entering Brown University in 1903.
Four monographs that were originally included with the papers have been removed and catalogued separately. They may be found under the search entry "Leon E. Truesdell papers" in the Brown University Library's online catalog.
The collection is arranged into the following series:
The collection is housed in six records center boxes.
The material regarding Delta class, now in Series 6. Education, was given to the Brown University Library by Leon E. Truesdell in 1972. The remainder of his papers arrived at the Brown University in 1992 (A92-53). Their provenance is not known, but they were probably given to the library by his daughter Miriam H. Truesdell.
No further materials are anticipated for this collection.
Brown University Library catalog record for this collection:
The collection included 4 monographs that were cataloged separately. They can be found under the following search entry:
This series contains Truesdell’s typewritten inventory of the papers as he had organized them and his notes about their contents.
This series includes material, chiefly correspondence, related to both books and articles written by Truesdell between 1924 and 1965. The material in Subseries D. Proposed farm census of Puerto Rico 1945 and Subseries E. Puerto Rico correspondence after 1940 was included here by Truesdell because it was so closely related to his work on the Census of Puerto Rico in 1935.
This subseries contains material concerning a 1924 book co-authored by Truesdell entitled
This subseries contains correspondence and a supplementary manuscript related to Truesdell’s 1926 monograph
This census of population and agriculture in Puerto Rico was undertaken by the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) in 1935.Truesdell was placed in charge of the tabulation phase of the project in 1936. Most of the correspondence in this subseries concerns the production of the consolidated volume on the census, entitled, in English,
In addition to correspondence, this subseries contains newspaper clippings, statistical tables, three bulletins containing the first published results of the census, and Truesdell’s report on his trip to Puerto Rico in 1943.
The correspondence with the Bureau of the Census, E.D. Brown, and S.L. Descartes was originally filed in reverse chronological order. It has been re-filed in chronological order to correspond to the arrangement in the rest of the papers.
In April of 1945, Truesdell went to Puerto Rico to begin work on a proposed census of agriculture. Because of the unavailability of satisfactory assistants and because the cost of the census would exceed the monies available for it, the project was cancelled. In addition to correspondence, this subseries includes newspaper clippings, form letters, an expense account, and the proposed 1945 Farm Schedule.
The correspondence in this subseries is between Truesdell and various colleagues in Puerto Rico and the United States. His original arrangement has been retained. This subseries includes other material such as a list of the census districts in Puerto Rico, a map of their location, and newspaper clippings. Truesdell’s arrangement of this material has been retained. The six 1940 bulletins of population for Puerto Rico which were listed on page five of Truesdell’s inventory for this section of his papers are missing.
The correspondence in this subseries is related to the publication of Truesdell’s 1943 monograph
This 1953 monograph entitled
This monograph entitled
This monograph entitled
This subseries contains correspondence related to articles written by Truesdell for various professional journals between 1924 and 1949.
The correspondence in this series has been taken from several sections of Truesdell’s original inventory of his correspondence. The material labeled “professional activities” was originally in the section he called “minor activities” and is arranged by topic. Truesdell's arrangement of the other correspondence in this series has been retained. The correspondence with other statisticians is arranged alphabetically by correspondent. The correspondence on specific topics and the interoffice memoranda are arranged chronologically. The letter to President Taft was regarding a raise in Truesdell’s pay, which he later received.
This series contains material taken from Truesdell's inventory of his correspondence and the section of his inventory that he labeled “minor activities”. Truesdell wrote several letters to women's colleges asking if there were any exceptions to their requirement that applicants pass an exam in Latin. The correspondence regarding pronunciation primarily concerns Truesdell’s criticism of a pamphlet entitled
This series contains material taken from several sections of Truesdell’s original inventory, including “List X. Miscellaneous items” and “List H. Early manuscripts”. It includes papers written during his academic career as well as material written for classes that he took because of personal interest. The "Prize Essays" were written in competition for various prizes given for the best essay or performance in a debate on a particular topic. “Delta class” was a discussion class made up of young men who were members of the First Congregational Church in Washington, D.C. This folder includes a photograph of the class taken by Truesdell in 1914. The material labeled “Evening school classes in economics” is from a class that Truesdell taught from 1922 to 1925 at the YMCA School in Washington, D.C., the Washington School of Accountancy and the National School of Accountancy.
Almost all of the manuscripts in this series were written by Truesdell as part of his work as a professional demographer and statistician from 1911 to 1970. His personal writings include two short stories, poems, and biographical material compiled for the Historical Society of Rowe, Vermont. A complete list of the titles of these manuscripts is included in the following sections of Truesdell's original inventory: "List K. Early manuscripts", "List M. Manuscripts", "List N. Verse manuscripts", "List Q. Criticisms and translations", and "List R. Letters to the editor". The manuscripts numbered M-56 through M-58 were not included in the papers. Correspondence is included with some of the manuscripts.
This series contains reprints of Truesdell's early writings while he as a student at the Leland and Gray Seminary as well as reprints of some of his professional publications. The reprints are dated from 1902 to 1972. A list of these titles, including Truesdell's notes on some of the contents, may be found in the section labeled "Reprints and minor publications on official business" in Truesdell's original inventory.
This series contains biographical material about Truesdell and the Truesdell family as well as material related to Truesdell's personal interests. The personal background material includes a list of Truesdell's official appointments in Washington, D.C. between 1911 and 1968 as well as several photographs of him. Two of the photographs were taken at his family's home in Massachusetts when Truesdell was two years old and again at the same place when he was eighty-two. Truesdell served on the finance committee of the Cosmos Club from 1953 to 1963. Buff Wyandotte's are the breed of chickens that Truesdell raised on his farm prior to entering Brown University. The blueprint was produced as part of a summer job Truesdell held while at Brown.
Additional biographical material may be found in manuscript numbers 73 and 74 in Series 6. Manuscripts, and reprint numbers 49.1 and 49.2 in Series 7. Reprints.