Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T08:19:31.902Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Looking Backward and Looking Forward

Anthropometric Research and the Development of Social Science History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

John Komlos  and
Jörg Baten
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The contributions included in this issue celebrate the 22d-year anniversary of the fall 1982 issue of Social Science History (vol. 6, no. 4) devoted to “Trends in Nutrition, Labor Welfare, and Labor Productivity.” The guest editors then were Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman, and all but one of the eight contributions were dedicated to anthropometric history (Fogel and Engerman 1982; Fogel et al. 1982; Floud and Wachter 1982; Friedman 1982;Margo and Steckel 1982; Sokoloff and Villaflor 1982; Tanner 1982). The issue had a considerable impact on the fledgling field of anthropometric history, even if a few publications preceded it in other journals (Fogel et al. 1978; Steckel 1979; Trussell and Steckel 1978).

The editor of Social Science History at the time, James Q. Graham, hoped to expand the exploration of human heights and their economic and social correlates. He was one of the few journal editors convinced early on that such an agenda fit well into an interdisciplinary historical perspective.

Type
Articles
Information
Social Science History , Volume 28 , Issue 2: Special Issue: Recent Research in Anthropometric History , Summer 2004 , pp. 191 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 2004 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

A'Hearn, Brian (1998) “On the puzzle of falling heights in antebellum America: A fresh look at the stature of Union Army recruits,” in Komlos, John and Baten, Jörg (eds.) The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner: 250–67.Google Scholar
A'Hearn, Brian (2003) “Anthropometric evidence on living standards in northern Italy, 1730–1860.” Journal of Economic History 63: 351–81.Google Scholar
Aron, Jean-Paul, Dumont, Paul, and Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel (1972) Anthropologie du conscrit français. Paris: Mouton.Google Scholar
Baten, Jörg (1999) Ernährung und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in Bayern, 1730–1880. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.Google Scholar
Baten, Jörg (2000) “Economic development and the distribution of nutritional resources in Bavaria, 1797–1839.” Journal of Income Distribution 9: 89–106.Google Scholar
Baten, Jörg (2001) “Climate, grain production, and nutritional status in southern Germany during the XVIIIth century.” Journal of European Economic History 30: 9–47.Google Scholar
Baten, Jörg, and Murray, John (2000) “Heights of men and women in nineteenth-century Bavaria: Economic, nutritional, and disease influences.” Explorations in Economic History 37: 351–69.Google Scholar
Baten, Jörg, and Wagner, Andrea (2003) “Autarchy, market disintegration, and health: The mortality and nutritional crisis in Nazi Germany, 1933–1937.” Economics and Human Biology 1: 1–28.Google Scholar
Bogin, Barry (1988) Patterns of Human Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Böhm, Max (1995) Bayerns Agrarproduktion 1800-1870. St. Katharinen, Germany: Scripta Mercaturae.Google Scholar
Cameron, Noel (2003) “Physical growth in a transitional economy: The aftermath of South African apartheid.” Economics and Human Biology 1: 29–42.Google Scholar
Carrion, J. M. M. (1994) “Stature, welfare, and economic growth in nineteenth-century Spain: The case of Murcia,” in Komlos, John (ed.) Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 76–92.Google Scholar
Clark, Gregory, Huberman, Michael, and Lindert, Peter (1995) “A British food puzzle, 1770-1850.” Economic History Review 48: 215–37.Google Scholar
Coclanis, Peter, and Komlos, John (1995) “Nutrition and economic development in post-Reconstruction South Carolina: An anthropometric approach.” Social Science History 19: 92–115.Google Scholar
Costa, Dora L. (1993) “Height, weight, and disease among the native-born rural antebellum north.” Social Science History 17: 355–83.Google Scholar
Crafts, N. F. R. (1997) “The Human Development Index and changes in standards of living: Some historical comparisons.” European Review of Economic History 1: 299–322.Google Scholar
Crafts, N. F. R. , and Mills, Terence C. (1994) “Trends in real wages in Britain, 1750–1913.” Explorations in Economic History 31: 176–94.Google Scholar
Craig, Lee, and Weiss, Thomas (1998) “Nutritional status and agricultural surpluses in the antebellum United States,” in Komlos, John and Baten, Jörg (eds.) The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner: 190–207.Google Scholar
Cuff, Timothy (1993) “The body mass index values of mid-nineteenth-century West Point cadets: A theoretical application of Waaler's curves to a historical population.” Historical Methods 26 (fall): 171–82.Google Scholar
Cuff, Timothy (1998) “Variation and trends in the stature of Pennsylvanians, 1820-1860,” in Komlos, John and Baten, Jörg (eds.) The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner: 208–35.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, Partha (1993) An Inquiry into Well-being and Destitution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Drukker, Jan W., and Tassenaar, Vincent (1997) “Paradoxes of modernization and material well-being in the Netherlands during the nineteenth century,” in Steckel, Richard H. and Floud, Roderick (eds.) Health and Welfare during Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 331–77.Google Scholar
Eltis, David (1982) “Nutritional trends in Africa and the Americas: Heights of Africans, 1819-1839.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 12: 453–75.Google Scholar
Engerman, Stanley (1997) “The standard of living debate in international perspective: Measures and indicators,” in Steckel, Richard H. and Floud, Roderick (eds.) Health and Welfare during Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 17–46.Google Scholar
Floud, Roderick (1994) “The heights of Europeans since 1750: A new source for European economic history,” in Komlos, John (ed.) Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 9–24.Google Scholar
Floud, Roderick, and Harris, Bernard (1997) “Health, height, and welfare: Britain 1700–1980,” in Steckel, Richard H. and Floud, Roderick (eds.) Health and Welfare during Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 91–126.Google Scholar
Floud, Roderick, and Wachter, Kenneth (1982) “Poverty and physical stature: Evidence on the standard of living of London boys, 1770-1870.” Social Science History 6: 422–52.Google Scholar
Floud, Roderick, Wachter, Kenneth, and Annabel, Gregory (1990) Height, Health and History: Nutritional Status in the United Kingdom, 1750-1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert (1994) “Economic growth, population theory, and physiology: The bearing of long-term processes on the making of economic policy.” American Economic Review 84: 369–95.Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert W., and Engerman, Stanley L. (1982) “Guest editors' foreword.” Social Science History 6: 395–98.Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert W., Engerman, Stanley L., and Trussell, James (1982) “Exploring the uses of data on height: The analysis of long-term trends in nutrition, labor welfare, and labor productivity.” Social Science History 6: 401–21.Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert W., Engerman, Stanley L., Trussell, James, Floud, Roderick, Pope, Clayne L., and Wimmer, Larry T. (1978) “The economics of mortality in North America, 1650-1910: A description of a research project.” Historical Methods 11: 75–108.Google Scholar
Friedman, Gerald C. (1982) “The heights of slaves in Trinidad.” Social Science History 6: 482–515.Google Scholar
Haines, Michael R. (1998) “Health, height, nutrition, and mortality: Evidence on the ‘antebellum puzzle' from Union Army recruits for New York State and the United States,” in Komlos, John and Baten, Jörg (eds.) The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner: 155–80.Google Scholar
Harris, Bernard (1994) “Health, height, and history: An overview of recent developments in anthropometric history.” Social History of Medicine 7: 297–320.Google Scholar
Harris, Bernard (1998) “The height of schoolchildren in Britain, 1900–1950,” in Komlos, John (ed.) Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 25–38.Google Scholar
Heintel, Markus, and Baten, Jörg (1998) “Smallpox and nutritional status in England, 1770–1873: On the difficulties of estimating historical heights.” Economic History Review 51: 360–71.Google Scholar
Heintel, Markus, Sandberg, Lars, and Steckel, Richard (1998) “Swedish historical heights revisited: New estimation techniques and results,” in Komlos, John and Baten, Jörg (eds.) The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner: 449–58.Google Scholar
Huck, Paul (1995) “Infant mortality and living standards of English workers during the Industrial Revolution.” Journal of Economic History 55: 531–47.Google Scholar
Johnson, Paul, and Nicholas, Stephen (1995) “Male and female living standards in England and Wales, 1812–1857: Evidence from criminal height records.” Economic History Review 48: 470–81.Google Scholar
Koepke, Nikola (2002) “Anthropometric decline of the Roman Empire?” Proceedings of the International Economic History Conference, Buenos Aires, 2002 (CD-ROM). Available online at www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/wwl/powerpoint0603.ppt.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (1985) “Stature and nutrition in the Habsburg Monarchy: The standard of living and economic development in the eighteenth century.” American Historical Review 90: 1149–61.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (1987) “The height and weight of West Point cadets: Dietary change in antebellum America.” Journal of Economic History 47: 897–927.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (1989) Nutrition and Economic Development in the Eighteenth-Century Habsburg Monarchy: An Anthropometric History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (1990) “Height and social status in eighteenth-century Germany.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 20: 607–21.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (1992) “Toward an anthropometric history of African-Americans: The case of the free blacks in antebellum Maryland,” in Goldin, Claudia and Rockoff, Hugh (eds.) Strategic Factors in Nineteenth-Century American Economic History: A Volume to Honor Robert W. Fogel. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 297–331.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (1993) “The secular trend in the biological standard of living in the United Kingdom.” Economic History Review 46: 115–44.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (1994a) “The nutritional status of French students.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 24: 493–508.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, ed. (1994b) Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, ed. (1995a) The Biological Standard of Living on Three Continents: Further Essays in Anthropometric History. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, ed. (1995b) The Biological Standard of Living in Europe and America, 1700-1900: Studies in Anthropometric History. Aldershot, U.K.: Variorum.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (1996) “Anomalies in economic history: Reflections on the antebellum puzzle.” Journal of Economic History 56: 202–14.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (1998) “Shrinking in a growing economy? The mystery of physical stature during the Industrial Revolution.” Journal of Economic History 58: 779–802.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, guest, ed. (2000a) “Historische Anthropometrie.” Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte 1.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (2000b) “The Industrial Revolution as the escape from the Malthusian trap.” Journal of European Economic History 29: 307–31.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (2001) “On the biological standard of living of eighteenth-century Americans: Taller, richer, healthier.” Research in Economic History 20: 223–48.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (2003) “How to (and how not to) analyze deficient height samples.” Unpublished manuscript, University of Munich.Google Scholar
Komlos, John (forthcoming) “On the size of horses during the Industrial Revolution.” Historical Methods.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, and Baten, Jörg, eds. (1998) The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspectives: Proceedings of a Conference Held in Munich, 18-23 January 1997. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, and Coclanis, Peter (1997) “On the puzzling cycle in the biological standard of living: The case of antebellum Georgia.” Explorations in Economic History 34: 433–59.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, and Cuff, Timothy, eds. (1998) Classics of Anthropometric History: A Selected Anthology. St. Katharinen, Germany: Scripta Mercaturae.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, Hau, Michel, and Bourguinat, Nicolas (2003) “An anthropometric history of early-modern France, 1666–1766.” European Review of Economic History 7: 159–89.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, and Kim, Joo Han (1990) “Estimating trends in historical heights.” Historical Methods 23: 116–20.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, and Kriwy, Peter (2003) “The biological standard of living in the two Germanies.” German Economic Review 4: 493–507.Google Scholar
Kuznets, Simon (1966) Modern Economic Growth: Rate, Structure, and Spread. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lang, Stefan, and Sunder, Marco (2003) “Non-parametric regression with BayesX: A flexible estimation of trends in human physical stature in 19th century America.” Economics and Human Biology 1: 77–89.Google Scholar
Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel, Nicole, Bernageau, and Pasquet, Yvonne (1969) “Le conscrit et l'ordinateur: Perspectives de recherches sur les archives militaires du XIXe siècle français.” Studi Storici 10: 260–308.Google Scholar
Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel, and Bernageau, Nicole (1971) “étude sur un contingent militaire (1868), mobilité géographique, délinquance et stature, mises en rapport avec l'autres aspects de la situation des conscrits.” Annales de Démographie Historique 8: 311–37.Google Scholar
Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel, and Demonet, Michel (1980) “Alphabétisation et stature: Un tableau comparé.” Annales: économies, Sociétés, Civilisations 35: 1329–32.Google Scholar
Margo, Robert, and Steckel, Richard H. (1982) “The height of American slaves: New evidence on slave nutrition and health.” Social Science History 6: 516–38.Google Scholar
Margo, Robert, and Steckel, Richard H. (1983) “Heights of native-born northern whites during the antebellum period.” Journal of Economic History 43: 167–74.Google Scholar
Mokyr, Joel, and Gráda, Cormac Ó (1994) “The heights of the British and the Irish c. 1800–1815: Evidence from recruits to the East India Company's army,” in Komlos, John (ed.) Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 39–59.Google Scholar
Moradi, Alexander (2002) “Heights of women in sub-Saharan Africa, 1950-1980: An economic perspective,” Proceedings of the International Economic History Conference, Buenos Aires 2002 (CD-ROM). Available online at www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/wwl/heightwomen.pdf.Google Scholar
Morgan, Stephen (1998) “Biological indicators of change in the standard of living in China during the 20th century,” in Komlos, John and Baten, Jörg (eds.) The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner: 7–34.Google Scholar
Mosk, Carl (1996) Making Health Work: Human Growth in Modern Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Murray, John (1997) “Standards of the present for people of the past: Height, weight, and mortality among men of Amherst College, 1834-1949.” Journal of Economic History 57: 585–606.Google Scholar
Nicholas, Stephen, Gregory, Robert, and Kimberley, Sue (1998) “The welfare of indigenous and white Australians, 1890-1955,” in Komlos, John and Baten, Jörg (eds.) The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner: 35–54.Google Scholar
Nicholas, Stephen, and Oxley, Deborah (1993) “The living standards of women during the Industrial Revolution, 1795-1820.” Economic History Review 46: 723–49.Google Scholar
Nicholas, Stephen, and Steckel, Richard H. (1991) “Heights and living standards of English workers during the early years of industrialisation, 1770-1815.” Journal of Economic History 51: 937–57.Google Scholar
Nicholas, Stephen, and Steckel, Richard H. (1997) “Tall but poor: Living standards of men and women in pre-famine Ireland.” Journal of European Economic History 26: 105–36.Google Scholar
Pope, Clayne (1992) “Adult mortality in America before 1900,” in Goldin, Claudia and Rockoff, Hugh (eds.) Strategic Factors in Nineteenth-Century American Economic History: A Volume to Honor Robert W. Fogel. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 267–96.Google Scholar
Prince, Joseph M., and Steckel, Richard H. (2003) “Nutritional success on the Great Plains: Nineteenth-century equestrian nomads.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 33: 353–84.Google Scholar
Rees, Ray, Komlos, John, Long, Ngo Van, and Woitek, Ulrich (2003) “Optimal food allocation in a slave economy.” Journal of Population Economics 16: 21–36.Google Scholar
Riggs, Paul (1994) “The standard of living in Scotland, 1800-1850,” in Komlos, John (ed.) Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 60–75.Google Scholar
Sandberg, Lars, and Steckel, Richard (1987) “Heights and economic history: The Swedish case.” Annals of Human Biology 14: 101–10.Google Scholar
Sandberg, Lars, and Steckel, Richard (1997) “Was industrialization hazardous to your health? Not in Sweden!” in Steckel, Richard H. and Floud, Roderick (eds.) Health and Welfare during Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 127–60.Google Scholar
Shay, Ted (1994) “The level of living in Japan, 1885-1938: New evidence,” in Komlos, John (ed.) Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 173–204.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, Kenneth, and Villaflor, Georgia (1982) “The early achievement of modern stature in America.” Social Science History 6: 453–81.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard (1979) “Slave height profiles from coastwise manifests.” Explorations in Economic History 16: 363–80.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard (1986) “A peculiar population: The nutrition, health, and mortality of American slaves from childhood to maturity.” Journal of Economic History 46: 721–41.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard (1995) “Stature and the standard of living.” Journal of Economic Literature 33: 1903–40.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard, and Costa, Dora (1997) “Long-term trends in health, welfare, and economic growth in the United States,” in Steckel, Richard H. and Floud, Roderick (eds.) Health and Welfare during Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 47–90.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard H., and Floud, Roderick, eds. (1997) Health and Welfare during Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard, and Haurin, D. (1994) “Health and nutrition in the American Midwest: Evidence from the height of Ohio National Guardsmen, 1850-1910,” in Komlos, John (ed.) Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 117–28.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard H., and Rose, J. C. (2002) The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Steegmann, Theodore A. Jr., and Haseley, P. A. (1988) “Stature variation in the British American colonies: French and Indian War records, 1755-1763.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 75: 413–21.Google Scholar
Sunder, Marco (2003) “The making of giants in a welfare state: The Norwegian experience in the 20th century.” Economics and Human Biology 1: 267–76.Google Scholar
Tanner, James M. (1982) “The potential of auxological data for monitoring economic and social well-being.” Social Science History 6: 571–81.Google Scholar
Trussell, James, and Steckel, Richard (1978) “The age of slaves at menarche and their first birth.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 8: 477–505.Google Scholar
Villaflor, Georgia C., and Sokoloff, Kenneth L. (1982) “Migration in colonial America: Evidence from the militia muster rolls.” Social Science History 6: 539–70.Google Scholar
Weir, David (1993) “Parental consumption decisions and child health during the early French fertility decline, 1790-1914.” Journal of Economic History 53: 259–74.Google Scholar
Weiss, Thomas (1992) “U.S. labor force estimates and economic growth, 1800-1860,” in Gallman, Robert and Wallis, John (eds.) American Economic Growth and Standards of Living before the Civil War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 119–75.Google Scholar
Weiss, Thomas (1994) “Economic growth before 1860: Revised conjectures,” in Schaefer, Donald and Weiss, Thomas (eds.) Economic Development in Historical Perspective. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press: 11–27.Google Scholar
Woitek, Ulrich (2003) “Height cycles in the 18th and 19th centuries.” Economics and Human Biology 1: 243–58.Google Scholar
Wu, Jialu (1994) “How severe was the Great Depression? Evidence from the Pittsburgh region,” in Komlos, John (ed.) Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 129–52.Google Scholar