New publication - Historical Demography 32

An article by Miroslava Melkesová was selected as the volume’s introductory study. It provides a clear and comprehensive summary of the use of parish registers for the purpose of scientific research in the Czech lands in various fields as well as historical demography. This entails summarising all the domestic research to date conducted on the basis of a study of parish registers. The study by Markéta Skořepová is to some degree also based on parish registers, and it focuses on an analysis of household structures in the first half of the 19th century in Nový Rychnov (today in the District of Pelhřimov). In his study, Radek Lipovski analyses the population structures of the towns of Frýdek and Místek at the end of the 19th century using data from population censuses conducted in 1869-1900. Both studies extend the knowledge of the gradual transformation of society in the 19th century in the period of the industrial revolution and the onset of the demographic revolution. The study by Klára Habartová is slightly different in orientation: the author describes the situation and conditions of a camp set up in Havlíčkův Brod at the start of the First World War for refugees from Galicia and Bukovina. She notes the particular social and health conditions of the refugees. Petra Berrová directs her attention at population counts carried out at the end of the Second World War in Czechoslovakia and the population census in 1950. Here she takes a detailed look at how nationality was determined and at some legal cases connected with the census that had to be addressed by the Supreme Administrative Court. The volume also contains a source study, in which Pavla Stieglerová describes a little-known document obtained for state estates at the start of the 19th century, which has proved to be a good source for studying the economic, social, and demographic conditions in the Czech countryside at that time. The volume also traditionally includes several reviews of domestic publications relating to population development in the Czech lands. The Editorial Office welcomes submissions on population development, historical demography, social history, and on the potential uses of various types of sources for this area of research. Instructions for preparing manuscripts for submission are presented on page 207.

Direct all comments, suggestions and submissions for future volumes to: The Committee for Historical and Social Demography, Institute of Sociology AS CR, Jilská 1, 110 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic.