Comment on Article by Anderson and Seltzer

Yet, in discussing this important principle, Anderson and Seltzer gratuitously raise doubts about the Census Bureau’s former leaders, by conflating the lack of a coherent, organized official record with conspiracy motives. As I understand from colleagues, the Census Bureau archives from that era, as well as many other agencies’ archives, are not as comprehensive or organized as historians may prefer. Many of the materials in the Census Bureau’s records for this time were gathered from the personal files collected over the years by Philip Hauser, who served as Deputy Director.