Matt Nelson
@mattanelson.bsky.social
1K followers 120 following 45 posts
Historical demographer | ISRDI Senior Research Scientist | IPUMS Full Count Census Data 1790-1950 | Kinship Networks | 10 gallon 🩸 donor
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Matt Nelson
camerondcampbell.blog
Our student Yue (Bruce) Yu has been working on an improved pipeline for nominative record linkage in Chinese historical datasets that uses machine learning. This working paper describes the approach and compares it with our existing, somewhat ad hoc approach for the 缙绅录.

osf.io/preprints/so...
OSF
osf.io
Reposted by Matt Nelson
sbagen.bsky.social
It’s horrific and inexplicable. Donald Trump and RFK Jr. are objectively pro-cancer. They’re destroying the entire infrastructure that has made so much progress and is poised to make much more. People will suffer and die because of them. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...
How the Trump Administration Is Dismantling America’s Cancer-Research System
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Matt Nelson
aaronsojourner.org
"The labor participation rate for women with children younger than 5 had the biggest midyear drop in more than 40 years during the first six months of 2025."
Remote policies helped women work. In-office mandates and child care costs are driving them back out.
Low flexibility and high child care costs are pushing mothers with young kids to the sidelines after they joined the workforce in record numbers during the pandemic.

Emma Nelson
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 13th at 6:01 AM CDT
Reposted by Matt Nelson
eshistdemo.bsky.social
#ESHD2025 AWARDS!!!!!

The Tamara Hareven Award has been established by the ESHD to recognize the best PhD thesis.

Björn Quanjer @Radboud_Uni

"A Tale Of Tallness. A household perspective on early life determinants of male height within the Netherlands between 1850 and 1950"
Reposted by Matt Nelson
eshistdemo.bsky.social
#ESHD2025 AWARDS!

The Roger Schofield Award has been established to recognize the best paper presented by a young demographer at the ESHD Conference

Emma Diduch
Work,Marriage & Motherhood In Derbyshire:Event History Analysis Of Women's Employment & Fertility Histories,1881-1911
Reposted by Matt Nelson
eshistdemo.bsky.social
#ESHD2025 Awards!

The Louis Henry Award has been established by the EDHD to recognize methodological innovations in data collection,visualization or analysis

Mosaic Database by Szoltysek,Ogórek, Gruber & Poniat
Social Science History @CambridgeCore 2025 doi:10.1017/ssh.2024.18
Reposted by Matt Nelson
clarajeffery.bsky.social
Nine former heads of the CDC—appointed by presidents of both parties—warn the nation of the immense peril RFK Jr is putting the country in.

Gift link, please send to families and friends www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
www.nytimes.com
mattanelson.bsky.social
You know you did the Great Minnesota Get-Together (the State Fair for the non-Minnesotans) right when you’re still full 8 hours later and are drinking a ton of water because how pickled one is from all the salt, fats, and alcohol consumed.

State sanctioned gluttony at its finest.
Reposted by Matt Nelson
Reposted by Matt Nelson
rebeccasear.bsky.social
“The study authors asked GPT 4o-mini to evaluate the quality of 217 papers. The tool didn’t mention in any of the reports that the papers being analyzed had been retracted or had validity issues.

In 190 cases, GPT described the papers as world leading, internationally excellent, or close to that”
ChatGPT tends to ignore retractions on scientific papers
Study finds the chatbot doesn’t acknowledge concerns with problematic studies
cen.acs.org
Reposted by Matt Nelson
ihrc-umn.bsky.social
Join us Sept 17 for a timely webinar on Birthright Citizenship and learn from the experts @unlawfulentries.bsky.social @skantrow.bsky.social @cnacken1.bsky.social William Jones and Cecilia Marquez. Register z.umn.edu/BirthrightCitizen

@umn-amst.bsky.social @umnlawschool.bsky.social
Reposted by Matt Nelson
adamjkucharski.bsky.social
New post, on why a 1% hallucination risk is terrible if you’re using large language models to look for unusual events: kucharski.substack.com/p/small-hall...
Reposted by Matt Nelson
mattprivratsky.bsky.social
The University of Minnesota, Morris provides an amazing liberal arts experience and learning environment that equals or exceeds MN's private liberal arts colleges at a 1/3 or 1/4 of the price.

Stop prioritizing 70k/yr institutions. Check out places like Morris! www.startribune.com/university-o...
U of M Morris grapples with lowest enrollment in years, raising worries for its future
The campus in west-central Minnesota has faced declining enrollment for years. Now Morris faces a critical point.
www.startribune.com
Reposted by Matt Nelson
Reposted by Matt Nelson
ipums.bsky.social
Off to a great start here at the Data-Intensive Research Conference! @umnlifecourse.bsky.social
Auditorium with speaker and audience for the conference
Reposted by Matt Nelson
demo-udem.bsky.social
🎉🎉 Nos professeures Simona Bignami (PI) et @lisaydillon.bsky.social obtiennent une subvention CRSH-Savoir pour « Settling the Canadian West: Evolving household and family structures across ethnic groups between 1901 and 1911 » avec @kris-inwood.bsky.social, en collaboration avec D. Ghio et J. Jedwab
Reposted by Matt Nelson
paulhuttnerweather.bsky.social
We'll have some less smoky summers, but get used to smokier MN summer trend until we reduce GHG emissions.
Canada has 1.2 BILLION ACRES of boreal forests.
Hotter drier climate sucks more moisture from dry fuels.
Unfortunately this is the tip of the iceberg for smoke potential.
Reposted by Matt Nelson
datahistorian.bsky.social
You can “other” them into categories of “exclusion” –e.g. proposals to fiddle the constitutional basis of apportionment. Add a “citizenship” question to the 2030 census. “Exclude” “non citizens” from House apportionment calculations. One version of that. www.congress.gov/bill/118th-c...
www.congress.gov
Reposted by Matt Nelson
minnpop.bsky.social
📣 We are seeking to fill multiple postdoctoral positions! We have funding to fill NIH T32 program-based positions. Positions start Fall 2025, but timing is flexible! We'll begin reviewing applications July 21st, 2025 - so don't wait! Apply now! pop.umn.edu/training/pos...
Postdoctoral Training | Minnesota Population Center
Postdoctoral TrainingWe hire both project-based Post Doctoral Associates and program-based Post Doctoral Trainees.
pop.umn.edu
Reposted by Matt Nelson
johnvoorheis.bsky.social
I think a bunch of incurious people who have suddenly developed strong feelings on race and ethnicity measurement should probably take a beat, grapple with the literature on *within person* racial and ethnic fluidity in linked data and then maybe take a pass on takes for a little bit
mattanelson.bsky.social
4/4
This work is the a first step towards identifying full kinship networks in the United States prior to 1950. I’m presenting on the next steps of this research at the World Economic History Congress in Lund at the end of July!
Identifying matrilineal kin networks in the United States 1900–1940
National-level analysis of historical women’s life courses and kinship networks is understudied due to data limitations. Previous analysis of patrilineal kin propinquity in the United States relied...
www.tandfonline.com
mattanelson.bsky.social
3/4
Each linked dataset uses different sources and approaches for record linkage.

Consider source material used for linking, methodological biases, accuracy, and representativity to determine which linked dataset is appropriate for your specific research question.
mattanelson.bsky.social
2/4
Married women experienced life cycle of kin beyond the household. Younger married women lived closest to siblings (own or husband) & husband’s parents. By age 60, shifts to living near children and their own siblings. Kin propinquity rate ⬆️ ~60% when accounting for both familial lineages.