Source and Background
The data was originally collected by the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety, while the dataset is provided by the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) who manually compiled the data to create this spreadsheet. This dataset documents information on soldiers from Minnesota who died in WWI, based on questionnaires filled out by their surviving family. Information included ranges from name, birthdate, birth location, resident location, death date, cause of death, and other remarks about accompanying documentation (MSR, photo, letters, etc.). Scans of the original records can be found online by searching on MN People Records Search.
Official collection citation: http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/gr00942.xml
Additional Data
Additional data was provided by the 1910 US Census, the last census collected before the outbreak of WWI. The relevant data we collected detailed 1910 population levels from each county in Minnesota. This allowed us to compare total county populations with the deaths per county. Records can be found on the official US census website.
Context and Considerations
The dataset deals mainly with death in the context of war, which is usually very hard on the family and friends of soldiers, especially if the soldiers die in the war or from other complications. It is important to consider how and when this data was collected amidst tense and strong familial emotions from loss and the grief that comes with it. Were some of the metadata about soldiers missing or misrepresented because of the mental and emotional toll war and death has on the ones reporting? Those who died in the war with no other surviving family may also be missing from the data. These are a few things we kept in mind when exploring this collection.