Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2019 June 30

= June 30 =

Indian Muslims/US Census question
Between 1920 and 1940, the US Census Bureau had a Hindoo category as one of its race categories. My question is this--were Indian Muslims likewise classified by the US Census Bureau as Hindoos during this time? I know that Sikhs such as Bhagat Singh Thind were classified by the US Census Bureau as Hindoo in spite of the fact that they were not literal Hindus. Thus, I'm curious whether the same was also true in regards to Indian Muslims who were in the US at the time of the 1920, 1930, and/or 1940 US Censuses. Futurist110 (talk) 00:35, 30 June 2019 (UTC)
 * One 1940 census item I just looked up on Ancestry.com (a pay site) has a dropdown that shows these possibilities under "Color or race": White (W), Negro (Neg), Indian (In) [presumably American Indian], Chinese (Chi), Japanese (Jp), Filipino (Fil), Hindu (Hin), Korean (Kor); "Other races, spell out in full." Can you think of any prominent Muslim Indians who would have been US residents in 1940? If so, I could look them up. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:07, 30 June 2019 (UTC)


 * A rather high percentage of Muslims in the United States in 1940 were Ahmadiyya or members of the "Moorish Science Temple" and its various offshoots. The Ahmadiyya in the United States article lists a number of individuals who traveled back and forth between British India and the United States, but it's hard to tell which ones were in the United States in 1940... AnonMoos (talk) 01:54, 30 June 2019 (UTC)


 * He was not Muslim, but Bhicaji Balsara might serve as an example, as he was Parsi, not Hindu. He was "...notable for being amongst the first Indians to become naturalized U.S. citizens" (in 1909). Maybe there are others in Indian_Americans worth pursuing, but I didn't see any spelled out as being Muslim. According to this, about 10% of Indian-Americans are Muslim, but there's not much more in the article about that. I've got to think that some kind of intersecting of categories would help narrow this down. Matt Deres (talk) 22:54, 30 June 2019 (UTC)
 * In the 1940 census (per Ancestry.com) it originally had "W" for race, which was crossed out and "Parsi" was written in. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:34, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
 * I would still presume that he was counted as White in the census figures for that year. I don't think that there was an "other" (or a specific "Parsi") category on the US Census in 1940--was there? Futurist110 (talk) 23:18, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

British International Typewriting Team


In the course of reading up on A. J. Sylvester, Lloyd George's private secretary for many years, I discovered this in the ODNB article on him - "he became a member, in 1911 and 1912, of the British international typewriting team, which competed (unsuccessfully) with the Americans". I have been unable to find out anything more about this team, its members, or the competitions in which it took part. I would be grateful for any help. DuncanHill (talk) 16:08, 30 June 2019 (UTC)


 * The Mascots of 1911: The Year God Met the Devil in the World Series by Bob Schroeder (p. 101): "The Day of the Game Thursday, October 26, 1911 New York City. Besides game six of the World Series being played, there was another world championship competition held that day. The sixth annual, World Typewriter Speed and Accuracy Championship was held in New York at Madison Square Gardens. Typing for one hour from unfamiliar text, after five words were deducted for each and every error, H. O. Blaisdell won with a score of 112 words per minute... Her prize was a trophy and one thousand dollars". Alansplodge (talk) 19:56, 30 June 2019 (UTC)
 * With the caveat that the citation is taken from a work of fiction which clearly warns upfront that certain events portrayed therein did take place but others are fictitious. However, this particular tidbit was likely taken from contemporary newspapers that Schroeder must have consulted in researching his novel, but no sourcing is given. Xuxl (talk) 20:32, 1 July 2019 (UTC)


 * The article "World Champion Typists and Typewriting World Records" has a little bit of information about that era. J. N. Kimball, an Underwood Typewriter Company employee, organized many of the championships. H. Otis Blaisdale won in 1910-11. Florence W. Wilson was the champ in 1912. Kimball was apparently still on the job for the December 1925 "International Typewriting Championship Contest". Clarityfiend (talk) 04:10, 2 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Thanks all, fascinating stuff. Sylvester's father was a farm labourer, Sylvester learnt shorthand and typewriting and built a good career from it. DuncanHill (talk) 14:52, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Some photos of a Dutch competition are on Commons. Andy Dingley (talk) 10:57, 4 July 2019 (UTC)