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The data in the Historical Demographic Data of Southeastern Europe series derive primarily from the ethnographic and archival research of Joel M. Halpern, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in southeastern Europe from 1953 to 2006. The series is comprised of historical demographic data from several towns and villages in the countries of Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia, all of which are former constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The data provide insight into the shift from agricultural to industrial production, as well as the more general processes of urbanization occurring in the last days of the Yugoslav state. With an expansive timeframe ranging from 1818 to 2006, the series also contains a wide cross-section of demographic data types. These include, but are not limited to, population censuses, tax records, agricultural and landholding data, birth records, death records, marriage and engagement records, and migration information.

This component of the series focuses exclusively on the Serbian village of Orasac and is composed of 64 datasets. These data record a variety of demographic and economic information between the years of 1824 and 1975. General population information at the individual level is available in official census records from 1863, 1884, 1948, 1953, and 1961, and from population register records for the years of 1928, 1966, and 1975. Census data at the household level is also available for the years of 1863, 1928, 1948, 1953, and 1961. These data are followed by detailed records of engagement and marriage. Many of these data were obtained through the courtesy of village and county officials. Priest book records from 1851 through 1966, as well as death records from 1863 to 1976 and tombstone records from 1975, are also available. Information regarding migrants and emigrants was obtained from the village council for the years of 1946 through 1975. Lastly, the data provide economic and financial information, including records of individual landholdings (for the years of 1863, 1952, 1966, and 1975), records of government taxation at the individual or household level (for 1813 through 1840, as well as for 1952), and livestock censuses (at both the individual and household level for the years of 1824 and 1825, and only at the individual level for the years of 1833 and 1834).