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This paper attempts to illustrate the utility of regarding the census more as a 'narrative source'[10] than as a statistical one. Attention is paid to the character of the classificatory devices employed, not for the ambiguities contained in them and consequent levels of error, but for their substantive character and what they reveal about the contemporary social setting. The paper starts from the assumption that the census is a social product, both arising from and reflecting the social concerns of an era. As such it may be said to mirror the dominant values of the time, among which will be values concerning occupations, their legitimacy, their boundaries and their social worth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]