The Guth Algorithm and the Nominal Record Linkage of Multi-Ethnic Populations
David De Brou, Mark Olsen · Historical Methods A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History · 1986
The authors discuss the advantages of the letter-by-letter comparative algorithm proposed by Gloria Guth over language-specific systems for linking records involving surnames in a multi-ethnic population. The paper begins with a brief description of three language-specific systems--the Russell Soundex Code the Henry Code and FONEM--and delineates the inadequacies of these linkage strategies when applied to multi-ethnic populations. The major part of the paper focuses on the Guth algorithm and its application to a multi-ethnic population the voting electorate of Haute-Ville de Quebec [Canada] from 1814 to 1836. (EXCERPT)