Filtering a Spreadsheet
Open your dataset
We'll use data about manumissions of enslaved people in Albany, courtesy of the Albany County Hall of Records
"Data" > "Create a Filter"
Filter using the small toggle on each column
Filters can be used to:
- Get an overview of your data
- Sort alphabetically or by date
- Filter out blanks or irrelevant records
- Get only records for a specific range
- Create a new dataset
Not all Blanks are irrelevant!
Hint: To avoid having to uncheck every option you don't want, use "clear" or "select all"
You can also use a filter to do a text search. How many women were identified as someone's wife?
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What's the date range of our data?
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What's the geographic scope? What towns are represented?
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What's the problem with the place names?
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Are there any patterns in the manumissions of children?
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(Hint: Filter "Slave First Name" by condition "Cell is not empty" and "Child Name" by "Cell is not empty" and try to interpret the results)