Prima dell'anagrafe. Per una storia del Ruolo di popolazione nel Comune di Ferrara (1812-1852)

The Municipal Historical Archive of Ferrara preserves extensive documentation on an early nineteenth century administrative source: a population roll. Established in the Napoleonic period (1812), it was preserved by the restored authorities, with periodic updates ("rettifiche") and a new version in 1836. Except for occasional additions, it does not appear to have been revised after 1847, being later replaced by other ways of registering the population. Through administrative correspondence it is possible to reconstruct the history of the formation and management of the roll, with recurring problems of financing and accuracy of registrations. Retracing these events helps also to reconsider the nature of the residual documentation (two series of registers and family sheets, grouped into house dossiers). This roll has extraordinary potential, not only for historical demography, but above all for urban, economic and social history. It is useful also because of the large documentary gaps characterizing that period due to the complete destruction of the archives of the Napoleonic Department and the Papal Legation, as well as of much of the coeval judicial documentation