Harry Sebee Linfield

Harry Sebee Linfield, aka H.S. Linfield (; 31 October 1888 – 24 November 1978) was a 20th Century demographer and statistician of the Jewish people.

Linfield was also a rabbi, author and historian who produced publications for the American Jewish Committee, the Bureau of Jewish Social Research and the Jewish Statistical Bureau, amongst other organizations.

A primary focus of his work was exploring the role and nature of Jewish life in America and quantifying its size, the ways in which it changed over time, and the manner in which it impacted American culture. He also studied Jewish demographic trends worldwide. He did so through abstracting information from government and private sources, including the US, English, French, German, Hebrew and Yiddish press.

A "Special Agent" for the US Census Bureau quantifying statistics on Jews in America, Linfield nevertheless thought that the US Government should not ask individuals their personal religious beliefs or treat citizens differently due to their religion. He believed that capturing such data could be used directly or indirectly to persecute Jews, or members of other religious groups. Concerning the attempted effort to include this data in the 1960 US Census, Linfield said: "we see a complete denial of the principle of equal treatment of all religious groups in government records, and a threat to the liberties of all religious groups." Provided by Wikipedia