Joseph Kennedy was a major innovator in census taking; specializing schedules to cover specific demographic areas and centralizing data processing to improve control and efficiency.

Born in Meadville, Pennsylvania in 1813, Kennedy edited two unsuccessful local newspapers before being named secretary of the United States Census Board in 1849. The board, created by an act of Congress earlier that year, consisted of the secretary of state (who had titular responsibility for the first five decennial censuses), the attorney general, and the postmaster general. When responsibility for the census was transferred to the newly created Department of the Interior, Kennedy was appointed its superintending clerk. He visited Europe in 1851, where he met with other public officials, studied various methods of census taking and urged adoption of uniform classification systems. Kennedy served as superintendent of the census until 1853. In 1858 he returned to prepare a digest of statistics of manufactures from the 1850 census. Kennedy was also superintending clerk of the eighth census, serving from 1860 to 1862, when the position was abolished.

Kennedy served as secretary of the United States Commission to the London World’s Fair. He helped organize the first International Statistical Conference, held in Brussels in 1853. In 1866, King Christian IX of Denmark awarded him a gold medal in recognition of his work in the field of statistics.