Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, which now is located at the University of Connecticut, and is one of the world's largest collections of data on the social sciences, was founded at Williams College in 1946 by Elmo Roper, who anticipated the future value of the studies he and other survey research pioneers were conducting to better understand what was on the collective minds of the public. His vision was of the academic scholar in pursuit of the thoughts, opinions, and behaviors of the common person during the early days of polling. Shortly thereafter he was joined by George Gallup, Sr. who contributed his 17 years of data, followed by Archibald Crossley, the National Opinion Research Center, Opinion Research Corporation, and the earliest state polls from Minnesota, Texas, and Iowa. More than six decades later, the Roper Center archives are the largest archives of survey data in existence, including the work of more than 250 survey organizations, representing thousands of studies and hundreds of thousands of questions asked in the United States and abroad. A list of the center's data contributors reads like a “who's who” of the profession, including the major news media—paper and electronic—that sponsor and conduct surveys on a multitude of topics.

This comprehensive collection has fulfilled Elmo Roper's dream that the data be preserved for future generations. However, today the center's role of data steward goes beyond preservation measures and has expanded to include the provision of easy access tools to facilitate use of the collection. The center's membership includes nearly every major university in the United States and several in Europe and elsewhere.