Individual Article:
New access to the digital version of Historical Statistics of the United States
Newly available in electronic format, and revised for the first time in more than 30 years, the new Historical Statistics of the United States is a massive, five-volume compendium of statistics culled from more than 1,000 sources. Originally produced in its first three editions by the Bureau of the Census, this latest edition is the fruit of 10 years work by more than 80 scholars and is now published by Cambridge University Press.
In essence, Historical Statistics of the United States presents a numerical history of the United States. It contains more than 37,000 annual time series of quantitative historical information covering virtually every quantifiable dimension of American history from colonial times to the present. This edition also contains 70 essays that provide detailed introduction, documentation, and analysis of its various statistical tables.
Major topics covered are population (population characteristics, vital statistics, migration), work and welfare (labor, education, health, slavery), economic structure (national income, prices, consumer expenditures), economic sectors (manufacturing, construction, agriculture, industries), governance and international relations (government finance, elections, crime, international trade)
The online edition also offers users a variety of methods to search its almost 2,000 tables, enabling the user to:
• View in PDF or HTML format
• Download tables in Excel or CSV; also download entire groups of tables as a zip file
• Create custom tables; merge columns from multiple tables to create custom tables, which can also be downloaded, printed, or graphed
• Perform advanced searching of the tables, their documentation, and essays
• Download full citations in RIS, text, or CSV format
• Save search criteria
The print edition of Historical Statistics of the United States is located in the Government and Geographic Information and Data Services reference department. For assistance with either version, please contact the department in person, by phone (847-491-3130), or by email (govpubs@northwestern.edu).
Louis Takacs
International Documents Librarian