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HIST 301: The Historians Craft (Sheriff, Fall 2024)

How much did they make, anyway?

This is NOT part of your assignment, but I want to take a moment to let you all know this exists. Historical statistics is an important field of historical research. How much did a dock worker make in 1820? How much in 1840? How much did a teacher in Boston make compared to a teacher in Richmond in 1850?  Thankfully, researchers have compiled this data for us.

You don't need, and shouldn't use, these data in this project, but I want you to know they exist.

19th century US Historical Statistics in our collection

 

Examples:

  • College enrollments during/after civil war
  • Enrollment of women through 19th and 20th centuries in universities
  • Total population of us for 1840 election
    • electoral votes by districted in 1840
  • Voting statistics during reconstruction
  • numbers of soldiers in POW campus in Civil War
  • Crime statistics in 19th century america
  • Enlistment & draft statistics during Civil War, specifically for 1863
  • Religious denomination statistics in 1850s and 1860s
  • literacy rates and newspaper circulation figures
  • Economic growth in the north during the 19th century
  • Percentage of African American Soldiers in the Civil War
  • Demographic figures for Native American during the antebellum era
  • Literacy rates in the 19th century for African Americans
  • Shipping and Maritime trade statistics (See also census for numbers of sailors in California for a given decade)
  • Historical statistics on farming or Port Royal VA.