Research Guides: HIST 301: The Historians Craft (Sheriff, Spring 2024): Historical Statistics

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.

University of Missouri Libraries, Prices and Wages by Decade
This guide points to consumer prices and wages reported in primary sources for each decade back to the 1700s. Whenever possible, we refer to retail price and wage averages as reported in government publications. When those are not available, we use figures listed in other contemporary sources such as commercial catalogs, travel guides and newspapers.

Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Use Social Explorer to visualize and interact with data, create maps, charts, reports and downloads. Explore hundreds of thousands of built-in data indicators related to demography, economy, health, politics, environment, crime and more. Social Explorer is designed to provide quick and easy access to historical census data and demographic information from 1790 to the present.
Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new window
Quantitative data for all aspects of American history. Electronic version of Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition (Cambridge UP, 2006). Coverage: 1790-1996.

The value of a dollar : colonial era to the Civil War, 1600-1865
Ch. 1. 1600-1749: The development of the colonies -- ch. 2. 1750-1774: The run up to the War of American Independence -- ch. 3. 1775-1799: The Revolution births a debt-plagued nation -- ch. 4. 1800-1824: Another war, manufacturing, self-sufficiency and prosperity -- ch. 5. 1825-1849: Western expansion, canal transportation and American confidence -- ch. 6. 1850-1865: Railroads, slavery and a nation at war with itself.
he value of a dollar : prices and incomes in the United States, 1860-2014
Inflation Conversion Factors for years 1774 to estimated 2028
This site provides Inflation Conversion Factors for dollars of years 1774 to estimated 2028, based in dollars of recent years.

Included on these pages are Consumer Price Index (CPI) conversion factors to determine the value of dollars of 1774 to estimated 2028 in dollars of estimated 2018 and final 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, CPI (1982-84), and three special CPI measures, CPI-U-X1 (starting 1950), CPI-U-RS (starting 1947), and "chain-weighted" CPI for recent years.