Research Guides: HIST 301: The Historian's Craft (Watkins, Spring 2025): 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.

Databases

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
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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.
The 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.
Statistical Abstracts Series 1878 - Present
The U.S. Census Bureau terminated the collection of data for the Statistical Compendia program effective October 1, 2011. The Statistical Compendia program is comprised of the Statistical Abstract of the United States and its supplemental products—the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book and the County and City Data Book. To access the most current data, please refer to the organizations cited in the source notes for each table of the Statistical Abstract.

Finding books of historical statistics

Use history AND statistics as a Subject search. Add this to the search phrases you've already successfully used to find other secondary sources.

Examples

"united states" AND history AND Statistics AND 19th

"united states" AND "civil war" AND Statistics

"united states" AND history AND education AND Statistics

These searches bring up compiled volumes of historical statistics like "Population history of eastern U.S. cities and towns, 1790-1870" and "120 years of American education : a statistical portrait"

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
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Materials held by thousands of libraries in the US and abroad. Books, websites, computer programs, films, slides, journals, magazines, papers, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, newspapers, sound recordings, videotapes, etc. Coverage: Before 1000BC-present.

We don't always buy these types of materials, so I strongly suggest looking in worldcat using the same method

Journals

In some fields, journals dedicated to publishing historical data are developing.

An example is Journal of slavery and data preservation. The best way to find these works is to add Data OR statistics as a subject while searching for articles in America: History and life, which should point you toward these journals. example for SU "civil war" AND SU ((Data OR statistics))