1890 Census

This collection comes from the Statistical Atlas of the United States, Based on the Results of the Eleventh Census (1898) which was created under the direction of Henry Gannett (1846-1914). Gannett served as geographer of the U.S. censuses of 1880, 1890, and 1900 and was the driving force behind the statistical atlases that used data from those same years. The atlases are often seen as representing a high point in early census cartography and data visualization. Indeed, while the 1880, 1890, and 1900 census atlases were filled with numerous colorful data visualization, atlases from subsequent years were made up mostly of tables. The 1890 census was notable because many population schedules from the atlas were badly damaged in a fire at the Commerce Department building in 1921, causing significant gaps in genealogical records and research. The 1890 census included a greater number of topics than any previous census and more than would be included in those immediately following. New entries on the census questionnaire included items about ownership and indebtedness of farms and homes; information about surviving Union soldiers, and the names of the Civil War widows. "Japanese" was also added as a racial category, along with "Chinese," "Negro," "mulatto," "quadroon," "octoroon," and "white." The 1890 census was also historic because it was determined that the population had dispersed across the present-day United States to such an extent that a "frontier line" no longer existed. As the Superintendent of the Census wrote at the time, ‘‘Up to and including 1880, the country had a frontier of settlement, but at present the unsettled area has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be a frontier line. In the discussion of its extent, its westward movement, etc., it can not, therefore, any longer have a place in the census reports. "

Number of Inhabitants to the Square Mile at Each Census: 1790 to 1890

United States Census Office. 11Th Census, 1. & Gannett, H. (1898) Statistical atlas of the United States, based upon the results of the eleventh census. Washington, Govt. print. off. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/07019233/.

Urban and Total Population at Each Census: 1790 to 1890

United States Census Office. 11Th Census, 1. & Gannett, H. (1898) Statistical atlas of the United States, based upon the results of the eleventh census. Washington, Govt. print. off. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/07019233/.

Foreign Born Population by States and Territories: 1890

United States Census Office. 11Th Census, 1. & Gannett, H. (1898) Statistical atlas of the United States, based upon the results of the eleventh census. Washington, Govt. print. off. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/07019233/.

Number of Persons to a Family, By States and Territories: 1890

United States Census Office. 11Th Census, 1. & Gannett, H. (1898) Statistical atlas of the United States, based upon the results of the eleventh census. Washington, Govt. print. off. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/07019233/.

Number of Natives of the Scandinavian Nations, By States and Territories: 1890

United States Census Office. 11Th Census, 1. & Gannett, H. (1898) Statistical atlas of the United States, based upon the results of the eleventh census. Washington, Govt. print. off. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/07019233/.

Number of Natives of the Slav Nations, By States and Territories: 1890

United States Census Office. 11Th Census, 1. & Gannett, H. (1898) Statistical atlas of the United States, based upon the results of the eleventh census. Washington, Govt. print. off. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/07019233/.

Number of Natives of the Latin Nations, by States: 1890.

Percentage of Aliens of Total Foreign Born of Each Specified Nativity.

Percentage of Each Nativity in Cities of 25,000 Inhabitants or More: 1890.

Population of Each State and Territory :1890