Guides: History Research Guide: Maps and Data Sets

Library Databases

Historical Statistics of the U.S. This link opens in a new window
A source for the statistics of American history, Historical Stats arranges the data by population; work and welfare; economic structure and performance; economic sectors; and government and international relations.
Data Axle - Consumers/Lifestyles This link opens in a new window
Survey consumer demographics by state, city, zip code, or even neighborhood. Retrieve information on housing, median income, age, and spending habits and internet use. Use the Lifestyles menu to filter by many patterns such as purchase behavior or charitable giving.

Open Internet Data Sets

Data.gov
The United States Government's open data site is designed to unleash the power of government open data to inform decisions by the public and policymakers, drive innovation and economic activity, achieve agency missions, and strengthen the foundation of an open and transparent government.
U.S. Census Bureau: Data
Access data and digital content from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan
ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) is an international consortium of more than 810 academic institutions and research organizations.ICPSR maintains a data archive of more than 350,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts 23 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.
Eurostat
Eurostat produces European statistics in partnership with National Statistical Institutes and other national authorities in the EU Member States.
World Bank Open Data
Data collection from the World Bank, who works with countries to end poverty and boost prosperity on a livable planet. The World Bank focuses on five development areas: People, Prosperity, Planet, Infrastructure, and Digital. They also look at impact on gender and fragility, conflict and violence across these areas.
UNdata
UNdata brings international statistical databases within easy reach of users through a single-entry point. Users can search and download a variety of statistical resources compiled by the United Nations (UN) statistical system and other international agencies. The numerous databases or tables collectively known as "datamarts" contain over 60 million data points and cover a wide range of statistical themes including agriculture, crime, communication, development assistance, education, energy, environment, finance, gender, health, labour market, manufacturing, national accounts, population and migration, science and technology, tourism, transport and trade.

Map Collections

The Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL) Map Collection
The PCL Map Collection includes more than 250,000 maps provided through UT Austin.
Historical Map Collection from Library of Congress
Search Library of Congress for maps, over 50,000 of which have been digitized.
Interactive Maps from the U.S. Census Bureau
Work with interactive mapping tools from across the Census Bureau.
Map collection from the National Archives.
The holdings of the Cartographic and Architectural Section in College Park, Maryland, include over 15 million maps, charts, aerial photographs, architectural drawings, patents, and ships plans, constituting one of the world's largest accumulations of such documents.
The David Rumsey Map Collection
Through Stanford University, the David Rumsey Map Collection was started over 35 years ago and contains more than 200,000 maps. The collection focuses on rare 16th through 21st century maps of North and South America, as well as maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The collection includes atlases, globes, wall maps, school geographies, pocket maps, books of exploration, maritime charts, and a variety of cartographic materials including pocket, wall, children's, and manuscript maps. Items range in date from around 1550 to the present.