U.S. census data have long been a vital resource for geographical studies of American population and society. It is only recently, however, that most historical census data have become available in digital form through the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS), greatly facilitating the mapping and analysis of the data.
The Geography 420 Seminar at Middlebury College, taught by Jonathan Schroeder, surveys advanced methods of spatial data analysis and visualization, examining how such methods can be used to explore long-term trends and patterns in U.S. census data. Each student in the seminar prepares a dataset of historical census data, designs analyses, produces visualizations, and presents findings through a series of web pages.
The student projects, accessible here reveal many interesting features of historical U.S. population geography. They also provide a glimpse of the range of new possibilities for geographic research enabled by the NHGIS.