These scans from the Ninth U.S. Census 1870 are truly fascinating. Check out the fiscal chart on page 35, the population pyramids on pages 40 and 41, the death charts on pages 45-46, and the disabilities on pages 49ff (including “insanity” and “idiocy”). There are also a few more treemap-like pages like the one above.
Incredible to think that all of these were done long before computers, by hand. The number crunching alone must have been a huge task, and then drawing these charts and transferring them onto plates for printing. Wow.
(via robertogreco)
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