Early in the twentieth century, demographers recognized a need for more locally-focused census geography concepts. Economic changes spurred by technological advances had resulted in major population shifts. Farm populations declined, and the national workforce was concentrated in the industrialized urban areas. Urban industrial economies were more complex, more integrated, and more interdependent than their rural agricultural counterparts. The Census Bureau, acknowledging these new economic realities, made its first attempt to quantify the different lifestyles of the urban and rural populations in the 1910 Census of Population. An anonymous source noted in the introductory essay that “cities represent, in comparison with the remainder of the county, a distinct type of economic and industrial life” and therefore, “for convenience of comparison, … statistics regarding the number, composition and characteristics of the population have been presented separately for urban communities as a group and for rural communities as a group.”1 Incorporated places with more than 2500 inhabitants were considered urban; the remainder of the country was rural. The urban/rural distinction was employed in the censuses of 1920 and 1930, but for the 1940 census the concept was further expanded and “standard metropolitan areas” were created and defined. Demographers recognized that in very large urban areas, with populations over 200,000 and which might include more than one major city, a correspondingly larger degree of economic and social integration existed. There might be several commercial centers whose economic and social interdependence extended into the surrounding suburbs and rural areas. Metropolitan areas were defined to include all the counties that were deemed to be included in one of these “metropolitan areas,” and some of them, such as Cincinnati and Kansas City, crossed state lines.

The changing census geographies fueled a demand for new compendia that summarized statistics with more local foci. The first companion volume to the Statistical Abstract was the Cities Supplement, Statistical Abstract of the United States: Selected Data for Cities Having 25,000 or More Inhabitants in 1940, which appeared in 1944. The Cities Supplement contained 79 data items on population, labor force, housing, industry, retail and service establishments, city government finances and employment, vital statistics, and employment for about 400 cities of 2500 or more inhabitants.

The County Data Book: A Supplement to the Statistical Abstract of the United States followed in 1947. The County volume included 91 variables, 75 of them taken from the 1940 Census. The author of the introductory essay acknowledged additional contributions from the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, the US Departments of Agriculture and Treasury, the War Production Board, and various other offices in the Department of Commerce.

In addition to updated census geographies, some traditional concepts from earlier censuses that had been updated and modernized for the 1940 Census were included. For example, census takers in 1930 and before, attempting to measure the general state of education in America, had counted the “illiterate” and used a variety of tests and measures to ascertain which individuals qualified to be labeled as such. With the 1940 Census, “illiteracy” evolved into the more objective and measurable concept of “educational attainment.” Thus, the Census of 1940 and Counties data book contained statistics on the percentage of county residents over the age of 25, who had completed “five or more grades” (the national average in 1940 was 85.1 percent) and “high school” (the national average was 24.1 percent).²

In 1949, the Cities supplement and the Counties collection were combined to form the first County and City Data Book. The introductory essay stated that its primary purpose was to “assist public officials, businessmen, research workers, teachers, librarians, and students who have a recurring need for a compact single source of statistics relating to counties, cities, and metropolitan areas.”³ With 92 data items and 51 maps, CCDB 1949 was also remarkable as an early attempt to organize data using Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) codes for geographies and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes for businesses. The CCDB continued to be published at irregular intervals throughout the remainder of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, combining data from the most recent census with data that was more frequently updated. Issues of the CCDB were produced for the years 1952, 1956, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1983, 1988, 1994, 2000, and 2007.

A spinoff publication, the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, appeared in 1977. Like the CCDB, it tabulated statistics for “the entire area in and around a city, in which the activities from an integral economic and social system, needs to be considered as a unit.”⁴SMADB 1977 contained 121 data items for states, regions, and the 277 designated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Later, State and Metropolitan Area Data Books were published for the years 1979, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1997–98, 2006, and 2010.

Acknowledging its original purpose as outlined in the US Constitution, the Census Bureau also produced four Congressional District Data Books, in 1961 for the 87th Congress, 1963 for the 88th, 1973 for the 93rd, and 1984 for the 98th. In addition to the familiar economic and demographic data that defined the constituencies of each congressional representative, these volumes included the total votes cast for the two major parties, for President, and for representative in the several most recent elections, along with a brief history of re-apportionment in the United States and the role of the Census Bureau.

Now the Census Bureau statistical compendia program is being phased out. Data users will have to search for the original sources of the non-census material. Each cabinet-level department has an agency specifically charged with collecting and publishing statistics. Thus, the National Center for Education Statistics produces the Digest of Education Statistics and the Condition of Education. The National Center for Health Statistics publishes Health United States and the Vital Statistics of the United States. The Bureau of Justice Statistics publishes Crime in the United States (Uniform Crime Reports) and Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, and so on. These collections of national and state-level statistics are universally available in pdf format from agency websites. Supplementing these, most statistics-gathering agencies also make available collections of raw data attached to user-friendly search tools. County- and city-level statistics can usually be accessed, multiple years can be searched in one session, and data can be saved in a variety of electronic formats. With little effort and without relying on someone else’s selection criteria, an enterprising data seeker can create a personal collection of cross-tabulations and ask questions of the data that have not been asked before. With current technology, a tenacious data user, student, teacher, or librarian can assemble a personal statistical compendium containing many statistics at every geographic level.

Bernan has announced that it will continue to publish the annual Statistical Abstract of the United States, and Proquest will make it available digitally. Perhaps the other publications will eventually be picked up by other vendors. But will the original purposes of these valuable information resources survive in a commercial environment? Mr. De Bow and the other architects of the original Statistical Abstract believed they were proving with empirical evidence the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. Increasing populations, industrialization, agricultural productivity, property values, and bank assets were directly related to an increase of the number of educated citizens, rising wages, and declining poverty. The Statistical View of 1850 quantified no less than the advance of civilization itself, and showed how its benefits were universally manifest in the comparatively more comfortable lifestyles of ordinary Americans.

Subsequent generations of researchers and government planners were confident that they had access to the objective results of national studies. If the private sector takes over publishing these valuable reference tools, it is possible that only what is commercially viable will be produced and that their quality may be compromised or content biased. Librarians will no doubt be very interested in these developments and remain vigilant as they unfold.