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Census Research Guide: 1840

About the 1840 Census

Census Bureau's "By Decade" website - includes a variety of publications, questionnaires, datasets, and more

Highlights

  • 6th decennial census
  • US population: 17,069,453
  • First census to include questions about education

Questions asked (see questionnaire)

Name of head of family; age; sex; race; slaves; number of deaf and dumb; number of blind; number of insane and idiotic and whether in public or private charge; number of persons in each family employed in each of six classes of industry and one of occupation; literacy; pensioners for Revolutionary or military service.

For more information on this map:

Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790 - 1920

Finding Statistics

Social Explorer - remote access limited to UCSD affiliates

Finding Publications

Find all 1840 census publications in the library catalog.

Selected publications:

Sixth Census [C 3.14:840/1/reprint]

Statistics of the United States of America [C 3.14:840/2/reprint]

Census of Pensioners for revolutionary or military services [C 3.14:840/3]

Compendium [C 3.14:840/2]