Here we have the states ranked in population, from 1790-1890: I have never seen anything more absurd than this chart’s color- and pattern-coding. It's a pretty genius way of tracking each state's growth over the years relative to other states, and a bunch of these would have made for some pretty cool flags. Someone make a tie out of this, please. Two ties. Wallpaper! Rank of states and territories in population...
Here's a slice from a chart showing the religious affiliations of Americans in 1870: First, these are great because they look like fabric swatches for woolen socks. Secondly, they look remarkably like treemaps but only operate in the horizontal dimension. In the end, it may not be the most readable format, since we end up with some super-skinny slices of Lutherans here and there, but at least it’s easy to see where the Methodists...
In 1864 the per-pound price of cotton was $Chicago, up from $0.10 in 1860. The fluctuation of cotton prices has always been a wild ride, but man, the Civil War sure did a number on the market. And in case you’re curious, the incredibly-off-the-chart number for 1864 looks to be over $2/lb, but since it’s, you know, living somewhere in Illinois it’s hard to read. Highest number I can find is...
