Research Guides: History of U.S. Education: Historical Data

Historical U.S. Education Statistics

HathiTrust Digital Library
A partnership of academic & research institutions, HathiTrust is a collection of digitized titles from libraries around the world, including many older publications from federal and state agencies.
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120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrait
Contains statistical trends of elementary, secondary, and higher education. Covers 1850-1990, but years vary among datasets. Also includes a useful overview of the history of educational statistics and how they've changed over the years.

Statistical Abstracts Series
A data book of U.S. demographic, social, and economic statistics.
Social Explorer
Provides easy access to US demographic data, and allows you to create maps and reports. Education data goes back to 1850.

U.S. Dept. of Education Publications

The National Center for Education Statistics provides data primarily from the early 2000s to present. Earlier publications may have been digitized by libraries participating in HathiTrust. Examples include

Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education (1867-1939)
Biennial Survey of Education in the United States (1916-1958)
Condition of Education (1975-2013)
Digest of Education Statistics
- (1975-2011)
- 1962-1974
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976-1994

For more information about the history of federal education data collection efforts, see Federal Education Data Collection: Celebrating 150 Years.