old congressional district maps

[Dave from Michigan]

I know this has been asked before but, I'm looking for old congress district maps for Michigan. mostly from the 40's through the 80's or before that if they exist.  I think it would be hard to find them before the 1920's. I'm not even asking just on the internet either would the state have them anywhere, I mean after the next census and redistricting  it's not like the burn all the previous maps up they have to be somewhere, right? archives?

[Jake]

Might want to fire off an e-mail to a state archivist or enquire for a name at your local court house.

[Dave from Michigan]

do you think I would have to go to the archives  to get the maps,  hopefully I don't have to drive to lansing.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Out of print book

http://www.isbn.nu/0029201500

[A18]

$200? Geez. Post the maps when you get them, please.

[Dave from Michigan]

I wonder if a library would have this book

[A18]

I wonder if a library would have this book

It might, but you'd think they'd have this information somewhere on the internet too if it was so readily available. For some reason it seems interesting to me to see what the districts for the first Congress were, though I think at that time the states largely elected each representative at large. Then in the 2nd or 3rd Congresses, they started moving over to districts, which every state now has to day (unless they have 1 rep, in which case, there's no 'district').

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I wonder if a library would have this book

The university library here has a copy.

[jimrtex]

Usually, congressional districts are enacted into state law.  So that might be a source even if you couldn't find a map.

For getting a general idea of where the districts were, you might be able to use the information at:

House elections since 1920

Congressional biographies

The biographies don't specify where the district was, but they give things like where the person died and is buried, and other jobs that they had.

[Q]

"Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts" is the book I used to find similar information for a research project.

I also used it to find the original owners of political-related license plates, which I collect.  This book is amazing.

They have it at my college's library, and I stumbled upon it by chance.  I'd imagine most college libraries would have it.  I'm leaving for the summer in just a few days, but if you still haven't found what you're looking for by August, 9iron, I'd be happy to scan some maps for you then.  Or for anyone else, for that matter.

[Dave from Michigan]

I can't even find the 1980 map on the internet. Once I find this information I'm going to put it on a website.

[jimrtex]

"Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts" is the book I used to find similar information for a research project.

I did a search for that title and found the following which will do a catalog search after you enter your zip code.  In Houston, it appears to be generally available at college libraries, and there is a copy at a branch of the public library.


Library search

Curiously, I can't find a way to directly use the catalog, but the Help says that it is built into various search engines such a Google and Yahoo.

[minionofmidas]

There's a first volume of that, up to 1840, at Frankfurt uni library.

[jimrtex]

There's a first volume of that, up to 1840, at Frankfurt uni library.

Is that "The atlas of congressional roll calls"?   The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts is said to be "based on" that work published in 1940.

[minionofmidas]

No. It's a book with maps of congressional districts up to 1840, and population and slave status data for censuses up to 1830. Oh, and lists of who won which district and which party they belonged to.
And if it's not titled "Historical Atlas of Congressional Districts, 1789-1840", it's pretty close to it anyways.

The really strange thing is that with this book, I know a source for county populations up to 1830. But I don't have access to a source for county populations, 1840 to 1890.

[jimrtex]

Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990.

Also the reports from the 19th century censuses are available online on the Census Bureau site.

Or you could use this.

UVA historical census site


This looks promising, but data is just starting to come in

Lots of stuff here.

[minionofmidas]

Census bureau? Pre-1900 county level data didn't use to be there. I haven't searched for them lately.

[minionofmidas]

The UVA site is looking good. Population of Dade county in 1860: 83.

[jimrtex]

The UVA site is looking good. Population of Dade county in 1860: 83.

That was before Broward, Palm Beach, and Martin counties had been detached.

[minionofmidas]

I know. (Well - wouldn't have been sure about Martin.)

[Dave from Michigan]

I went to the Detroit library, but could not find the book.  Although they did have some maps, but by time they found them it was time to close (at only 6 o'clock)  so i was unable to get only one map 1960. They didn't even know where the maps were they sent me all over the place looking for them.  I did get the 1960 map and copied it.  If I knew how to copy it on the internet I would.  My city is in the same congressional district as Detroit.  I think We Were always with either Detroit or Ann Arbor until 2000 when the republicans drew the map and put us up with Oakland county. Also the U.P. is split among 2 districts the western half is one district and northern michigan and the eastern half is another, there must have been a big decrease in the population up there. Now it's the whole U.P. and northern michigan in one district.

[jimrtex]

I went to the Detroit library, but could not find the book. 

Try the following link and type in your Zip Code,

Library search

[Jake]

May library has that book Many thanks

[Dave from Michigan]

how would I post one of the maps I got on this site here?
I'm going back to get the rest of the maps tommorrow.

[Jake]

Scan it onto your hard drive, go to imageshack.us, load it, post it inside the img tags.