Detail map of Washington, District of Columbia, United States,Brooklyn, New York, United States Overview map of Washington, District of Columbia, United States,Brooklyn, New York, United States

A: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, B: Brooklyn, New York, United States

Francis Amasa Walker Issues The First National Thematic Atlas

1874

In 1874 American economist, statistician, journalist, educator, academic administrator, and military officer Francis Amasa Walker published in Washington, D.C. at the Government Printing Office Statistical Atlas of the United States Based on the Results of the Ninth Census 1870 with Contributions from Many Eminent Men of Science and Several Departments of the Government. This oversized compendium of maps, graphs, statistical tables, and essays by scientists, economists, and federal officials was the first comprehensive thematic atlas produced by any nation.  It was hailed both at home and abroad for its innovative use of graphic elements to distill and display complex data. When he conceived and supervised production and publication of this work Walker was Chief of the U. S. Bureau of Statistics and superintendent of the 1870 census. The 60 large maps, most of which were printed in color, were chromolithographed in New York by Julius Bien, who, notably produced the plates for the first American full-size reissue of portions of Audubon's Birds of America (1858-60), as well as a wide variety of chromolithographed maps and atlas.

Kinnahan, "Charting Progress: Francis Amasa Walker's Statistical Atlas of the United States and Narratives of Western Expansion," American Quarterly 60 (2008) 399-423.

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