Just as the Statistical Abstract of the United States is considered the best-known statistical reference publication in the country, and perhaps, the world, the Historical Statistical Abstracts of the United States offers the opportunity for researchers to look into the past to discover the economic trends, the social climate and the demographic makeup of the U.S., and easily compare that to current day trends.
The Statistical Abstract of the U.S. was published from 1878 to 2012 by the U.S. Federal Government. In 2006, the Census Bureau published PDFs of all historical editions on the web. That same year, they also began publishing their current Excel versions of tables. They continued that practice through the publication of their final edition in 2012.