This is Who We Were: Post Civil War 1880-1899, provides the reader with a deeper understanding of what life was like in America after the Civil War and how it compares statistically to life today. Using original material from the Census, readers will find richly-illustrated Personal Profiles, Economic Data, and Current Events to give meaning and depth to what life was like in late 1800s America.

Table of Contents

• Essay: America, 1880-1899
• Introduction
• Section One: Profiles
• This section contains 29 profiles of individuals and families living and working in the 1880s and 1890s. It examines their lives at home, at work, and in their neighborhoods. Based upon historic materials, personal interviews, and diaries, the profiles give a sense of what it was like to live in the years 1880 to 1899.
• Farmer and Community Leader in 1880
• Telephone Company Executive in 1880
• Educational Reformer and Teacher in Rural Wisconsin in 1881
• Thirteen-Year-Old Orphan in 1882
• Lawn Tennis Player in 1883
• Railroad Construction Engineer in 1883
• Chinese Immigrant Photographer's Assistant in 1884
• Traveling Salesman and Entrepreneur in 1885
• Shoe Lasting Machine Inventor in 1886
• Cattle Rancher in 1888
• Professional Baseball Player in 1888
• New Teacher for the Dakota Sioux in 1888
• Textile Mill Worker in 1890
• Barbershop Quartet Member in 1891
• West Point Graduate on the Frontier in 1891
• Mining Company Owner in 1892
• Sweet-Potato Farmer in 1892
• Yale University Oarsman in 1893
• Children's Aid Society Agent in 1894
• Cash Register Inventor and Company Founder in 1895
• Anti-Corset Campaigner in 1896
• Salmon Cannery Cooperative Manager in 1896
• Socially Prominent Bon Vivant in 1897
• Housemaid in 1898
• African American Wood Turner in 1898
• Businessman in 1898
• College Professor in 1898
• Teenage Garment Industry Labor Organizer in 1898
• Clarinetist in John Philip Sousa's Band in 1899
• Section Two: Historical Snapshots
• This section includes lists of important “firsts” for America, from technical advances and political events to new products and top selling books. Combining serious American history with fun facts, these snapshots present an easy-to-read overview of America in the 1880s and 1890s.
• Preface
• Early 1880s
• Late 1880s/Early 1890s
• Late 1890s
• Section Three: Economy of the Times
• This section looks at a wide range of economic data, including food, clothing transportation, housing and other selected prices, with reprints of actual advertisements for products and services of the time. It includes figures for the following categories, plus a valuable year-by-year listing of the value of a dollar.
• Preface
• Annual Income
• Selected Prices
• Value of a Dollar Index 1860-2014
• Section Four: All Around Us—What We Saw, Wrote, Read & Listened To
• This section includes reprints of newspaper and magazine articles, speeches, and other items designed to help readers focus on what was on the minds of Americans in the 1880s and 1890s. These original pieces show how popular opinion was formed, and how American life was affected.
• Preface
• Early American Home Remedies advertisement from the 1880s
• Clubs for the Coyote Country's Gentry American Heritage, 1880
• Excerpt from Gen. James A. Garfield's letter accepting the Republican nomination for the presidency, 1880
• A Losing Book Concern, The American Book Exchange in a Receivers Hands New York Times, November 27, 1881
• Letter to the Editor Philadelphia Public Ledger, August 1882
• How Yap Got the Slipper The Knoxville Tennessee Chronicle, March 22, 1882
• Wayside Gatherings, sayings from The Yorkville Enquirer, 1882
• Recent Inventions Scientific American, July 22, 1882
• Phantom Lights at Sea Scientific American, July 22, 1882
• The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid by Pat Garrett, 1882
• Mirror Fashions, New Designs for Spring Demorest's Monthly Magazine, 1883
• The Greatest Medical Discovery since the Creation of Man, or since the Commencement of the Christian Era advertisement, 1883
• Caught in the Act, The curiosities of pictures of the movements of men and animals New York Times, June 10, 1883
• Sporting Shot from Iron The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, (Iowa) January 12, 1883
• Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt's Great Fancy Dress Ball New York Times, March 27, 1883
• The Macnicol Case The Fitchburg Sentinel (Massachusetts), January 1883
• Young Ladies And Dress The Naiad, Williamston, South Carolina, December 1884
• Manual: How to Introduce the Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, 1885
• Lee's Surrender at Appomattox Court House Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume II, 1886
• Editor's Drawer, from a Western correspondent Harper's New Monthly Magazine, May 1886
• Editor's Study Harper's New Monthly Magazine, May 1886
• Child Life, Curiosity and Other Matters Ballou's Monthly Magazine, July 1886
• Things Pleasant and Otherwise Ballou's Monthly Magazine, July 1886
• Among the Wild Indians, Corabelle Fellows The Word Carrier, January 1886
• The Road to Renown, Indicated by an event in the Illinois Metropolis Logansport Daily Pharos, June 25, 1887
• Casey at the Bat by Ernest Thayer, 1888
• The Ghost Dance Chronicle of Indian Wars, 1889
• Sweet Tooters Elyria Democrat (Ohio), December 19, 1889
• Where the Pistol Toters Live Atlanta Constitution, May 2, 1890
• Diseases Incident to the Season Demorest's Family Magazine, April 1890
• This report, written in 1908 by William Leiserson, detailed the struggles of the Jewish labor movement in New York in the 1890s
• Leadville Construction Projects The Western Architect and Building News, June 1890
• Gilbert and Sullivan Sandusky Daily Register (Ohio), January 2, 1890
• Costly Gifts for a Bride, Nuptials of John Jacob Astor and Miss Ava Dowle Willing, 1891
• How Cartridges Are Made Harper's Weekly, January 24, 1891
• Electro-Plating The Youth's Companion, February 19, 1891
• An Ermine by Flash-Light The Youth's Companion, February 19, 1891
• Ta-ra-ra-boom-dee-ay, attributed to Henry Sayers, 1891
• Washington The Youth's Companion, February 19, 1891
• Twenty-Five Years of Change in San Antonio history and guide of 1892
• The Celebration of the 350th Anniversary of Portuguese Explorer Juan R. Cabrilho's Landing in California in 1542 Uniao Portuguesa, September 4, 1892
• The Oakland Tribune, February 23, 1892
• Life in Leadville Leadvilk Chronicle Annual, 1892
• H.C. Merwin Atlantic Monthly, 1892
• A Rich Man's Grievance The Naiad, A Monthly Journal of Christian Education, December 1892
• Poverty Is Expensive The Yorkville Enquirer, Yorkville, South Carolina, October 26, 1892
• Railroads and Immigrants, Westbound Passengers Must Have Clean Bills of Health New York Times, September 13, 1892
• The Limitations of the Cash Drawer Advertisement National Cash Register Company, 1892
• Circular Letter
• Side Talks with Girls, by Ruth Ashmore The Ladies’ Home Journal, December 1893
• Preamble of the National Populist Party Platform, 1893
• The Panic of 1893
• Gentlemen Walter Camp's Book College Sports, 1893
• Announcement The Algona Courier (Iowa), 1894
• Festivities for Foundlings, Six Hundred Little Ones Have Turkey and Cranberry Sauce New York Times, November 30, 1894
• Her Point of View New York Times, February 25, 1894
• A View of the Pullman Strike The Wall Street Journal, July 5, 1894
• An Indian Murder; Donald Austin, an Alaska Chief of Police, Killed in a Chinaman's Saloon San Francisco Examiner, December 1895
• What Women May Wear, Not Corsets, of All Things, Said Mrs. M. S. Lawrence New York Times, May 22, 1895
• Miss Armstrong Exonerated, the Teacher Freed of Horsewhipping Charges, But Complainant Is Bitter Against School Trustees New York Times, May 17, 1895
• Tea around the Table: Handkerchiefs The Delineator, A Journal of Fashion, Culture and Fine Arts by the Butterick Publishing Company, 1896
• Millions Shipped East, Gold Coin Sent from California in a Baggage Car San Francisco Examiner, January 1, 1896
• Will Penetrate Wood, A New Light That Is Being Used in Photography San Francisco Examiner, January 8, 1896
• An Essay on the Present Distribution of Wealth in the United States by Charles B. Spahr, 1896
• Bicycling and Its Attire The Delineator, April 1896
• Progress in Electric Lighting, by S.E. Tillman The Cosmopolitan Magazine, March 1897
• The King's Daughters, Edited by Mrs. Margaret Bottome The Ladies’ Home Journal, June 1897
• The Luxury of Ocean Travel, Advertising Supplement The Cosmopolitan, March 1897
• Bacteria, the Progress of Science, by Bertha Gerneaux Davis The Cosmopolitan, March 1897
• Narcotics and Improper Dress New York Times, October 14, 1897
• New Information Notes Self Culture, A Magazine of Knowledge, April, 1897
• Household Helps and New Ideas Ladies’ Home Journal, April 1898
• Risks of Modern Life The Youth's Companion, February 17, 1898
• Fruits as Foods and Fruits as Poisons, by S. T Rorer Ladies’ Home Journal, June 1898
• Protection from Flies Southern Poultry and Stockman's Guide, September 1898
• The Evolution of the Colored Soldier by W. Thorton Parker, M.D., 1898
• How We Live at a Frontier Fort, by Maria Brace Kimball The Outlook, February 5, 1898
• Evangelists Going to Cuba New York Times, May 16, 1898
• Hot Weather at Tampa, Soldiers Suffering in the Sun and Daily Drills Are Cut Short, Military Fever Also Burns New York Times, May 25, 1898
• Breaking Camp at Tampa, Great Confusion Follows the Orders for the Troops to Board the Transports New York Times, June 14, 1898
• Scenes in the City of Tampa, by W. J. Rouse The New York Times Illustrated Magazine, May 15, 1898
• East Side Saloon Men Protest, Talk of Fighting the Brewers’ Position on the Beer Tax New York Tribune, July 1, 1898
• Letter to the Editor: Troops with Springfield Rifles, Reasons Why They Are Put at a Disadvantage with Obsolete Weapons and Powder New York Tribune, July 1, 1898
• Troubles of Ladies’ Tailors New York Times, June 13, 1898
• Thomas & Co. Close Down New York Times, February 6, 1898
• Small Riot of Shop Girls New York Times, January 22, 1898
• Section Five: Census Data
• This section includes state-by-state comparative tables and original reprints from the 1890 Census.
• Preface
• State-by-State Comparative Tables: 1880, 1900 and 2010
• Total Population
• White Population
• Black Population
• American Indian/Alaska Native Population
• Asian Population
• Homeownership Rate
• Bibliography