Between 1870 and 1920, the United States government produced a series of Statistical Atlases, representing the country's first attempts to provide a fully national perspective on its rapidly evolving physical and human geographies. Compiled once every 10 years using data from the U.S. Census and other sources, the Statistical Atlases offer views of the country during a time of significant national expansion. The last decades of the nineteenth century saw a dramatic rise in numerous demographic measures, including population, immigration, industrialization, and urbanization. The publications illustrate how their creators viewed this national expansion as it unfolded. They also utilized a new, highly sophisticated level of data presentation not previously seen in the United States. Working with data visualizations offers students a unique opportunity to accomplish multiple objectives: (1) practicing geographic thinking and data literacy skills, while (2) gaining insights into nineteenth-century U.S. migration. The activities highlighted in this article illustrate a small subset of the data visualizations found in the Statistical Atlases.