Creating a Database of American Electoral Returns, 1788 to 1825

FAIN: PM-50079-07

American Antiquarian Society (Worcester, MA 01609-1634)
Thomas Knoles (Project Director: July 2006 to August 2016)

Funding details:
Original grant (2007) $241,945.00
Supplement (2010) $315,000.00
Supplement (2012) $260,000.00
Supplement (2014) $250,000.00

The completion of a database of American electoral returns from 1788 through 1825, which would enable the study of electoral participation, democratization, and party development in the early Republican Era.

The American Antiquarian Society, in partnership with Tufts University, seeks continued funding to digitize Philip Lampi's collection of American electoral returns, 1788-1825, the richest and most complete set of early American election returns in existence, and to mount the data on the AAS website, where they can be freely accessed by scholars, students, journalists, politicians, government employees, genealogists, local hostorians, and others. Over four decades, Lampi has collected varying amounts of election returns from all 24 states that were a part of the Union by 1825. These election returns are of great significance for revising the history of U.S. political life in the first few decades under the Constitution.