became fixed in the public’s mind, and served to perpetuate the use of this set of standard groupings in the Census Bureau’s publications.
The 1883 edition of the Statistical Atlas (privately published as Scribner’s Statistical Atlas of the United States) also used Gannett’s groupings of States. The chapter on physical geography has a section on “Natural Grouping of States,” including a map of the five major geographic divisions. The chapter on population has a few short tables that group the States by these geographic divisions.
Table 6-2. Shifts in the Naming and Arrangement of Regions and Divisions
| 1880–1890 | 1900 | 1910–1940 | 1950–1990 | ||
| North Atlantic | North Atlantic New England Southern North Atlantic |
     |
North New England Middle Atlantic East North Central West North Central |
 |
Northeast New England Middle Atlantic |
| Northern Central | North Central Eastern North Central Western North Central |
Midwest (name changed from North Central in 1984) East North Central West North Central | |||
| South Atlantic | South Atlantic Northern South Atlantic Southern South Atlantic |
|
South South Atlantic East South Central West South Central |
South South Atlantic East South Central West South Central | |
| South Central | South Central Eastern South Central Western South Central | ||||
| Western | Western Basin and Plateau Pacific Rocky Mountain |
West Mountain Pacific |
West Mountain Pacific |
Statistical Groupings6-13
