U.S. Historical Markers

U.S.Historical Markers </>

The data this week comes from the Historical Marker Database USA Index.

This searchable online catalogue was so fun to explore! I didn’t realise there was such a thing online (probably because there are only 36 Australian markers recorded on the site compared to 183k U.S. markers).

According to the database, it is “an illustrated searchable online catalog of historical information viewed through the filter of roadside and other permanent outdoor markers, monuments, and plaques”. Anyone can contribute, either by adding new markers or updating existing marker pages.

For this Tidy Tuesday project, only the U.S. marker database was provided and what caught my eye the most was the column relating to missing markers.

I wanted to use percentages because I felt it was the best way to represent the data, and was surprised by the amount of markers that were reported or confirmed missing. I wonder what happened to them?

This was also a great way to test out the labs() annotate function and play around with positioning.