The Davis Library Microforms Collection holds microfilm copies of all existing U.S. population census schedules for the sixteen Southern states, plus the District of Columbia, which form the federal Southern region. In terms of chronological scope these schedules begin with 1790, the date of the first national census, and extend to 1920, which is the latest released. (Portions of the first three decennial censuses disappeared and were presumably destroyed when the British burned Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812). The Davis Microform Collection also holds a few census schedules for states outside the south.

These census schedules are the handwritten enumerations of names and other personal and family information, which typically become fuller over time. They provide the basis for the decennial population and related statistical compilations that the federal government produces. The lists below indicate holdings by decade and state, the number of reels for each state and the National Archives microcopy number.

Although no names indexes (Soundexes) are available in the Microforms Collection, the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library holds some names indexes through 1870 and has a duplicate copy of the North Carolina schedules on microfilm.

The call number for the Census Schedules from 1790 through 1910 is Microfilm 1-2327. The call number for the 1920 Census Schedules is Microfilm 1-4456. Some general guides are available at the Davis Library Microforms Collection service desk.

In addition, UNC-Chapel Hill holds a few census reels of non-Southern states. These include: