I can see a count of nonimmigrant visas issued by classification on the Dept. of State Bureau of Consular Affairs website going back as far as 1987, but the H-1 visa was established in 1952.
Does anyone know where I can get counts of visas issued prior to 1987? Any visa data is appreciated, but nonimmigrant visas and H-1 visa data in particular is of greatest interest to me.
Feel free to let me know if there is a better SE site for this sort of policy research question.