Workshop - March 22 - 1950 Census

This week we took a look at the what we might find on the 1950 census, which will be released April 1, 2022.  The usual questions included name, age, relationship to the head of household, marital status and birthplace. There was a detailed housing questionnaire on the back that was not microfilmed so that is unavailable, as well as the agricultural survey.

Six of the respondents on each page were selected to answer the supplementary questions at the bottom of each page. The sixth person in that group answered several extra questions. 

You can examine the 24-page "census enumerator instruction manual" to learn how census takers were trained to complete this task.

College students were enumerated where they were attending school, and an effort was made to count all U.S. citizens living abroad.

A large part of the census dealt with employment questions about the previous week, as well as supplementary data for the six selected respondents.

The National Archives will release the census on a dedicated website along with an index generated by OCR technology. If your surnames do not appear because of problems with the OCR reading, visit Steve Morse's website for help in determining the enumeration district.

Ancestry and My Heritage are also posting the census and will add an index. FamilySearch is partnering with Ancestry to assist in correcting any problems with the index and is looking for volunteers to help with the project.

How many members will be able to find their own names in the 1950 census?