America in 1950: The US government releases a gold mine of census data after a 72-year waiting period
Census taker Thomas Cronin interviews a painter during the 1950 census. What makes the 1950 census so significant is that it is the first to detail an America on the heels of World War II, at the start of the boom and post-war economic boom a decade after the Great Depression. Photo courtesy of the National Archives
April 1 (UPI) — On Friday, the National Archives released the detailed results of one of the most anticipated government counts in history – which it says provides a “window into history” and a snapshot of America in the mid-20th century. century.
The bureau released detailed findings it gathered from the 1950 US Census – which was to be a genealogical and historical goldmine of information showing the first snapshot of post-war America there. over 70 years old.
Early Friday, the National Archives and Records Administration unveiled on 6.4 million pages of digitized 1950 census data from 6,373 rolls of microfilm, including names, ages, addresses, and answers to questions about employment status, job description, and income.
Taken every 10 years, the US Census collects a detailed record of citizens which results in a fairly accurate count of Americans from coast to coast. Although rudimentary information from a census becomes available soon after it is taken, detailed information like the one released on Friday cannot be released until 72 years after a census. The 1940 census was published ten years ago.
A US Census Bureau census taker visits a farmer during the 1950 census somewhere in the Midwest. Photo courtesy of the National Archives
What makes the 1950 census so important is that it is the first to detail an America on the heels of World War II, the onset of the baby boom, and a post-war economic boom a decade after the Great Depression.
“The 1950 census opens a window into one of the most transformative periods in modern American history, revealing a country of approximately 151 million people that had just emerged from the difficulties and uncertainties of World War II. world and the Great Depression,” the Census Bureau said. said in a post this week.
“With little housing construction in the previous two decades, the country’s population lived primarily in cities and rural areas, often in crowded conditions. Suburbanization had only recently begun and would increase significantly in the decades to come thanks to the GI Bill, sustained post-war economic expansion and the construction of a comprehensive interstate highway system.
“In hindsight, we can now see that on many demographic fronts, the American population in 1950 looked more like the country in 1940 than the young, rapidly growing nation to come in 1960 or 1970.”
Census data shows that of the nation’s 10 largest cities in 1950, only New York and Los Angeles continued to have larger populations in 2020. The other eight – Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, St Louis , Washington, DC and Boston – all saw their populations plummet over the next seven decades.
A look at the 1950 census form, which included a total of 38 questions. Photo courtesy of the National Archives
Eighty-nine percent of those enumerated in the 1950 census were white; only 28% of households in Washington, DC, had a television, while 97% had a radio; 7,000 homes in the region did not have flush toilets; and more than 3,000 had no electric light.
The 1950 census included 38 questions for Americans to answer, including whether they had a kitchen sink and what type of toilet or refrigerator they used. People were also asked about their education, how much money they earned and how much money their parents earned at home, while married women were asked about the number of children they had.
A preliminary assessment of the data showed an abundance of marriages and young families in smaller households, census officials said.
Census data is only released to the public every 72 years as a result of a 1952 agreement between the Census Bureau and the National Archives that was codified by Congress in 1978.
Why 72 years? The feds never really gave a definitive answer – but one of the most common beliefs is that the blackout period was put in place to protect people’s private information, and 72 years was the lifespan. estimated at the time of the agreement in 1952.
It is estimated that approximately 26 million Americans who lived in the United States in 1950 are still alive today, meaning they will be able to search for their own names and information, or the names of relatives and family members. family.
A number of prominent Americans still alive today were also alive when the 1950 US Census was taken — such as the current President of the United States, Joe Biden, who was born in 1942. Photo by Samuel Corum/ IPU
Some of the most prominent people who were alive at the time of the mid-20th century census include President Joe Biden, former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump, as well as artists such as Bruce Springsteen , Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford and historical figures like former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and three Supreme Court justices.
Searching the 1950 census records, which are available online, is free.
“As a rule, people interested in their family history always look at deceased people,” Lisa Lousie Cooke, a Texas-based genealogist, told The Washington Post.
“This [Census] The collection includes many people who are currently alive today…so there’s a huge component of nostalgia.”