Census info available

In case there’s a genealogist in the United States who’s been hiding under a rock for the last couple of years — and The Legal Genealogist agrees that there may very well have been good reason to have been doing just that — the 1950 census will be released to the public on as the clock ticks over to 1 April 2022.

And the releasing agency — the National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA for short — is ready.

Well… as ready as anybody can be with just 34 days to go and hundreds of millions of records to prepare for release.

First off, NARA has its main 1950 Census webpage that’s chock full of information to help researchers get ready. We can access it here: https://www.archives.gov/research/census/1950.

Second, there will be a whole series of webinars by NARA and Census Bureau archival specialists and historians on the census and what it offers, each beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern time:

• March 2: “Overview of What’s on the 1950 Census,” presented by Claire Kluskens, the Genealogy/Census Subject Matter Expert and a digital projects archivist from the National Archives in Washington, DC, with an overview of what’s available (and not available) in the 1950 Census.

• March 16: “Mapping the 1950 Census: Census Enumeration District Maps at the National Archives,” presented by Brandi Oswald, a supervisory archivist in the Cartographic Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD, focusing on locating and using census enumeration district maps, with an emphasis on maps from the 1950 census.

• March 30: “The 1950 Census Website: Design, Development, and Features to Expect,” presented by Michael L. Knight, the Web Branch Chief within the Office of Innovation (Digital Engagement Division) at the National Archives at College Park, MD, with information on the various search and discovery features that will be available on the 1950 Census website when it is launched on April 1, 2022.

• April 27: “The Story of the 1950 Census P8 Indian Reservation Schedule,” presented by Cody White, the Native American-Related Records Subject Matter Expert and an archivist at the National Archives at Denver, CO, explaining the genesis, creation, and execution of the 1950 P8 Indian Reservation schedule, which will be available online on April 1, 2022.

• May 11: “From Parchments to Printouts: History of the Census from 1790 to 1950,” presented by Sharon Tosi Lacey, the Chief Historian for the U.S. Census Bureau, tracing the arc of progress from 1790 to 1940, then delve into the 1950 Census in order to provide the context in which the Census Bureau collected, processed, and analyzed this data.

• May 18: “History of Census Records and the National Archives,” presented by Jessie Kratz, the Historian of the National Archives and based in Washington, DC, discussing census records before they came to the National Archives, their transfer upon the creation of the National Archives, and the history of their availability and use.

• May 25: “Historic Census Bureau Sources for Filipino, Guamanian and Chamorro, American Samoan, and Native Hawaiian Research,” presented by Christopher Martin, a historian with the U.S. Census Bureau, exploring the surveys and census history unique to those Pacific islands as well as the enumeration and representation of their populations in stateside questionnaires and reports.

There’s more information and the links to the presentations, which will go live at 1 p.m. on the days listed, at NARA on its National Archives Genealogy Series: 1950 Census information page.

So read up, tune in and get ready.

Because 1950 will be here in just 34 days.

Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “NARA and 1950,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted date).