How to Research the 1950 Census Record
The 1950 Census records are public! Now at the time of this article, they are still being indexed, but the original records can be searched online starting April 1, 2022. So it’s up to you whether you want to wait for them to be indexed or dive into the original records and go page by page. Eventually, they will all be easily accessed on the major genealogy websites, but until that day comes you get to choose when you want access to them.
So what does that mean for you as a family historian? Well, it could mean a lot of different things. You probably have living relatives that can be found on this census, which makes researching it more personal. You’ll find some similar questions asked on this record, but many new questions because of the different time period. So your curiosity will be peaked as you learn what was important for the government to know at this time period. It’s also nice just to browse and learn about different demographics.
How to Prepare for the 1950 Census
Learn about your family. Like I said, this census is the closest one yet to your living relatives. So take advantage of that and learn all you can about who lived where during the 1940s and 50s. My relatives lived in Arkansas during the 1940s, but the next record I have is them living in Idaho in 1955. So did they live in Arkansas or Idaho in 1950 or someplace in between?
- Ask your relatives about certain events that happened during the 1940s. Did anyone move, get married, have kids, die, etc? Where did they work?
- Find supporting documents such as birth marriage, and death records, newspaper articles, military records, school records, and immigration records. This will narrow down where your relatives were living in 1950.
- Become familiar with the census format. Each census asked different questions and was laid out differently than the previous ones.
How to Research the 1950 Census Before It’s Indexed
Once you’ve narrowed down your relative’s location, the next step is to find them in the census. Now because this record isn’t fully indexed yet, you’ll have to research a little differently.
It’s easy to find the census online on one of the major genealogy websites. So no problem there. But then what. You aren’t going to be able to just put in your relative’s name and have the census come up. Not yet. So here are a few tips for researching…
- Search by city and state. Then go page by page.
- Use Enumeration Districts to narrow the search within a city or rural area. Stevemorse.org is a great resource to find your relative’s district. Each district from this website is linked with Family Search, Ancestry, and NARA.
- Remember spelling errors or name variations could’ve been used
- Be aware that this census has a special section on the bottom of the page that highlights random people from the census list above. It asks different questions and is another glimpse into a person’s life.
Last Thoughts
I’ve already had lots of fun just browsing this 1950 census. My goal, of course, is to find my relatives, but I’m not skipping over the other people I find interesting in the area either. I will share more about how to research this record in my next post, but for now just get familiar with it. I like to have a very narrow view of a record and really go deep with researching a certain person. But then I like to have a very broad view of what the government goals were, how the land was laid out, how many subdivisions were there so far, etc. It helps me get a sense of both the broad and narrow view of our country and people at that time.
So go ahead and take a look at this new census and see for yourself.
And as always…good luck and happy hunting!
Tiffany
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