by AGS member Mike Blackledge | updated 5 Mar 2022 (scroll to the bottom)
The National Archives releases a federal census to the public 72 years after the day the census was taken. Because census day in 1950 was 1 April, the 1950 census will be released on the same date in 2022 – just a few months away!
Even though on that date you will be able to view digital images on websites such as FamilySearch.org, the records will not be indexed and can only be searched page- by-page by location.
To give you some perspective of the scope of the project, the estimated population of the United States in 1950 was a little over 150 million. So who will index this massive amount of data?
How about you?
In 2012, FamilySearch began the project to index the 1940 United States census in hopes of indexing the entire census in six months. With over 163,000 volunteers and several genealogical organizations contributing their time and efforts, the census was indexed in just four months.
Long time member Mike Blackledge will be spearheading our AGS participation in this national project.
If you are driven to learn more about the 1950 census and join the AGS effort to assist in the indexing project, even for just 30 minutes, email your name to mike@blackledge.com.
How better to celebrate the 50th Anniversary year of your Albuquerque Genealogical Society!
5 Mar 2022 Update
Stephen Morse has been working his free website on Census releases starting with the 1930 Federal Census (yes, way back in 2002) and RootsTech provides his “Donald Duck” talk (about 53 minutes).
And FamilySearch.org has an interesting blog post on the subject of indexing the 1950 census. Click here to read that article.
So, no assignments for our AGS Census Index Team yet . . . but note the FamilySearch paragraph of getting to choose some of projects ‘close to your heart’.
Finally, I will remind you that our own AGS has a special program coming up on Wednesday, 13 April 2022 with Lisa Louise Cooke giving us a preview of what to expect in the Census release. You can click here to register. By the time you hear her talk, you will be an equal expert from all of the above!
