‘Gold mine’ of census records being released from 1950

The effort could take six to nine months, he said.

“We believe we will get better accuracy because we are having humans look at it,” Rencher said.

The new data will flesh out the contours of a dramatically different world.

In 1950, the U.S. had less than half of the 332 million residents it has today. Households were larger, with an average of 3.5 people, compared with 2.6 people per household in 2019. Just 9% of households had someone living alone in 1950, compared with 28% in 2019. Adults were also more likely to be married, with more than two-thirds of adult men and women being married in 1950 compared with less than half of men and women in 2019, said Marc Perry, a senior demographer at the Census Bureau.

Elaine Powell is excited because this is the first release in which she will see herself in the census records. The president of the Central Florida Genealogical Society was born in 1946 and grew up in the St. Louis area.

“It’s just exciting. I remember the first time I found my parents in the census, you could hear me whooping and hollering in the library,” Powell said. “It verifies what you have been told by your parents and grandparents.”

It can also correct the record left by family lore. After all, as Powell noted, “genealogy, without documentation, is mythology.”