Indexing The 1950 Census

The 1950 Census for Jefferson County. Photo from the NARA.

In the early morning hours of April 1, 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) released the 1950 Decennial Census on a dedicated website built specifically for that purpose. In the weeks and months leading up to the release, NARA, other genealogy sites, and bloggers did a great job of promoting the census.

NARA did a special series of videos as well as a series of blog entries (60+ of them!). As any genealogist will tell you, though, no special promotion was necessary. The release of a new census is always highly anticipated and is, in short, a very big deal. 

Thanks to the 72 Year Rule, genealogists and historians don't have access to the personally identifiable information that makes census records so valuable. Of course, after every census, the raw data is released almost immediately and that's great for state and local governments and anyone who needs detailed demographics, but genealogists know they have a long wait ahead of them. 

While the wait to see the 1950 census may be over, another one is just beginning. Creating an index doesn't happen overnight or in a vacuum. Since they were in possession of the files, NARA had a head start in the race to index the 1950 census.

They were able to launch an index along with the images on April 1. This index was created using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software and Artificial Intelligence (AI). It's not perfect, but it's the best place to start. 

OCR is known for producing uneven results when faced with handwriting and this will account for some of the more curious entries that you see in NARA's index. NARA knows its index is imperfect and is eager for members of the genealogy community to help clean up and enhance it. There is a link beside each image that invites users to help transcribe names. 

When searching by name, keep in mind that only the head of household is indexed with both their first and last name. Other individuals in the household with the same surname are only listed with their given name. Anyone living in the household who has a different surname (renters, in-laws, etc.) will be listed with both first and last name.

It will be interesting to see, going forward, if this is maintained or if all individuals will eventually be indexed with their first and last name. That would certainly make searching easier and more efficient. 

Of course, the National Archives is hardly the only place that's offering access to the 1950 census. FamilySearch.org  and Ancestry.com  have it available as well. Both sites are still working on their indexes. They are not relying on OCR and AI technology as heavily as NARA (although it is being employed) and instead are using staff and/or volunteers to read each page and create an index from scratch.

While this approach will take longer, in the end, I think it will result in an index that is more user-friendly and one with fewer misspellings and errors. You can keep track of the progress they're making here and here. 

If you aren't having any luck with NARA's index there is a tool available that can help pinpoint where your ancestors might be. If you know what their address was in 1950, use Stephen P. Morse's Unified ED Finder. Just select the state, country, town and enter their address and it will suggest the most likely enumeration district(s). Luckily most EDs in the 1950 census are about 20 pages long and reading one or two at a time isn't a daunting task. I've successfully used this technique twice when NARA's index failed to return any likely hits. 

Have fun searching and know that full and complete indexes will be available soon. We've waited 72 years for the 1950 census, what's a little bit more?

By Mary Beth Newbill | Librarian, Southern History Department