Welcome Remarks for the Release of the 1950 Census

Hello, I’m David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States. I’m very pleased to welcome you to the official opening of the 1950 population census. I am coming to you from the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, which is located on the ancestral homelands of the Nacotchtank peoples.

The National Archives has been preparing for the release of the 1950 Census for the last decade. Agency staff have been scanning the original microfilm that we received from the Census Bureau. Even with the pandemic, staff continued to make progress indexing the 1950 Census records, thanks to their skillful use of today’s digital technologies.

The 1950 Census includes almost 7 million records, which is quite an expansion from the 3.8 million records that make up the 1940 census. And as we continue to work with the records, our understanding of the content of the records is evolving. For example, we know that this census provides population schedules for at least some Native American reservations, which are searchable by reservation name.

And though NARA has been releasing Census records for decades, this is the first time that NARA is simultaneously providing a first draft of the name index. We are using an AI–enhanced Optical Character Recognition, or OCR, tool to provide a rough draft of names. We coupled this draft of the name index with a transcription feature that we encourage you to try out. This is an opportunity for you to help us refine and enhance the OCR–created names and make the population schedules more accessible for everyone.

We have also made the entire 1950 Census dataset available for bulk download today, the same day as the website launch. This provides access to anyone who would like to mine the data or create their own 1950 Census tools.

I am grateful to the staff at the National Archives for their dedication in preserving and providing access to this important set of records. Because of their years of efforts, you can now research the 1950 Census. I personally can’t wait to look up my family in Beverly, Massachusetts. This is the first census in which I am recorded.

The Census is full of family stories, and we know you are eager to look for yours. We hope you have a wonderful time researching the 1950 Census today.