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Inside the 1960 U.S. Census

The 1960 U.S. Census sits just over the horizon, scheduled to be released to the public on April 1, 2032. It’s a highly anticipated snapshot of American life during a time of rapid change: the rise...

Inside the 1950 U.S. Census

The 1950 U.S. Census is the most recent one released to the public, and it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another. Taken just five years after the end of World War II, it captures a...

Inside the 1940 U.S. Census

The 1940 U.S. Census gives us a remarkably detailed portrait of America just before everything changed. In a few short years, the United States would enter World War II, and millions of lives would...

Inside the 1930 Census

The 1930 U.S. Census captures America in an unsettled moment. The Roaring Twenties were winding down, but the Great Depression was just beginning to take hold. It’s a census taken in the calm before...

Inside the 1920 Census

We’ve now arrived at the 1920 U.S. Census—the first one taken after the end of World War I. This moment in history holds a lot beneath the surface. If your ancestors were alive during this time, they...

Inside the 1910 Census

We’ve made it to the 1910 census, and I have to say, this one feels like a bit of a turning point. If you’ve been following along through each census with me, you’ve probably noticed how much the...

The Three Biggest Reasons to Go Back to Paper

There’s a certain charm to scrolling through digital records at midnight, coffee in hand, uncovering new ancestors with the click of a button. But once you’ve collected a few dozen census pages...