Christmas came in April this year for the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society.
Seventy-two years ago, the 1950 decennial census was taken across the nation, and the results were stashed in the National Archives. Collecting information about age, sex, race, employment, military service, and more, the census provided important data about the U.S. population, but the specifics were not released due to a rule that has kept the details of every census since 1870 private from the public for 72 years.
Now, this treasure trove of un-redacted information from the mid-20th century has been released, enabling everyone to go back in time and discover secrets about family histories, famous persons, or next-door neighbors from the ’50s.