1950 Census, Released

On April 1st, the 1950 US Census was released to the world. US law only releases the detailed/full census details 72 years after the census year. Thus 2022 is the year for the 1950’s census full debut.

If you want to find detailed information about relatives or others, you can start here at this site:

https://1950census.archives.gov/

Because the hand-written census sheets have not been transcribed, there is no easy search (yet). You can begin by using the census search page: https://1950census.archives.gov/search/ with these suggestions/parameters:

In my case, I was not interested in people, but rather the building where I live. To start I focused on New York County within New York state:

https://1950census.archives.gov/search/?county=New%20York&page=1&state=NY#

And clicked on one of the “ED Maps” (Enumeration District Maps) links;

and saw that map P2 showed Harlem:

By zooming in you can find the book you’re looking for:’

Unfortunately, when I finally managed to find the book/sheet I was looking for I got this:

No one had been at home when the census taker had tried to get information. Fortunately, there was a “See Sheet…” that I could then use to find out what was learned in a follow-up visit from a census worker. Sure enough, on an “Out of Order” sheet:

I was able to find out information based on the following headings/questions:

And here’s what I found:

  • 11 people lived in this building, 9 of which were listed as Lodgers
  • 6 men, 5 women (no children – the youngest was 25 years old)
  • 2 people are listed as “White” (one of whom was Italian) and 9 are listed as “Negro”
  • the majority came from the south (South Carolina, Texas, Virginia) while two were born in New York
  • professionally they were dress operators, porters, tailor shop workers, waiters in restaurants and night clubs, hospital attendants, and post office clerks

121st Street Health Fair

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