Welcome to the One-Step tutorial/quiz for the 1950 U.S. census.
The census will be of interest to seasoned family history researchers,
to genealogist who wants to see the census form for their family,
and to people simply curious as to who lived in their house.
The 1950 census is scheduled to become public on April 1st, 2022.
If you are interested in the earlier 1940 census, which became public on April 2, 2012,
go to the One-Step
1940 tutorial/quiz.
If you want to learn about the 1950 One-Step Census tools as well as the current online 1950 census maps
at the National Archives, you should start with this tutorial.
If you are impatient and want to start using the One-Step 1950 Census tools immediately
(we don't encourage that unless you have used them before!), go to the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder. Make sure you select 1950 on the top of that form.
That will provide you access to the most popular One-Step tools on a single page.
If you only want to use 1950 census maps, then learn from our experience as described in this paper on
Using 1950 Enumeration District Maps One-Step Enumeration District Map Tool
(and discussed in separate parts of this tutorial); links will be provided there to access those maps.
This guide was first written in July of 2018, and was revised in June of 2020.
It may be revised many times before the 1950 Census becomes public.
We don't have any name indexes for the 1950 census, nor does anyone else.
Until the census becomes public on April 1, 2022, the public will not be allowed to see the 1950 census pages
and that includes the people who will be generating the name indexes.
After the census is made public, we anticipate that several groups will begin generating
name indexes, but they won't become available until several months later.
Without a name index, the only other way to find people in the census is by address (location).
What we do have on the One-Step website are tools to help you find people in the census
based on location. The 1950 census maps at the National Archives catalog can also help.
This tutorial will help you determine which tools you need to use for your particular circumstance.
Knowing a person's location in 1950 is not sufficient for finding them in the census.
Instead you must know the so-called Enumeration District (ED) in which they lived.
So what is an ED?
The 1950 census is divided into EDs. Within each state the EDs are numbered uniquely.
That number consists of two parts. The first part specifies a region within the state
The region is usually a county but it could be a large city.
The second part specifies a district within the region. Once you have the ED number,
you will be able to successfully research the 1950 census pages when they become public.
Click here when you are ready to begin
Do you know the city, town, rural area, or institution in which your family lived
on April 1, 1950 -- the official 1950 U.S. census day?
Yes, I know where they were in April 1950.
No, I have no clue where they lived.
So you don't know where your family lived in April 1950.
Here are some suggestions to help you find your family's location in April 1950.
Look for any of the following. They can give you clues as to where the family lived in April 1950.
Address Books
Birth/Death/Marriage Certificates
City Directories and Telephone Directories (Online?)
Court Records
Diaries
Employment Records
Land and Tax Records
Letters, Envelopes, and Other Correspondence
Local Newspapers
Naturalization Records
Oral Interviews
Photographs
Relatives Memories
Residential/Home Away College Attended In April 1950
School and Church Records
Scrapbooks
Social Security Application
Their 1940 Location if They Haven't Moved
WW2 Draft Registrations
Locational strategies for searching censuses should be in every genealogist's toolbox.
They will be helpful whenever name indexes don't work.
They will also help you if you want to determine if the enumerator skipped the residence,
or if you want to research the history of your house.
And it will be the only way to access censuses that initially have no name index,
as was the case for the 1940 census when it first opened and it will be the same
for the 1950 census opening.
Did that help you find your 1950 location?
Still nothing, I really tried.
Yes, now I have the location, thanks.
If you have no information about the location, you may have to wait several months
after the opening of the 1950 census for an online name index.
Perhaps a new strategy will suggest itself for finding those locations in the intervening time.
If you know part of the location, such as the state or county, or even the general area with a
large city, we may still be able to help you.
You could look through the several million 1950 census images, when available,
if you have lots and lots and lots of free time.
You might get lucky and find your family on the first image! So what do you want to do?
Go back and take another look at possible sources for my 1950 family locational information.
See how far I can get using the existing tools with the details I do know about the location
See some additional parting suggestions
Restart the tutorial from the beginning
You know the location (more or less) of your family in 1950? That's great!
You are ahead of the game and shouldn't have to wait months for a full name index
to search for your family in the 1950 Census.
Were they
in a rural area or a small urban community of fewer than about 5,000 people?
in an urban area of about 5,000 people or more?
members of the military in foreign bases or ports, consulate officials,
families of these federal employees abroad,
crews of U.S.military vessels at sea or docked in a foreign port,
or merchant marines at sea or a foreign port?
in an institution (hospital, jail, orphanage, etc)?
outside the U.S. proper but under U.S. jurisdiction (e.g. Alaska, Puerto Rico)?
outside the U.S. and U.S. territories
So your family was in an institution. We hope they weren't in a prison. ;-)
You are in luck because many institutional names are searchable on the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder.
Many of these institutions were given separate ED numbers, and may include
Apartment complexes or hotels with 100 or more units in cities having 500,000 people or more
Coast Guard stations
Federal and state prisons
Institutions with 100 or more inmates
Lighhouses and lightships
Mental institutions
National Parks
Non-federal hospitals having 100 or more beds or providing nurse and intern training
Other institutions having 100 or more residents/inmates
Reformatories
Roman Catholic institutions with 25 or more residents
Veterans' hospitals
Probably the best way of searching for these 1950 institutions is to search for their name
as if it was the name of a rural area or a small urban community.
That is, let's find the institution's ED number using the same tools that we use to find
ED numbers for rural or small urban areas. So let's go back to the previous page
and select the choice of searching a rural or small urban area.
The U.S. had a number of possessions in 1950, and the census was taken there as well.
Here is a list of those posessions covered on the 1950 Census sheets
Alaska
American Samoa
Guam
Hawaii
Panama Canal Zone
Puerto Rico
Virgin Islands
Finding families in one of these posessions is no different than than in finding them
in the U.S. proper. So let' go back to the previous page
and select the appropriate choice, namely urban area size or institution.
You are here because your person of interest was residing outside of the U.S.
and U.S. Territories during April of 1950 and you are looking for their
Enumeration District number. Unfortunately, those people won't be found on the
1950 census schedules released to the public. Private citizens residing
overseas were not enumerated. Members of the military in foreign bases or ports,
consulate officials, families of these federal employees abroad, crews of
U.S.military vessels at sea or docked in a foreign port, and merchant marines at sea
or a foreign port were asked to fill out special questionnaires. However, those
questionnaires were not placed in any specific enumeration district. This is not
an insignificant number of people with over 481,500 people reported in the categories
shown here.
So your family was in a rural area or small urban community in 1950
(or you are looking for an institutional ED number).
Searching the ED Definitions is the way to go. Text searches are faster than map searches.
Let's see what we can expect to find in the ED definitions.
For rural areas, the ED definitions might list political names of communities, townships,
or election districts.
For small urban areas that are composed of only a few EDs, the ED definitions might show
which side of the town your family's ED is on.
Hopefully your family was on the "right side" of the town.
Note: These One-Step ED definitions were transcribed from scans were made from 38 rolls of film
from the National Archives film series T1224 for 1950.
(Those scans have been freely available on the One-Step site since 2013.
The National Archives may eventually place their own scans in their catalog.)
The 1950 ED definitions on that film series lacked many unincorporated community names
that are in the 1940 ED definitions or are on 1950 county ED maps.
We went back and augmented the 1950 ED definition transcriptions with over 79,000 community names from
those additional resources. For those communities that we obtained from the 1940 definitions
we preceded the community name with the phrase "AND MAY CONTAIN." For those obtained from the
1950 county maps we preceded the name with "AND SHOULD CONTAIN."
So to use the ED Definitions, we need to know how much information you have about your
family's location. Do you
only know the state and county in which your family lived?
have the name of the rural area or small community/town in which your family lived
(or the name of the institution)?
Your family was in a rural area or small urban community and you know only the
state and county names in which they lived.
You can find all the enumeration districts that are in that county by searching through
the ED definitions at the
One Step 1880-1950 ED Definition Tool.
So go to the
One Step 1880-1950 ED Definition Tool,
make sure the year at the top shows 1950, select the state and the county,
and press the search button. You will get a table of ED numbers and ED definitions.
Capture the table for future analysis.
Perhaps the definition of one of those EDs will sound like the area you are looking for.
If not, when the census is opened in April 2022 you could look through all the census
images of each of those EDs to find your family. Of course that's a lot of work.
If you want to avoid that work, you'll have to wait for a full name index,
which may not be available until several months after the opening of the census.
Assuming you have tried the above suggestions, how is your progress going?
I've found my ED number. I'm satisfied.
I've found my ED number but I would like a second opinion.
Sorry, but I still don't know the specific location name.
All I know is the county and state name.
You are here because your family was in a rural area or small urban community and you know
the area's name.
You could also be here because you are looking for the ED number that contains a specific
institutional name.
You can find the enumeration district or districts for that name by searching through
the ED Definitions in the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder
So go to the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder,
make sure the year at the top is 1950, and then select the state.
You do NOT have to select the county name though it might reduce the number of out-of-area results.
To the right of the "CITY OR TOWN"" label is a dropdown list.
Open it and select the first choice, "OTHER (SPECIFY)".
The box on its right will now become enabled (goes from gray to white).
Type in the name of the community of institution that you are searching for into that box.
The name is not case sensitive.
If any ED definitions are found that contain the name you entered, those ED numbers will appear
at the bottom left of the screen, under "1950 ED numbers corresponding to your location."
So how are you doing so far?
Darn, can't find the name of my location on your tool.
I've found my ED number. I'm satisfied.
I've found my ED number but I would like a second opinion.
So you couldn't find your community or institution name using the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder.
There are several explanations for this.
The community or institution might not appear in any of the underlying resources that we used.
The name may have changed and appears under a different name then you expected.
You might have misspelled the name.
We might have made mistakes which we can fix if you inform us about it
Try entering just a part of the name and see if you find anything.
You might also try entering only the state and county at
One Step 1880-1950 ED Definition Tool,
and look through the
resulting ED definitions that appear after you press the Search button
to see if a variation of your location name appears among the ED Definitions.
If that doesn't work, you might want to look at the 1950 county ED maps, which might show
additional community names. These maps are listed in the
National Archives Catalog
but that catalog is difficult to navigate through.
A simple way of viewing the National Archive maps is by using the
One Step 1950 ED Map Viewer.
Assuming you have tried the above suggestions, how is your progress going?
Thanks, I now have ED number, but want to be sure of it and get a second opinion.
Sorry, but I just can't find my location or institution using your hints,
and the maps are not helpful or applicable.
Don't be sorry. The census was never designed for genealogists, nor did the planners ever think
we would want to do so many searches for individual names or small community names in it.
We hope that you are more successful with your other addresses.
However, are you sure you are in the right county? You might want to verify that by using
One Step Counties Tool.
You may have to look through all the census images for the 1950 EDs in the county
to find your elusive locations. Those ED numbers are found using the
One Step 1880-1950 ED Definition Tool. Make sure the year at the top is 1950.
Once you enter the state and county and press "Search", you will see a list of all
the ED numbers in the county and their definitions.
Look through the list for possible matches to your location.
Or you may decide to wait for a full name index, which might take several months to complete
after the opening of the census.
Some parting advice for people with problems with their locational searches
So, your family lived in an urban area having 5,000 people or more.
Do you know their street address?
I sure do.
I'm afraid not.
Having their address should make things much easier.
Let's see if it is in one of the more than 2,400 urban areas covered in the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder.
Go to this tool, make sure the year at the top is 1950, select the state or possession,
the county name (which is optional but will reduce the number of cities you will see)
and look in the "City or Town" dropdown list.
Do you see your area listed there?
No, it's not there.
Yes, it's there. You must have been busy!
You don't have an address for your family?
Not having an address makes things difficult but not impossible.
Perhaps at least you have an area of a city in mind or know the name of
some cemetery or large park nearby. So, here are your choices
Use the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder
and choose the state, perhaps the county, and name of your city or town.
You could record all the ED numbers that are in that community,
and go through all the corresponding census images.
Unfortunately, the number of EDs for large cities makes searching them impractical.
Los Angeles city for example, has 2,697 EDs in 1950.
Perhaps you know an area of the city your family may have lived in. You could use the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder and find your city.
If you know some intersections in that section of the city that you know your
family lived near, select those streets. Or perhaps you know the name of a nearby cemetery
or park. If so, select that from the list of streets. This will give you some EDs to search.
You could also refer to the 1950 ED maps for these cities as well,
or wait for a full name index to come online.
I would like more information on using the 1950 city ED maps for finding an area's EDs.
Show me sources that might have my 1950 specific location.
Give me some parting words of advice and encouragement after negative results.
Get me back to the tutorial beginning.
You are here because your city/town is not on the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder although you do have an address.
Chances are that your community had poor quality
or missing ED maps, or is smaller in size than 5,000 people and five EDs.
Don't fret -- all is not yet lost. The One-Step Unified Tool's street indexes cover
most urban areas having about 5,000 people or more.
But perhaps we made an error, in which case we want to hear about it.
(You might want to check the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder
at a later time to see if we have added your city.)
If that doesn't work, you might want to look at the urban area ED maps. The
National Archives Catalog
has 1950 ED maps of urban areas, some quite small in population size,
but that catalog is difficult to navigate through.
A simple way of viewing the National Archive maps is by using the
One Step 1950 ED Map Viewer.
Besides providing access to the National Archives maps, it also provides access to additional
city maps that may not be accessible from the National Archives.
Did you find your ED from the online 1950 ED map collections?
No, my town's/city's map is missing or is not useful.
Yes, I'm a happy camper.
Yes, I now have my ED but I want a second opinion.
You are here because your town/city is not on the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder and the National Archive ED map
for the community is either missing or not useful.
Note: Some 1950 ED maps are missing or are misplaced in the
National Archives Catalog.
The
One Step 1950 ED Map Viewer knows where most of them are and will get you to them.
In addition, right now the National Archive Catalog lacks 1950 ED maps for Charleston SC,
Jersey City NJ, New Haven CT, Portland OR, and Worcester MA. We have made
substitute 1950 ED maps for these cities and have incorporated links to them in the
One Step 1950 ED Map Viewer.
If you are good at reading maps, here's another strategy.
Using a current map from one of the mapping websites, find your 1950 street address and center
it on the screen. Reduce the size of the map so you can see a large area but don't reduce it
so much that can't read all the street names.
For each ED Definition for this town/city obtained from the
One Step ED Definition Tool,
mentally plot the indicated north/south/east/west boundaries on your screen.
Keep doing this mental mapping until you find an ED whose boundaries enclose your family's
location. It's not terribly difficult to do this, it's just time consuming.
Have you found the ED # of your address by plotting the boundary definitions for that area?
Or by using our own ED map finding tool rather than that at the National Archives?
Yes, I'm satisfied, thanks.
Yes, but I want to confirm that ED number result and get a second opinion.
You've already selected your state and city, so now you need to select the street
on which your family lived. This will give you a list of all EDs that that street passes through.
You can narrow down this list of EDs by selecting additional streets on the same city block
as your family's residence. The Unified Tool provides a shortcut to modern mapping
websites so you can see the current streets that make up your family's block.
That assumes, of course that the street names and street arrangements on the modern map are the
same as they were in 1950.
Carefully note the side of the street that the mapping website indicates for your address.
You will need this to correctly determine the other streets that make up the city block,
specifically the "back" street. See the
FAQ
associated with this tool for further help.
There may be situations where you can't get down to a single ED number,
even after selecting additional street names on your family's block.
Some configurations of streets in a neighborhood can lead to such a result.
Also, there may be situations where you go to the census images for the indicated ED
(after the census is opened of course) but you can't find your street name on any of
the census pages. There could be several reasons for this.
The street may be all commercial without residences and thus not appear on the actual
census sheets. There may be no residences at all on that block, just vacant lots.
If a city block is within two EDs (because the ED boundary line goes through the block),
we've had to add a street to an ED in which it is not really present in order for our
algorithms to work correctly. And there are other reasons as well, but we won't bore
you by going into those here.
Have you now found your street name and used the other street names on your block
to get down to your ED number?
No, you left me in the dust.
I had trouble finding my street names on the street list for my city. Slow down.
Yes but I want a second opinion.
Yes, got the ED number. Let me exit (with some additional information)
You are here because the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder is not being kind to you.
It is not displaying any EDs for the set of streets that you've selected,
or you can't even find many of your desired street names on the street dropdown list.
If your street names didn't show up on the Unified Tool, it's possible your address was not
within the city boundaries in 1950. Check the city boundaries by looking at the 1950 ED map
on the
One Step 1950 ED Map Viewer to see if your address was within the city in 1950.
If it wasn't, look at the county-level ED resources including our
One Step 1880-1950 ED Definition Tool
or our
One Step 1950 ED Map Viewer for your location and ED number.
However, the problem could be an error in the transcribed data.
Sometimes a specific street name was not transcribed for an ED, or the street name was
transcribed but misspelled. Both of these errors will prevent our program from finding
your ED number. If you encounter a situation in which you obtain no EDs after entering all
the streets enclosing your block, or you can't even find your street on the street name
list and it IS within the 1950 city limits, please send us the specific example.
We will try to determine the cause and attempt to fix the problem.
Another possibility is that you are using the wrong part of the Unified tool.
If your city is listed in the city list of the Unified tool, you must select that rather than
selecting "Other (Specify)" and typing in the city name. The latter should be used only
if the desired city is not in the city dropdown list.
Anyway, here's a work-around you can try. You should have a list of streets that you've
selected on the Unified Tool, which correspond to the block on which your family lived.
Remove one or more of the street names, including the actual street on which your family lived,
until you obtain some ED numbers. Try different combinations of boundary streets.
By experimenting you'll be able to narrow your location down to a small number of EDs.
Although that's not as good as having a single ED, it's better than having none.
Has this helped?
Yes, I now have my ED. Thanks.
Yes, I now have my ED but I want a second opinion.
Still no ED, are there other possibilities for not finding my street on the Unified Tool?
You want other reasons why your street doesn't appear on the list of streets within your city?
Let's do an experiment. See if you can find that missing street (or complete address) on a modern
mapping website. Did you find the address on that modern map?
No, I don't see the address on a modern map. What happened?
Yes, it's there.
(Be careful: the city may have renumbered the houses and the current map will place you
in a different part of town from where your original address was located.)
Your target street name or address is not showing on a modern mapping website.
Hmmmm--- perhaps the street name was changed, or the address renumbered,
or the street is now under a freeway or within a park, or the modern mapping website is at fault
(try using a different mapping website).
The
One Step Street Name-Change Tool shows street name changes and some house renumbering
for many U.S. cities. Check to see if your street name has changed and/or if your house has
been renumbered.
Here are other ideas for finding a "lost" street. City directories often have cross street
indexes. Find your street name in the directory and note the cross streets.
It is unlikely that all of those streets are gone, unless they are under a large housing project
or within the boundaries of a park.
See if a reference librarian is able to track down a circa 1950 map or city directory of your
area (different from the ED 1950 map) which shows your street.
Contact the historical society of that city for information.
If you can't resolve this problem, you might have to go through all the census images for all
the EDs in your town or city. Use the
One Step ED Definition Tool
to find all the ED numbers for your town or city.
Did this help you figure out where your street might have gone and what its new name (if any) is,
or at least the area of the city it was in?
Yes it did. I have the new name so take me back to the Unified Tool and the city street lists.
No it didn't.
So your 1950 address appears in the right place on a modern map
but you can't find that street name on the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder street list, and you don't have a useful ED map.
If you are good at reading maps, here is something you can try.
Using a current map from one of the mapping websites, find your 1950 street address and center
it on the screen. Reduce the size of the map so you can see a large area but don't reduce it
so much that can't read all the street names.
For each ED Definition for this town/city obtained from the
One Step ED Definition Tool,
mentally plot the indicated north/south/east/west boundaries on your screen.
Keep doing this mental mapping until you find an ED whose boundaries enclose your family's
location. It's not terribly difficult to do this, it's just time consuming.
Have you found the ED # of your address by plotting the boundary definitions for that area?
Yes, I'm satisfied, thanks.
Yes, but I want to confirm that ED number result and get a second opinion.
No, still no luck. Now what?
You are here because you've already found your ED number.
You want to be sure you have the right ED number for your family's location before you spend
the time looking through the actual census images. Fair enough. You want a second opinion.
We present you two methods to test the validity of your 1950 ED number result based on your input.
So which of the following would you like?
A strategy for using the Census Bureau original description for your 1950 ED to see
if your location is included
A strategy for finding ED numbers from the National Archives or One-Step 1950 ED map libraries.
Or go back to the beginning of the tutorial
Or end this tutorial with a little more information.
You are here to see if your location's ED number, found by the One-Step utilities,
corresponds to the correct target location on a city or county 1950 ED map,
or you don't know your target address but do know an area of the city your people lived
to get some possible ED numbers from those maps.
The ED maps are not street maps in the general sense, but planning documents, often without street indexes,
and for large cities, may encompass many submaps. They may be in poor condition, missing parts,
illegible, and difficult to use.
You can find 1950 ED maps at the
National Archives Catalog.
They have most of the 1950 ED County maps, and 1950 population area maps with 5 or more EDs.
The One Step 1950 ED Map Viewer also indexes those National Archives maps with some important additions. You may find links to maps at the One-Step utility to National Archives map images not indexed on their Catalog by name or whose name was misspelled or misplaced within their Catalog. There are even some links to 1950 ED maps on the One-Step Utility not presently at the National Archives Catalog, from Jersey City NJ, New Haven CT, Portland OR, Worcester MA, and Charleston SC.
Here are some additional things of which you should be aware. (1) The ED numbers
written within each enumeration district on a large city ED map usually LACK the prefix
part of the ED number; that prefix number can be found on the map legend (key).
If the city has multiple maps, only the legend on the first map may have the prefix number.
Remember the ED number is BOTH the prefix and district number for search purposes.
(2) About one in 35 city EDs in 1950 were split AFTER the ED map was constructed,
into A,B, etc. areas. Ft Worth TX is an exception where almost one out of two EDs were split.
The Census Bureau ED definitions (and our searchable transcribed ED definitions) would show
the splits (e.g. 31-15A, 31-15B) and their new boundary definitions. The One-Step Unified
Tool compensates for split EDs and will show you those resultant numbers. The ED maps,
however, show only the "parent" unsplit ED number. Don't be confused by that.
There is another set of large city 1950 maps from the Census Bureau that has, in conert with the One-Step Unified Tool, some advantages to search over the ED maps. They are for 213 of the largest cities in 1950, usually having a population of at least 50,000 people. Here is the list from the Census Bureau.
Do you want more info on these maps and links to where we have them on the One-Step site?
Yes, let me see them.
You want to confirm the ED number by looking at some of our source material,
specifically the scans of the 1950 microfilm from the Census Bureau
(National Archives Film T1224) for the ED definitions.
When you got your ED results from the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder,
did you notice that under the ED number there was a box with the wording
"Clicking on a 1950 ED number above will display the " followed by the choice
"1950 ED Description".
It might seem odd that there is only one choice in this box. But once the 1950 census
is opened (in April 2022), there will be a second choice that says "1950 Census Pages."
That's how we will get to the actual census pages after the census is opened.
If you clicked on your ED number(s), you would be taken to the definition scan of that number.
We made these scans from the National Archives T1224 films.
Note that there are two images per frame and you may have to scroll your screen down to see
your ED number on the (out of sight) second image. What you WON'T SEE on the scan are
the additional community names that we added to the ED.
We also have a dedicated utility that you can use to see all the ED definition scans directly,
namely the
1940/1950 ED Descriptions (T1224).
To the right of the box described in the preceding paragraph is a button labelled "More Details".
If you click on it, you will see the One-Step team's ED text transcriptions for all your
resultant EDs. That table of values includes the transcribed definitions from the National
Archives film augmented with any additional community names that we found from the 1950 County
maps and the 1940 ED definitions (over 79,000 additions). If there were multiple ED results,
you would see all of their definitions in the ensuing table.
Your ED number, whether for a small community, a rural area, city, or an institution
should be seen on one of the above sources. That will confirm that you have the right
ED number and that we correctly transcribed the original ED definition. But you will not
find any of the augmented community names in these sources. To check these you would need
to the sources that we used for obtaining these additional names. If you see errors, let us know.
You are having a problem. Sorry about that.
We tried to do our best with this all volunteer project.
Let us make some final suggestions before you leave.
First, you may have to wait for a name index to become available if you don't have enough
information to use our locational tools. It may take a number of months after the census
is opened in April 2022 before a complete name index is completed.
However, let us suggest some things you can do for your locational search.
You could read our FAQ
FAQ responses. That might suggest alternative ways of attacking your problem and the
assumptions behind our locational searches.
If you haven't already done so, you might want to look at the ED maps. The
One Step 1950 ED Map Viewer provides for an easy way to navigate through the National Archives
ED maps. Hopefully the ED map for your area exists, is legible, has readable ED numbers,
and is not too confusing.
If you feel an error has been made using the One-Step location search tools,
contact us and we will see if the problem is in the search code,
the original data, or the transcription process, and will try to correct it.
If you've found some other strategy that worked for you, you might want to suggest it to us
and it may be included in this tutorial/quiz.
We hope that you are more successful with your other addresses.
To restart the tutorial from the beginning
Remember that we have a paper on Using 1950 Enumeration District Maps
which provides most of the cartographic instructions in this tutorial plus additional insights into their use.
But ...
You are interested in an alternate 1950 map source for large cities
generated by the Census Bureau from the 1950 Census. There was a Housing Schedule
as part of that census, and the Census Bureau came up with a number of reports
that summarized the economic and living conditions of EVERY block of many urban areas.
There are 213 such reports of urban areas having a population of at least 50,000 people.
Here is the
list from the Census Bureau. To get your own copy of your city's Housing Report go to the
Census Bureau's Census of Population and Housing,
then pick the "Census of Population and Housing 1950", then "1950 Census of Housing",
and finally "Vol. V. Block Statistics".
To see the block maps in the Census Bureau 1950 Housing Pamphlets, some of them received from
the Census Bureau Library, go to the
One-Step Block Maps Tool
Individual blocks on the Housing Pamphlet maps were numbered with the city's Tract and/or Ward number
followed by a block number. Within Tracts block numbers go from 1 to N; thus all Tract numbers start
with a block number 1. Ward numbers go from 1 to N with N being the number of total blocks in the
city; that is, there is only one number 1 block in that city. The regular 1950 ED map in the
National Archives Catalog usually show within each ED polygon of large cities the same block numbers
as the Housing Pamphlets block numbers, and the surrounding area the same Ward/Tract number.
When the One-Step ED definitions were transcribed, if the ED definition showed a Ward or Tract number,
the Ward/Tract number was transcribed into the text ED definition. In addition, the original ED
definitions on National Archives T1224 from the Census Bureau, often showed below the ED boundary
description of the city EDs, the individual block numbers as well. The Housing Pamphlets for these
213 cities contain tables that show, for each of the numbered blocks, information on: occupancy and
tenure, building conditions and plumbing facilities, occupied unit numbers and non-white individuals,
average monthly rent, and average value of the dwelling unit. For those looking for 1950 statistics
of their area, this information should prove very useful.
There are some advantages and disadvantages of these block maps.
Small streets often aren't labelled on the map. Some streets may not show at all.
However, for large cities there may be an index map for that city's multiple block maps,
usually missing from the regular 1950 ED maps.
The maps are "clean" without the problems that many ED maps have, which often show the impact
of excessive use and misuse in the past.
So here's what we can do, with your help, with these block maps.
If you search the block maps, and come up with the Tract or Ward number you find that encloses
the area of your family's location(s) in 1950, then we can generate a table showing the ED numbers
and their boundary definitions for that Tract/Ward number for your city.
You would go to the
Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder, enter the state and county that your large city is in,
BUT DO NOT PICK THE CITY NAME ON THE "CITY OR TOWN" DROPDOWN LIST.
Instead, you would pick the ""OTHER (SPECIFY)" choice on the "City or Town" box to get
to the ED definition database. Enter the Tract or Ward number you have found from the
block map, press the "Get 1950 ED Number(s)", and then press "More Details" to see a table
showing those ED numbers and their boundary street. Capture that table for future research.
To restart the tutorial from the beginning
Congratulation, you have your ED number. Use it wisely.
Now that you've obtained your ED number and will be able to go directly to the census pages it
denotes, when they are put online in April 2022. You can then start looking through the images
of those census pages. If you know the street name, it will be quicker for you to firt get
to the desired street before looking for your family on that street. The street names are shown
vertically in the first column.
If you can rotate the images clockwise by 90 degrees, it will make it easier to read the
street names, allowing you to go even quicker through the images. Check the image viewer
you are using for this capability.
As you go through the images of your ED, don't be surprised to see a major gap in the sequence
of page numbers. The 1950 census takers were instructed to start numbering the pages as
1, 2, 3, etc. After they completed a first pass through their ED streets, they went back to
visit those houses for which no one was home. The names that they obtained on this second pass
would appear on pages numbered starting with 71. Thus you could see pages 1,2,3,71 on a
four page ED.
Remember that we have additional help on the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) at
FAQ
associated with the 1950 Unified tool.
If you are here because you are looking for the people who lived in your house in 1950,
or for economic or socialogical information about a specific 1950 neighborhood of a large city,
we may have more information for you below.
Have fun from Steve Morse and Joel Weintraub and all our hard working volunteers!!
Statistical information about your 1950 house or neighborhood by Census Bureau Housing Reports
