Hensley: The 1950 Census: Taking a peek at the country's past

We have a shared curiosity about our past. Maybe not only ours, but that of others as well. We enjoy glimpsing back into history and having our questions answered.

This was part of what was running through my mind as I did the barest bit of research through records from the 1950 U.S. Census, which were made public Friday, following the federally mandated 72-year waiting period.

For genealogists and historians, it’s a long-awaited moment. Aggregated data has been available for some time, but now, people can see information at the household level, which is what I was interested in. Personally identifiable details remain private for 72 years, which was the average lifespan at the time the decision was made.

According to a USA TODAY story, the 1950 census comprised 38 questions, including queries about whether the household had a kitchen sink or television. People also were asked about the type of toilet and refrigerator they had. Think about that for a minute. Indoor plumbing, refrigerators and TVs are pretty much taken for granted these days.

The 1950 Census was the first to use computers, and it reportedly was the first effort toward getting a complete count as efforts were made to include transient populations. College students were counted at their dorms. Available data includes more than 6 million digital images. It all makes for a marvelous day for people who enjoy combing through tons of records with no assurances of finding what they might be looking for.

One of my sisters has long been the family’s archivist, collecting and chasing information for years. What she has gathered through painstaking and methodical work is as amazing as it is priceless. She has traced our family’s ancestry to the 1700s. The time and effort she has invested is incredible.

While the census information will undoubtedly be helpful, I’m reminded of another resource, although it didn’t provide the same level of detail. Others might remember grandparents or great-grandparents whose possessions included one of those large family Bibles. Blank pages at the front were dedicated to recording a family’s milestone moments such as births, baptisms, marriages and deaths.

Many a Bible contained a family’s history and was passed down through the generations. As a young boy, I can still remember seeing one in my grandparents’ home. For some families, this larger Bible often occupied a conspicuous place in the home. It wasn’t carried back and forth to Sunday school and church. It was valuable in ways besides faith.

It was a repository of not only biblical characters but also precious people like great-great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. One can almost imagine their grandmother reading the account of Jonah and then sharing a story or memory of her own grandmother. This was one way records were kept (straight), and stories were shared about how previous generations came to call a specific community home.

Some of us may have asked how and why our relatives settled in a particular place. What was the attraction? My parents are now the third generation to live on a specific piece of land in Northwest Arkansas. To some extent, that’s what triggered my digital trip to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Let’s start here. A lot of us have no idea what this country was like 72 years ago. We weren’t around. Our notions about this time in the nation’s history are probably largely informed by watching reruns of “Happy Days.” But here are a few facts for perspective. America was a mere five years removed from the end of World War II. Detroit was the nation’s fourth-largest city with 1.8 million residents, and the West Texas communities of Amarillo and Lubbock boasted respective approximate populations of 74,000 and 72,000.

The undergraduate enrollment at Texas Tech was just more than 5,000 students. Meanwhile, West Texas State, which had changed its name from West Texas Teachers College a year earlier, had about 1,900 students on campus.

Anyway, I plunged into the census archives and somehow found my way to Benton County in the northwest corner of Arkansas. I punched in my grandparents’ last name and then looked at the page that had their names and ages as well as that of their young child, my mother. It would be another year before my Uncle John would arrive on the scene.

There is something special about being able to see this. It sort of authenticates what you have been told through the years. Not that we need a government document to distinguish reality for us, but it’s still reassuring to know you can go to a website, punch in a few keystrokes and see a piece of your personal history.

This set of grandparents came to be in Arkansas because that’s where their parents settled. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago. People weren’t as mobile a few generations ago for several reasons such as moving past the war, getting married, starting families and building lives together where they met, where they were and where they intended to stay. For many, things like travel and vacations were seen as luxuries, something they could afford but felt like money would be better spent elsewhere or saved.

I’m reminded of an early episode of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” when Jed Clampett was trying to convince Granny to move. Her response: “If the good Lord had wanted me in California, he’d have put me in California.”

When I read about the 1950 census earlier this week, the first thing I did was ask my sister about it. Of course, she was all over it and advised me that it will be a few more weeks before the info becomes easier to search. Always check with a sister when in need of a pro tip.

Now that I know that, I expect to revisit the site in the weeks ahead and see what else I can learn. I imagine I won’t be the only one. If you’re interested in the 1950 U.S. Census, visit https://www.archives.gov/research/census/1950.

It will be worth your time, no matter how much time you spend.

Doug Hensley is associate regional editor and director of commentary for the Globe-News.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Doug Hensley the 1950 Census: Taking a peek at the country's past