The 1950 Census Data Is Up and Searchable - How-To Information

[MineralMan]

27. I suppose so, although I don't feel like my privacy has been invaded.

I was 5 years old. I see a lot of names near where I was counted. Most of them are no longer alive, including the man, George Moore, whose name is at the top as the census taker. He was a nice man. I haven't thought about him for decades. His children were my schoolmates.

The census is a snapshot of our nation taken at 10-year intervals. As that, it is incredibly valuable. Studied and dissected by people who look at it from all sorts of perspectives, the patterns it reveals are important. As you pointed out with San Francisco, the data can put a microscope on how the city has changed. Patterns of change can help us understand many things.

So, I don't think anyone should feel like their privacy is invaded by this information being released 72 years later. Much of the information is available through other vital records, anyhow.