Census Records

I read with great interest the special section in the November 1989 issue on the U.S. census. The extraordinary contributions of the decennial census to American history are quite expertly explored by Messrs. Carson and Weisberger.

However, I must point out that records for 1900 and 1910 are available without restriction. The general public, including amateur or professional genealogists, has free and unrestricted access to microfilm records of the 1900 and 1910 censuses at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and at the eleven Archives branches throughout the country. Further, the Archives will be able to provide public access to the 1920 census records in 1992. There is a seventy-two-year period before census family records can be released.