#aotusblog

GIF from 1950 Census PSAs, US National Archives on GIPHY

Elvis Presley in the 1950 Census. 1950 Census population schedule for Tennessee, Memphis, Shelby, 98-4

1950 Census is LIVE! Find ELVIS! Find the Archivist!

At 12:01 am this morning the long-secret (72 years!) 1950 Census records were made freely available online. Now anyone, anywhere, can freely access this historic gold mine of records through the National Archives.

See National Archives Publishes 1950 Census Records, National Archives News story by Victoria Macchi.

Watch the launch celebration on our YouTube channel playlist.

Archivist David S. Ferriero stayed up late to research his family and shared his findings on his AOTUS blog: The 1950 Census is Here!

1950 Census population schedule Massachusetts, Essex, 5-58

David Ferriero in Beverly, MA, circa 1950

1950 Census Enumerator Visits a Virginia Household, NARA ID 207899869.

1950 Census Genealogy Webinars - Start with the “Overview of What's on the 1950 Census," by archivist and genealogy/census subject matter expert Claire Kluskens.

1950 Census Blog Series by 1950 Census expert Claire Kluskens includes: , including topics such as:

1950 Census: Differences from the 1940 Census

1950 Census: Field Enumeration Procedures

Census Enumeration of U.S. Civilians and Military Personnel Overseas, 1790–1950

1950 Census: Form P8, Indian Reservation Schedule

1950 Census: Form P1, Population and Housing Schedule

1950 Census: Enumerated Out-of-Order - “Callbacks” and Others on Page 71 and Up

See the entire series of over 50 detailed blog posts covering every aspect of the 1950 Census

Soldiers on the roof of a building near the Capitol with an anti-aircraft weapon, 1942, FDR Library, NARA ID 598402.

Extra security at the Capitol on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Image courtesy of Library of Congress, online here.

Office of War Information, Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. NARA ID 515731.

FLASHBACK: DEFENDING THE CAPITOL/CAPITAL

By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

Heightened security helped ensure this week’s peaceful transfer of power. While this level of mobilization is unprecedented, it’s not the only time additional troops helped protect our nation’s capital/Capitol. See below, in addition to the more customary shots of soldiers in DC celebrating victories, marching in inaugural and other parades, and participating in the time-honored tradition of posing on the Capitol steps.  

Civil War Defense of DC

Union Army fortifications surrounded and protected DC from rebel attack during the Civil War. By 1865, DC was one of the most heavily fortified cities in the world - with 68 forts and 93 batteries (armed with over 800 cannons). From here. 

Fort Totten, DC image by Matthew Brady, NARA ID 524908.

DC Arsenal Grounds (now Fort McNair), NARA ID 525153.

World War I Defense of DC

A military officer “guarding National Capital’s only railway bridge” (Aqueduct Bridge) 1917, NARA ID 45500542. 

Military tents on 8th St. SE in DC, WWI, NARA ID 55162995.

World War II Defense of DC

Auto cannon on the roof of the Government Printing Office, from the DC Public Library, online here.  

Three Sentries guard the War Dept. Building in DC (Constitution Ave. near the Ellipse), NARA ID 599062.

Defense of Washington, Munitions Building (near the White House at Constitution Ave.), 1942. NARA ID 598922.

“This is Washington at War... Soldiers on Guard, the Capitol Dome serene as ever,” Click Magazine 1942, online here. 

Civil War parade on Pennsylvania Ave., NW. NARA ID 518225.

WWII Victory Parade honoring Admiral Chester Nimitz, 10/5/1945, NARA ID199203.

Marines march past the National Archives, Army Day Parade in DC, 4/6/1937. NARA ID 12168482.

"AMERICANS ALL" Detachment standing at attention in front of the Capitol, 10/21/19, NARA ID 86734566.

First Division Parade, 28th Infantry on the Capitol steps, 9/17/19. NARA ID 86732339

First Division Parade, 18th Infantry, on the Capitol steps, 9/17/1919. NARA ID 86732337.

Showing WWI “War Trophy” on the Capitol steps, NARA ID 45555610.

See also:

Archivist David S. Ferriero Responds to Capitol Riots

Washington During Wartime story by Eliot Carter, Architect of the Capitol, 

Petty Officer Second Class David S. Ferriero with shipmate and fellow Corpsman Jim Maloney in Subic Bay, PI, 1970. Photo courtesy of the Archivist of the United States.

The Archivist holds his dog tag from the Vietnam War. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

The brave Archivist literally went out on a ledge for this memorable photo op by Brendan Smialowski for the NYT.

Beverly, Massachusetts, birthplace of the American Navy (Courtesy Beverly Historical Society).

Ken Yuszkus for the Salem News

HAPPY NAVY DAY!*

In celebration of Navy Day, we honor our #1 Navy vet, Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero. As Archivist, he’s spoken openly and proudly of his military service, created the National Archives’ first-ever Vietnam exhibit, and continues to campaign for recognition of his hometown of Beverly, MA, as the rightful birthplace of the US Navy. To the Archivist and all other veterans, we say thank you and are forever grateful for your service.  

The Archivist served in Vietnam on the hospital ship USS Sanctuary and told Washington Post reporter Mike Ruane what his work entailed:

At night, after Navy corpsman David Ferriero finished his clerical duties aboard the hospital ship off Vietnam, he would volunteer to help triage the wounded being helicoptered from the battlefield...Some had been shot. Others were missing limbs. Some needed treatment right away. Others were dead when they arrived.

The Archivist credits such experience for his calm when dealing with frantic Archives employees:

When people come to me with a problem, thinking the sky is falling, my first question is always, “Is there a life at stake here?” That is a perspective I got from working in triage in Vietnam (from Historynet interview).

The Archivist explained why a Vietnam War exhibit was important to him, to the National Archives, and to the country: 

Ferriero said he wanted the institution to mount a Vietnam exhibit in part because so many of the war's issues remain sensitive and unresolved. In a long career that took him to big jobs at major universities and libraries, ``no one--no one--wanted to talk about it,'' he said. `No one asked me any questions,'' he said. ``No one acknowledged it.... Never was it the topic of   conversation.''

[The Archives has] incredible material in the records — photographs and all of the military records, the unit records. We have a lot of stuff...And for me it was important to tell the story from both sides. WPost interview.

More online:

AOTUS blog: Remembering Vietnam Exhibit Entered into Congressional Record

AOTUS blog: Hometown Rivalries Debate the Birthplace of the U.S. Navy

Washington Post feature: At National Archives, the boss, a Vietnam vet, orders up an exhibit on the war

Historynet interview : David Ferriero, Vietnam Vet Who Is Now Our National Archivist

New York Times feature: Collector in Chief Hoards Nation’s Irreplaceable Stuff

Salem News: National archivist keeps the birthplace controversy alive.

Naval and Marine Records at the National Archives

Remembering Vietnam: Online Exhibit

Three cheers for the US Navy!

Gif from here.