Records Allow Peek Into Past : Historians, Genealogists Delight in Unsealing of 1920 U.S. Census Data

Robert Schneider, 73, found himself Monday--literally.

Squinting through bifocals, Schneider sat in front of a microfilm reader at the Pacific Southwest regional branch of the National Archives in Laguna Niguel and pointed frantically to his name projected on the brightly lit screen.

“Look! It’s me, it’s me!” the Vista man said gleefully, thrusting his arms in the air. “I’m there.”

Schneider was among 150 people who flocked to the archives Monday for a glimpse of their past. The Laguna Niguel facility was among only 13 archive offices in the nation where the federal government for the first time made available information from the 1920 U.S. Census. Under federal law, the Census is kept sealed, for privacy reasons, for 72 years following a nationwide head count.

The crowd included professional genealogists and historians but mainly people who were in search of their roots--like 46-year-old Jamesetta Hammons of Compton.

Hammons’ 15-year search for her roots has taken her to abandoned cemeteries in Phoenix and small rural towns in Missouri.

She and three other members of the California African American Genealogical Society spent the night in their cars in the parking lot of the Chet Holifield Federal Building to beat the crowds they anticipated would crash the archives’ doors at 8 a.m.

Hammons brought along her photo album, complete with pictures of herself and Alex Haley, the late author whose epic novel “Roots” inspired millions of people around the world to trace their ancestry.

The crowds were smaller than expected, but Hammons and her friends were among the first to enter the massive, pyramid-shaped building.

After four hours of research, Hammons confirmed that her father, the late James Glosson, was a 9-year-old boy in San Antonio when the Census was taken. Her mother was counted in two households in Missouri, she said.

The information may seem obscure to the uninitiated, but to Hammons it’s a thrill just seeing her family’s history in government records.

“Every time you find something like this,” she said, pointing to a copy of the microfilm, “it’s another step closer to your roots. We can learn so many things from our past so we can be better people in the future.”

The unveiling of the Census records took on some of the trappings of a big event.

A celebratory strand of silver ribbon was stretched across a bank of cabinets containing the 10,000 rolls of microfilm. Four silver balloons greeted the history hunters. Diane Nixon, director of the Laguna Niguel office, took a minute before she cut the ribbon to tell the crowd a bit of history.

The 1920 Census was significant, she noted, because it marked the first time the U.S. population rose over 100 million. (It was recorded at 107.5 million during the head count.) It was also the first time in U.S. history that a majority of the people lived in urban areas, Nixon told the crowd.

“At that time, an urban area was defined as one where at least 2,500 people lived,” Nixon said. “That doesn’t sound too urban to us today--especially those of us in Orange County.”

To accommodate the larger numbers of patrons, the archives’ staff has implemented a two-hour limit on the use of microfilm readers.

Nixon and archives staff said they expect thousands of people from as far away as Hawaii and Arizona to use the 1920 Census data during the coming months.

“The word gets around,” Nixon said. “For the amateurs, it’s a thrill to see their or their ancestors’ names. It makes them feel important . . . that the government took the time to write them down. It’s a feeling of a real name and a real person--that they’re not just another statistic.”

Assistant Director Suzanne Dewberry said it is common for people who come looking for information about their ancestors to become “geniebugs,” an affectionate name for amateur genealogists.

“Once they get bitten, they cannot stop searching,” Dewberry said. “They become like a mini-version of Sherlock Holmes, diligently seeking out the next piece of the puzzle, and the next piece and the next piece. . . .”

Schneider is a self-confessed “geniebug.”

The Pearl Harbor veteran has visited the archives at least twice a month for several years now, recording every detail about his Polish ancestry in a black binder he plans to give to his nephews and nieces in San Diego.

Schneider waited patiently for the release of the 1920 Census because he wanted to see if he and his family were recorded at their former home in Northern California, he said.

“When I saw my family listed in Monterey, my heart skipped a beat,” Schneider said. He planned to call his two brothers in San Diego later in the day to tell them: “You’re in the book too.”

The 1920 Census: Questions Asked

While questions on the latest census ran for several pages, the 1920 version asked only a few simple queries of each person in a household:

* Township or other place of residence

* Place of birth

* Original language spoken

* Names of mother and father and their place of birth and mother tongue

* Whether able to speak English

* Trade, profession or particular kind of work done

* Whether family members were employees, wage employees or working on their own account

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Finding Your Roots

Where: Pacific Southwest Region of National Archives is located on the 1st floor of the Chet Holifield Federal Building, 24000 Avila Road, Laguna Niguel.

Telephone: (714) 643-4242.

Hours: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday and first Saturday of each month. Call ahead to confirm Saturday hours.

How: To trace a relative, patrons must first find the relative’s last name, which is available on a microfilm index, called Soundex, for each state and territory.

Usage: Visitors to the archives must take a numbered ticket to use one of the 50 microfilm readers. Patrons who have used a reader for more than two hours will be asked to relinquish the machine to others holding numbered tickets.

Assistance: There are some volunteers who provide patrons with basic information, but they don’t do research because the Laguna Niguel office is a self-service facility. There are also handouts available to assist in the research process.

If you can’t visit the archives: Many large libraries and genealogical societies have purchased copies of census records. The National Archives has a microfilm rental program (telephone 301-604-3699) and a microfilm purchase program (202-501-5240), and can provide paper copies of specifically identified pages through the mail.

Source: Los Angeles Times and National Archives