1940 Census Questions: If unmarried, are you a virgin? Are you a blonde or brunette? Do you own a Bible?

(Editor's Note: Although we knew the name of our 1940s town, we didn't remember the street name offhand where we had lived - until middle school - until we located the local map for our New York State area and browsed the streets.)

Two Articles from the Census Department:

Census Pop Culture Through the Decades

http://1940census.archives.gov/

By Michael Snow

In 2010, Betty White’s Saturday Night Live debut included a sketch where she played a census respondent to Tina Fey’s enumerator. This was not the first time the once-in-a-decade count has made its way into pop culture. As we continue our countdown to the release of 1940 Census records, we take a look at a notable 1940 parody of the census, a deeper look at how the 1940 Census questions were developed, as well as some other famous occurrences of the census in pop culture.

While Saturday Night Live is popular with today’s audiences, in 1940, laughs came from “The Three Stooges.” In October 1940, movie theaters treated audiences to Census Taker Moe from the Three Stooges asking households, “Are you married or are you happy?” in a film called No Census, No Feeling.

While the preceding examples were a good-natured ribbing of the Census Bureau, they also provide a window into the role the decennial census plays in society.

Prior to the 1940 Census, during the 1930s, demand exploded for census data to measure the effects of the Great Depression and to aid federal agencies. The Census Bureau consulted experts in other federal departments, social scientists and business leaders. More than 1,000 individuals were asked what questions should be added or changed for the 1940 Census.

Various industry groups, scholars, and community organizations proposed thousands of new questions to the Census Bureau’s technical advisory committee. Some of the rejected questions included:

If unmarried, are you a virgin?

Are you a blonde or brunette?

Do you own a Bible?

Pages: 1 · 2 · 3

Relationships and Going Places, News and Issues, History, Culture Watch, Moving and Retirement, Government, Grandparenting, Senior Women Web, Sightings