History

Artifacts

1850 Census Envelope

An envelope that contained correspondence related to the 1850 Census.

The 1850 Census was the first decennial census that collected the names of every free person in each household. U.S. Marshals, like Assistant U.S. Marshals Frederick A. Quinby and Elijah Barrell, corresponded frequently to discuss the many additions to the 1850 Census. In that year, marshals also collected data on taxes, schools, crime, wages, real estate, mortality, agriculture, mines, and manufactures.

During the 1850 Census, Barrell and Quinby assisted with counting 23,191,876 people in 30 states.

Learn more about interesting census-related artifacts on the Census Bureau's social media pages using the tag #ArtifactFriday. For previous #ArtifactFriday posts, visit the History Web site's Artifacts pages.