History

Artifacts

1960 Enumerator's Badge

A badge worn by more than 144,000 enumerators during the 1960 Census.

More than 144,000 enumerators wore these badges during the 1960 Census, which found the U.S. population to be 179,323,175.

As it has been since 1930, Census Day was April 1 and by the end of the month, enumerators counted approximately 98 percent of the population. This was the first census that included Alaska and Hawaii as states and the first time the U.S. Census Bureau mailed out census forms to households in advance of the enumerator's visit. The enumerators reported activities such as being chased by animals (including a baby lion named Simba); serving as the witness to a wedding; scaling a ladder to reach housebound residents; and having a goat eat their census forms. One census taker even found herself caught in the middle of a manhunt for an escaped prisoner! The police provided her a bloodhound escort as she completed her duties.

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.