History

Artifacts

1960 Life Magazine

The April 25, 1960, issue of Life featured a story about the first census in Hawaii since it became a state in 1959.

In April 1960, Life magazine featured the perils and pitfalls encountered by enumerators conducting the 1960 Census in Hawaii. Although the Census Bureau first enumerated the islands following its 1898 annexation, the 1960 Census was the first since Hawaii became our nation's 50th state on June 27, 1959.

After traveling on foot or by boat, car, and even horse to reach the remotest dwellings, enumerators recorded Hawaii's population at 632,772.

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.