This prison record for the Birdman of Alcatraz is part of the holdings of the National Archives at San Francisco. You can use the research room there to explore our holdings if you are interested in: Asian-Pacific immigration and the Chinese exclusion laws Pearl Harbor Federal inmates of Alcatraz history of atomic energy Learn more about the National Archives at San Francisco in today’s blog post.
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This prison record for the Birdman of Alcatraz is part of the holdings of the National Archives at San Francisco.

You can use the research room there to explore our holdings if you are interested in:

  • Asian-Pacific immigration and the Chinese exclusion laws
  • Pearl Harbor
  • Federal inmates of Alcatraz
  • history of atomic energy

Learn more about the National Archives at San Francisco in today’s blog post.

Some time ago, a Facebook fan expressed thanks that we would never combine our First Ladies Friday with our Facial Hair Friday. To which we replied, never say never! Of course, the facial hair in this photograph is not on First Lady Pat Nixon, but that scraggly surfer goatee is in very close proximity to Pat, so we are going to count it as a two-for-one. In 1971, Pat set off on a tour of the country to support the new Legacy of Parks program, including a ceremony at Border Field State Park, where she met this surfer afterward.  On August 19, 1971, Nixon released a statement on his plans for the Legacy of Parks program, noting that “It is essential that our system of parks satisfy both the casual tourist and the avid outdoorsman, that we have places where families can meet other families and places where people can be alone.” You can read more about Pat Nixon and the Legacy of Parks here.
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Some time ago, a Facebook fan expressed thanks that we would never combine our First Ladies Friday with our Facial Hair Friday. To which we replied, never say never! Of course, the facial hair in this photograph is not on First Lady Pat Nixon, but that scraggly surfer goatee is in very close proximity to Pat, so we are going to count it as a two-for-one.

In 1971, Pat set off on a tour of the country to support the new Legacy of Parks program, including a ceremony at Border Field State Park, where she met this surfer afterward. 

On August 19, 1971, Nixon released a statement on his plans for the Legacy of Parks program, noting that “It is essential that our system of parks satisfy both the casual tourist and the avid outdoorsman, that we have places where families can meet other families and places where people can be alone.”

You can read more about Pat Nixon and the Legacy of Parks here.

Source: go.usa.gov

This photograph of future First Lady Lou Henry Hoover on a burro in California in 1891 is just one of the many reasons she is featured as today’s History Crush. Lou Henry Hoover was a scientist, polyglot, author, Girl Scout supporter, and world traveler. She mixed smarts, practicality, and adventure. Apparently Herbert Hoover was charmed “by her whimsical mind, her blue eyes and a broad grinnish smile.” Read the full blog post to find out why this Girl Scout supporter is the featured History Crush at the Pieces of History blog. [Image: Lou Henry posing on a burro at Acton, California, 8/22/1891 (Hoover Presidential Library)]
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This photograph of future First Lady Lou Henry Hoover on a burro in California in 1891 is just one of the many reasons she is featured as today’s History Crush.

Lou Henry Hoover was a scientist, polyglot, author, Girl Scout supporter, and world traveler. She mixed smarts, practicality, and adventure. Apparently Herbert Hoover was charmed “by her whimsical mind, her blue eyes and a broad grinnish smile.”

Read the full blog post to find out why this Girl Scout supporter is the featured History Crush at the Pieces of History blog.

[Image: Lou Henry posing on a burro at Acton, California, 8/22/1891 (Hoover Presidential Library)]

Just 2 days until the release of the 1940 Census! The 1940 census also included special housing census that had 31 housing questions that asked if there was refrigeration, running water, a radio, flush toilets or outhouses, and whether the house was lit by electricity, gas, or kerosene. (The Census of Housing for 1940 did NOT survive and the only information available today are the statistical reports compiled by the Bureau of the Census. Those reports are available on the Census Bureau web site.) This house was photographed by Dorothea Lange in March of 1940 in Olivehurst, California. The original caption reads “The beginnings of a new home. The house-trailer has been raised on posts and has an extension built on it for enlarged sleeping quarters. Note electricity, the beginnings of a flower garden, rubber tires probably used for fuel, also rabbit in shadow of trailer. Typical Oliverhurst homes in background.” Do you know if your family used electricity, gas, or kerosene for indoor lighting in the 1930s?
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Just 2 days until the release of the 1940 Census!
The 1940 census also included special housing census that had 31 housing questions that asked if there was refrigeration, running water, a radio, flush toilets or outhouses, and whether the house was lit by electricity, gas, or kerosene.

(The Census of Housing for 1940 did NOT survive and the only information available today are the statistical reports compiled by the Bureau of the Census. Those reports are available on the Census Bureau web site.)

This house was photographed by Dorothea Lange in March of 1940 in Olivehurst, California.

The original caption reads “The beginnings of a new home. The house-trailer has been raised on posts and has an extension built on it for enlarged sleeping quarters. Note electricity, the beginnings of a flower garden, rubber tires probably used for fuel, also rabbit in shadow of trailer. Typical Oliverhurst homes in background.”

Do you know if your family used electricity, gas, or kerosene for indoor lighting in the 1930s?

Source: research.archives.gov

Just 6 more days until the 1940 Census!

This was the first time that census takers asked a random sample of the population (about 1 in 20 people) additional detailed questions. These included new questions for women. For women who had been married, they were asked: whether they had been married more than once, age at first marriage, and number of children born.

The photos above were taken by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration:

“On Arizona Highway 87, south of Chandler, Arizona. Grandmother and sick baby of migratory family camped in a trailer in an open field. They came from Amarillo, Texas, to pick cotton in Arizona. 11/1940”

“Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children, ca. 02/1936”

“Kern County, California. A couple from Oklahoma, now resettled in California. They came four years ago. Photograph is in large-scale potato field where husband is crew foreman and oldest son operates the mechanical digger. They own their home in Shafter, 04/11/1940”

Just 8 more days until the 1940 Census will be released online! Dorothea Lange took this photograph just days after the 1940 Census. This woman’s story reflects the experience of many Americans who lived through the 1930s. The original caption reads: Edison Kern County, California. Age 70, she came from near Greely, Nebraska, with sister age 65 nephew age 30, and brother age 68. She says, “My father was a pioneer in Nebraska. He went there in ‘79. He was born in Ireland. I remember when we lived in a dugout in Nebraska, but he left us three good farms. He had a timber claim, a homestead, and he bought one farm. My father’s been dead for 20 years and we lost everything including our minds, nearly, trying to keep what he left us. We paid taxes for nearly 50 years there, but we only saved out enough to build us this trailer home. We came to California in June 1938. We just started out. We had good land back there - wheat, corn, orchard, chickens, cows, cream, eggs. Independent, we had everything ‘til the drought came. There’s not many of the old settlers left. It’s discouraging I tell you to go out once or twice a week and come home with a dollar. Yesterday we went 37 miles to pick peas and worked 5 hours. We’ve got relatives back East and they just can’t understand how these things are.”
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Just 8 more days until the 1940 Census will be released online!

Dorothea Lange took this photograph just days after the 1940 Census. This woman’s story reflects the experience of many Americans who lived through the 1930s.

The original caption reads:

Edison Kern County, California. Age 70, she came from near Greely, Nebraska, with sister age 65 nephew age 30, and brother age 68. She says, “My father was a pioneer in Nebraska. He went there in ‘79. He was born in Ireland. I remember when we lived in a dugout in Nebraska, but he left us three good farms. He had a timber claim, a homestead, and he bought one farm. My father’s been dead for 20 years and we lost everything including our minds, nearly, trying to keep what he left us. We paid taxes for nearly 50 years there, but we only saved out enough to build us this trailer home. We came to California in June 1938. We just started out. We had good land back there - wheat, corn, orchard, chickens, cows, cream, eggs. Independent, we had everything ‘til the drought came. There’s not many of the old settlers left. It’s discouraging I tell you to go out once or twice a week and come home with a dollar. Yesterday we went 37 miles to pick peas and worked 5 hours. We’ve got relatives back East and they just can’t understand how these things are.”

Just 9 days until the release of the 1940 Census! This Sunday at 2 pm, Ken Burns gives us a sneak peek of his upcoming PBS film, “The Dust Bowl,” about one of the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history. Writer and senior producer Dayton Duncan and senior producer Julie Dunfey will join Burns for a post-screening discussion. (Details here) Many people who were counted in the 1940 Census were affected by the disaster of the Dust Bowl. This photograph is from the Farm Security Administration and the original caption reads: “Farmers whose topsoil blew away joined the sod caravans of “Okies” on Route 66 to California, ca. 1935.”
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Just 9 days until the release of the 1940 Census!

This Sunday at 2 pm, Ken Burns gives us a sneak peek of his upcoming PBS film, “The Dust Bowl,” about one of the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history. Writer and senior producer Dayton Duncan and senior producer Julie Dunfey will join Burns for a post-screening discussion. (Details here)

Many people who were counted in the 1940 Census were affected by the disaster of the Dust Bowl. This photograph is from the Farm Security Administration and the original caption reads: “Farmers whose topsoil blew away joined the sod caravans of “Okies” on Route 66 to California, ca. 1935.”

Source: research.archives.gov

Just 11 days until the release of the 1940 census! Enumerators (census takers) attempted to count as many people as possible. About 120,000 enumerators went out into the city and the countryside with instructions to count every house, building, tent, cabin, hut or other place where people might be living. This photograph’s original caption reads: “Roseville, Placer County, California. On the Freights. Five o’clock in the morning in Roseville switch yards for freight going over the Sierra, 04/19/1940” Looking at this image, you wonder if the enumerators manage to count this family on this move? And where was this family going?
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Just 11 days until the release of the 1940 census!

Enumerators (census takers) attempted to count as many people as possible. About 120,000 enumerators went out into the city and the countryside with instructions to count every house, building, tent, cabin, hut or other place where people might be living.

This photograph’s original caption reads: “Roseville, Placer County, California. On the Freights. Five o’clock in the morning in Roseville switch yards for freight going over the Sierra, 04/19/1940”

Looking at this image, you wonder if the enumerators manage to count this family on this move? And where was this family going?

Source: media.nara.gov