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### Artifacts

### Also in this Section:

                          - 1923 Diary
                          - 1900 Enumerator's Certificate
                          - 1960 Life Magazine
                          - 1850 Census Envelope
                          - Three Stooges Action Figures
                          - 1990 Cookbook
                          - 1890 Enumerators' Postcard
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                          - Uncle Sam: How He Grew
                          - 1990 Census Promotional Pins
                          - 1861 Harper's Weekly Magazine
                          - 1939 Physicians' Handbook
                          - 1910 Fountain Pen Advertisement
                          - 1960 Enumerator's Badge
                          - Geographic Chart of the United States
                          - Chemical and Engineering News magazine
                          - 1910 Census Proclamation
                          - 1910 Enumerator Instruction Manual
                          - 1980 Textbook
                          - Walker Family Home
                          - Cardboard Desks

## Cardboard Desks

Timothy Olson, Associate Director for Field Operations, sits at a cardboarddesk used in field offices during the 1990 and 2000 censuses.

For the 1990 and 2000 censuses, the U.S. Census Bureau purchased thousands of cardboard desks for use at temporary field offices around the country. The desks were easy to assemble, strong enough for someone to sit on, and sturdy enough to hold a desktop computer. However, one office discovered the desks' fatal flaw—they were no match against hundreds of gallons of water from a malfunctioning fire sprinkler system!

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.

To learn more about 1990 and 2000 census operations, download the procedural histories:*2000 Census of Population and Housing*Volume 1 [PDF 14.3MB] and Volume 2 [PDF 5.7MB].*Procedural History: 1990 Census of Population and Housing* [63 MB].[an error occurred while processing this directive]  This symbol  indicates a link to a non-government web site.  Our linking to these sites does not constitute an endorsement of any products, services or the information found on them. Once you link to another site you are subject to the policies of the new site.CONNECT WITH US**********- Information Quality
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