The U.S. Census Bureau has always been ahead of the curve 

when it comes to employing women. Ever since 1880, when it 

started using professional enumerators rather than U.S. 

marshals, the Census Office had employed women in that role. 

With the advent of the Hollerith tabulating machine in 1890, 

women moved into the role of keypunchers. By 1909, 10 years 

before the 19th Amendment granted national women's 

suffrage, over 50 percent of the Census Bureau’s 624 

employees were women. As women proved themselves as 

capable as the men, and with the increasing number of women 

in the workforce, it became harder for the Census Bureau to 

justify assigning all supervisory positions to men. By 1920, the 

Census Bureau would once again push forward by appointing the first five female supervisors, as 

well as the first three female expert chiefs of divisions. 

Mary Capitola Oursler was born in May of 1872 in Latrobe, 

Pennsylvania. Mary was the oldest of Anna and John Oursler’s four 

children, only three of whom would reach maturity. JohnOursler 

was the first man from Westmoreland County to enlist during the 

Civil War. He stayed in the state militia afterwards and eventually 

rose to the rank of colonel. He and his brother, Jacob, also ran a 

marble cutting business. Their work included producing eight of the 

monuments at the Gettysburg Battlefield. Around the turn of the 

century,John left the family business, for which Mary briefly 

worked, and moved his family to Washington, D.C. for federal 

employment in the revenue department.

Mary came with her family to Washington around 1900 and began 

working for the Census Office that year. By 1901, she was working 

as a clerk. In 1908,Mary moved up to records maintenance clerk 

and eventually became the Official Custodian of Records. From 

here, Mary would maintain the original census returns for 

the entirety of the United States for over 30 years. In this 

position Mary safeguarded what she believed was “the 

greatest human document in the country,” something 

especially important after a 1921 fire destroyed the 1890 

records. Part of this responsibility revolved around the 

Census’ commitment to privacy—when a journalist 

interviewing her in 1930 started poking around in a random 

1910 return, Mary curtly ordered him to desist. In 1930, the Census Bureau’s standard for releasing 

individual census information to the public was 50-60 years. In 1952, an agreement between the 

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA - established in 1934 to house official records)

and the Census Bureau extended the wait to 72 years with NARA responsible for the release. They 

later codified this agreement in U.S.C. Title 44.

Keeper ofthe Census Records

Mary Oursler working in 1937

Oursler Family 1880 Census 

Lebanon Daily News (Lebanon, PA); 29 Mar 1930
Mary’s job as the warden of the nation’s census 

schedules included helping people to facilitate their use, 

particularly for age verification, as many states had not 

issued birth certificates. During her tenure, an estimated 

500 people came to see Mary every month. She also 

received a large amount of mail, sometimes as much as 

3,500 letters a day. The requests ranged from 

ascertaining nationality or age for work or travel within 

the United Statesto genealogical requests to prove

citizenship or inheritance. As global hostilities heated 

up in the late 1930s and 1940s, Mary estimated that 

100,000 people a year came just to verify their ages so 

they could work in war industries that required draft 

registration based on age. Mary also aided American 

citizens abroad wishing to return, but who had no proof 

of citizenship other than through their family's census 

data. From 1909 until her retirement in 1941, Mary was 

the gatekeeper for all of these requests. Just a year later, 

the Census Bureau transferred all Census Records to 

NARA.

Throughout her career,Mary worked with a large variety of 

social clubs, many of which focused on American 

genealogy. Mary was a member of the National 

Genealogical Society, serving as a librarian, a registrar, and a 

member of the executive committee. Mary was also deeply 

involved with the Daughters of the American Revolution

and through that role was able to preserve more than 150 

volumes of valuable genealogical data slated for 

destruction. She was a charter member of the Daughters of 

American Colonists; the director ofHuguenot Society of 

Washington in 1930; chair member of the Daughters of the 

War of 1812; and a member of the Descendants of the 

Barons of Runnymede, multiple state historical societies, 

the League of Republican Women, and many others. In her 

retirement from the Census Bureau Mary worked closely 

with the Red Cross during the upheaval of World War II.

In the latest publically available census, 1940, Mary 

lived with her sister and brother-in-law, Edith and 

George Shoemaker, in Washington, D.C. Thanks in 

part to the strict policies practiced by Mary, the 

time limit on viewing the 1950 Census, the last 

census to count her, will not expire until April 1, 

2022. Mary never married and, after suffering a 

heart attack in 1955, she moved back to Latrobe, PA 

to be near her brother, James. She passed away on 

February 17, 1956 at the age of 83. Mary’s service 

to her country was a benefit to all Americans, and 

an inspiration for the women that followed.

Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA); 27 May 1934

Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA); 19 Oct 1949

Oursler/Shoemaker Family 1940 Census 

Press and Sun Bulletin (Binghamton, NY); 24 Aug 1931

HB-17-0005