In May of 1921, the census remained in temporary storage and the new census director William Steuart reported that they would gradually deteriorate, so they were returned to the census building for storage at his order. Ten years would pass and finally in December of 1932, the Chief clerk of the Bureau of Census sent the Librarian of Congress a list of papers to destroy. The librarian gave the OK to destroy these records including the 1890 Census Schedule. Congress authorized the destruction. Sadly, just one day before Congress authorized the destruction of the census, President Herbert Hoover laid the cornerstone of the permanent National Archives building.
Many researchers fail to realize that some of the original schedules still exists.
In 1942 during the move to the new building, a bundle of the Illinois schedules appeared during a shipment. In 1953, more fragments were discovered including those from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and the District of Columbia. The remnants of the 1890 census have been filmed and are available through many sources. There are only three rolls of microfilm containing the records. Only about 6,000 names are listed on these precious pieces of our past.