“Taking the census in a small town”

“Taking the census in a small town” by Thomas Worth

Census information is only as good as the census taker.
Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses from 1790 to 2000 includes questionnaires, instructions to enumerators, and histories of each of the decennial censuses. Each questionnaire’s item is defined and the instructions for enumerators are finely detailed.
The National Archives offers detailed information about special schedules on its website at “Research Our Records: Nonpopulation Census Records.”  The FamilySearch wikipedia has information about the topic at “United States Federal Non-Population Census Schedules.”
This illustration shows a census enumerator talking to a group of men, women, and children including an African American youth on the porch. The drawing by Thomas Worth originally appeared in Harper’s Weekly, 19 November 1870, p. 749.