Health & Fitness
The Release of the 1940 Federal Census
Genealogists and historians are anxiously awaiting the release of the 1940 census on 2 April 2012. It's been in the vault for 72 years! Who will you look for in the 1940 census?
One of the hottest stories in the genealogy community right now is the anticipation of the release of the 1940 Federal Census records. Due to privacy laws, there is a 72 year wait for releasing the census records to the public. The 1940 census has been waiting in the vaults of the National Archives all this time. On April 2, 2012, the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will make the images of the 1940 United States Federal Census available for the first time as free digital images.
Once these images are released, various projects will begin indexing the records to make them searchable online. Ten years ago, when the 1930 census was released, we all could browse the images but it was difficult to find specific ancestors or family members without an index. Online resources such as Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org have all the censuses 1790 through 1930, and they are indexed for searching. After April 2, the public will be able to browse the 1940 images, and there are several tricks to finding people before the indexing is completed. The first website to host the census will be NARA, live on April 2 at www.1940census.archives.gov.
Steve Morse has developed a conversion tool for finding the enumeration district for your ancestors if you know their address from the 1930 census. You can also use this tool if you know the 1940 address from phone books or city directories. You can use Steve’s conversion tool at http://stevemorse.org/census/ed2040.php Ancestry has a list of ways to prepare for the 1940 census at this link http://ancstry.me/zpn90L. Also, there are finding aids at the National Archives website to help you find enumeration districts, which will make your search easier.
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Several websites and organizations are sponsoring a project to create a free index to the 1940 census: www.Archives.com, www.FamilySearch.org and FindmyPast.com are working together to with volunteers on the indexing project. Would you like to join the 1940 census indexing project? See this link: www.the1940census.com to volunteer and be a part of history!
The National Archives branch at Waltham, Massachusetts will be holding a 1940 census workshop on Monday, April 2, 2012 at 9:00 AM “The 1940 Census is Here Today! We’ve been waiting 72 years for this!” at their facility at 380 Trapelo Road. See the link http://www.archives.gov/northeast/ for more information. There will be a follow up workshop Thursday, May 17, at 6:00 PM “Navigating the US Census, 1790 – 1940”. Reservations required, call (866) 406-2379 or email boston.archives@nara.gov
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The Nashua Public Library will be holding a workshop on using the 1940 census records for genealogy research on Saturday, April 21st,at 10 AM with genealogy researcher Laura Prescott.. www.tinyurl.com/npllectures
National Archives 1940 Census Information http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/archivesnews (use hashtag #1940Census)
Facebook: US National Archives
NARA blogs: NARAtions and Prologue: Pieces of History
The National Archives is open to the public M, T, W, and F 7 A.M. - 4:30 P.M., Thursdays 7 A.M.- 9 P.M., and the first Saturday of each month 8 A.M. – 4:30 P.M. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is located at 380 Trapelo Road, Waltham, MA.
