The 1940 US Census will be released to the public, at 8 AM Central time on Monday, April 2. The National Archives recently announced the website that will host the 1940 census: http://1940census.archives.gov. You probably want to bookmark that now so you can find it on April 2.
When the census is posted, anyone can access it free of charge, but it will just be images - it won't be indexed right away. So what can you do to prepare for the 1940 US Census?
1. Sign up NOW to be a 1940 US Census indexer and you will help create an index for all researchers to use. In the meantime, you can get some practice by indexing other records through FamilySearch Indexing.
I have been a FamilySearch indexer for a few months now. It involves downloading some software to your computer, then downloading batches, indexing them, and uploading them back to the FamilySearch indexing website. It's been rewarding to see records I've indexed actually appear later on the FamilySearch site. If you follow the detailed instructions with each batch, you will be successful and will help others access all sorts of records - lately I've been working with Texas birth records from the early 1900s.
2. Initially, the 1940 Census WILL be indexed down to the Enumeration District (ED) level. So, if you know the 1940 ED for an ancestor or relative, it will shorten your search considerably. There are a number of tools available to help you figure out the ED (it's NOT the same as the 1930 ED). The National Archives has a web page with links to various other sites and utilities for determining 1940 EDs. I'll demonstrate some of these in future blog posts.
© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.
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