1940 US Census Available April 2, 2012

In two days the 1940 US Census will be made public.  Census records are only made available publicly 72 years after the date of the first census because of confidentiality concerns, access to personally identifiable information from census records is limited or restricted by Title 13 of the U.S. Code.  (Source: Census.gov -Historical Background)  Times have changed now all our information is on the web that I mean Facebook.

The 1940 Census was the 16th census taken.  It was determined that the population in the U.S. was 132,164,569.  The census included more questions than the 1930 census which directed towards employment and family issues.

  Here are a list of the questions from the 1940 Census:

The 1940 census collected the following information:

• address
• home owned or rented
  • if owned, value
  • if rented, monthly rent
• whether on a farm
• name
• relationship to head of household
• sex
• race
• age
• marital status
• school attendance
• educational attainment
• birthplace
• if foreign born, citizenship
• location of residence five years ago and whether on a farm
• employment status
• if at work, whether in private or non-emergency government work, or in public emergency work (WPA, CCC, NYA, etc.)
  • if in private or non-emergency government work, hours worked in week
  • if seeking work or on public emergency work, duration of unemployment
• occupation, industry and class of worker
• weeks worked last year
• wage and salary income last year

In addition, a sample of individuals were asked additional questions covering age at first marriage, fertility, and other topics. Full documentation on the 1940 census, including census forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series.  (Source: Wikipedia)

This new census should be very helpful in your family research.  You can actually find exact addresses, places of employment, etc.  For some it will also be the first time we see our parents' names on the census.

Ancestry.com is letting me be a 1940 Census Ace which means they will send emails to me and others with new information and I will relay it to you.  From Ancestry.com:

The National Archives and Records Administration will open the 1940 U.S. Federal Census on April 2, 2012—the first time this collection will be made available to the public. Once we receive the census, we will begin uploading census images to our site so the public can browse them. Initially, this collection will be what we call a browse-only collection. This means a person can scroll through the pages of the census districts much like you would look at a microfilm or a book. At the same time, we will be working behind the scenes to create an index of the census that will eventually allow people to search for their family members by name as they currently can with all other censuses on Ancestry.com. Note also that the 1940 U.S. Federal Census will be accessible free of charge throughout 2012 on Ancestry.com.

Did you see that "free of charge throughout 2012 on Ancestry.com".  Here is the link:  Ancestry.com 1940 census.  Now a word of warning it is unknown at the time how long the process will take to upload the census.  Every state will be different and this is alot of information going public.  If you have any questions or just need some help finding your "people" let me know.  I'm here to help.

Have a great day.

Love,

Territory Mom

P.S. If you are in Oklahoma only work on family research late at night.  It is way too pretty outside to be on a computer inside.  I'm finishing planting my garden today!