1940 US Census Records Are Almost Here!

1940 Census Records

Countdown to the release of the 1940 Census, April 2, 2012!

In case you haven't been paying attention, the images of the 1940 US Census enumerations will be released to the public in less than a week. Genealogists have been eagerly anticipating this day for a long time--at least since the 1930 Census was released a decade ago. For the first time these records are being released as digital images. There will be no microfilm version. The time clock above is counting down the seconds. But you may still be wondering how you can make use of them to help your research.


The US Archives (NARA) is busy creating tools to assist us. You will profit from exploring them:


1940 Census Records:


Earlier posts in the blog have pointed to other efforts to make your searching more productive as soon as possible. To go back and review them, use the search box in the upper left corner of this post.

National Archives and Change

Last Friday I blogged about a new online ordering process for documents being implemented by the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Is that just the tip of the iceberg of change underway?  Dick Eastman in a recent post in his newsletter referred to NARA's reputation as "an agency that has long been known for changing slowly, if ever." David Ferriero, the relatively new Archivist has characterized himself as "Collector in Chief" and taken a number of other steps to update the stodgy image of the agency he heads.

Check out his blog post, "Open to change," this week and see what he has in mind. What do you thing of the proposals he makes? He ends his post:

"I am calling on all of you to be champions of change as we move forward. Staff, researchers, and citizen archivists will need to be flexible and forward looking, open to the challenges, and ready to participate.

Are you in?"

US National Archives Ordering Process Goes Digital

The process for ordering documents from the US National Archives has now gone digital. According to a mailer distributed by the National Archives Trust Fund Board, you can now "order online at archives.gov/order and get your digitized National Archives records faster and at no extra cost!" Of course as with most thing the devil is in the details. The statement quoted above is limited by "Some exclusions apply."

However, this appears to be a significant step in the direction of faster service to the genealogy community. The mailer you can:

Enjoy the convenience of ordering Nation Archives documents online. Pay the same as you do for paper copies and get your digitized documents faster!" (again some exclusions apply) "Digitized records of most interest to genealogists include--
* Immigration and Naturalization Records
* Land Files
* Military Service and Pension Records
* Court Records
* World War I Draft Registration Cards
* Native American Records
* Census Pages"
You are invited to call 800-234-8861 for details if you do not find what you want to know on the order page.