Looking Towards April 2nd

April 2, 2012 will be a very big date in a family historian's calendar. By federal law, there is a 72-year restriction on access to a Federal Census. So April 2, 2012 is the day upon which the Federal government will release the 1940 Census.

Given that genealogy is purported to be one of the largest hobbies, millions of genealogists will be counting down the days. (You can see a counter - days, hours, minutes, and seconds - at findmypast.com.)

What can you find in the 1940 Census? According to the National Archives, the 1940 Census asked for answers to these socio-economic questions on April 1, 1940. Bear in mind that the country was in throes of the Great Depression and although World War II had started in Europe and Asia, the United States was not a combatant yet. Unemployment and underemployment were still problems. Thus, there are lots of questions regarding work and income.

The National Archives is tasked with releasing the 1940 Census on time, not indexing its contents. If you've ever had to read the census page by page, you know that an accurate index is a wonderful aid to research. An index is particularly helpful for those researchers who might not know for certain where specific ancestors were residing on April 1st that year.

So, what's being done about the indexing? The indexing cannot start until the census is formally released at 9 am on April 2nd. According to the Ancestry Insider, a blog that critiques the big electronic genealogy databases companies, Archives.com, FamilySearch.org, and findmypast.com are joining together and leading an indexing effort utilizing volunteers who are ready to get to work as soon as the 1940 Census data is opened. Ancestry.com is doing its own project and states that the Ancestry.com index to the 1940 US Census will be up and ready to search by mid-April.

Let's hope so. There are a lot of us whose parents and grandparents should be listed. And, a potential for a semi-truck load of new data and clues to explore in our quest to learn more about our ancestors and in that process discover more about ourselves.

Once the index is released, the BDC will offer at least one program on how to use the Federal Census to uncover one's roots before the end of June.