Reprise: 1940 Census Class

Call or Drop By ASAP! Slots are Few.

Census Workshop at Bluffton Branch Aug. 29th

Missed the first two 1940 census workshops?  Here's an opportunity to participate in this BDC sponsored presentation at the end of the month: 

Wed., August 29th 

Introduction to the 1940 Census Workshop
BDC@ Bluffton Branch Library
120 Palmetto Way
2:30 - 4:30 pm  

Registration is required. Seating is very limited for this workshop. You must pre-register.  You may pre-register in person at the Bluffton Branch Library Reference desk, by e-mail to fdenton@bcgov.net or call 843-255-6503 to reserve your seat. 

Please note: Once the slots are filled, registration will be closed.

August BDC@ The Branches Programs

Join us!

We'd love to see you, particularly if you are over age 12, and enjoy history, culture, our local environment, genealogy, archaeology and/or libraries and archives.

The programs are free.

 The 1940 Census related workshops require pre-registration as space is extremely limited - and may be gone by the time this entry posts!  Contact information for each "Introduction to the 1940 Census Workshop" session is provided in the flyer illustrating this entry.

* "One County Reads One Country: Afghanistan" has been made possible through a Library Services and Technology Act grant awarded to the Beaufort County Library and administered by the South Carolina State Library.

Reminder:  The Research Room is currently closed for lunch through Monday, August 13th.

1940 Census Workshops Aug. 15th and Aug. 29th

Register today - if the classes aren't already full!  The St. Helena Branch Staff and the Bluffton Branch Staff can tell you whether or not there's still room at their respective Introduction to the 1940 Census Workshop sessions.

Reminder:  The Research Room is closed Noon until 1 pm for Charmaine to get her lunch through August 13th.

* "One County Reads One Country: Afghanistan" has been made possible through a Library Services and Technology Act grant awarded to the Beaufort County Library and administered by the South Carolina State Library.

New Classes - Introduction to the 1940 Census

To help illuminate the ways and means of census taking, and how to put a census to the test of extracting information about an ancestor (or yourself, if you happen to be older than 72 years old), the BDC is going on the road in August.  We will be offering two "Introduction to the 1940 Census Workshop" sessions in the BCL system's Branch Libraries.  

Don't delay.  Classes fill up quickly.  Registration will close as soon as we reach our limit per location.       

Wed., August 15th: The Introduction to the 1940 Census Workshop will be held at the St. Helena Branch Library, 1025 Sea Island Parkway, from 4:00 - 6:00 pm. Registration is required as seating is very limited for this workshop. 

 To register for the STH Branch Library session:  E-mail mbenac@bcgov.net; Call 255-6486; or Sign up in person at the STH Branch Library desk.  

Wed., August 29th: The Introduction to the 1940 Census Workshop will be held at the Bluffton Branch Library, 120 Palmetto Way, from 2:30 - 3:30 pm. Registration is required as seating is very limited for this workshop.

To register for the BLU Branch Library session:  E-mail fdenton@bcgov.net; Call 255-6503; or Sign up in person at the BLU Branch Library Reference desk.  

 

Status of 1940 US Census Indexing

Ancestry Library Edition has completed and posted an index to 1940 Census taken in six more states.  You can now search for people by name in the following states: Colorado, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Maine, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.  Access to ALE is available through any public access computer at our branch libraries. 

Ancestry.com has promised to keep access to its indexed 1940 Census records free to the general public until 2013.    

Family Search has indexed a total of 32 states - including Alaska and Hawaii -- which became states in 19 years after the 1940 census. The orange colored states have online searchable indexes.   Other states, such as South Carolina, are still being indexed.   

If you'd like to know more about how to use the 1940 census, register for one of our BDC@ The Branches August classes at either St. Helena Branch Library (Aug. 15th) or Bluffton Branch Library (Aug. 29th). Only a few slots are available.  Sign up today.

1940 Census Indexers are Hard at Work

Watch how the indexing of the 1940 census is proceeding at https://www.familysearch.org/1940census/.

As of Noon, Saturday, Apr. 7th - only 5 days after the National Archives released the images  -  Delaware is 100% complete; Colorado is 80% done; Virginia is 5% indexed.

We'll be holding an "Introduction to the 1940 Census" workshop here in the BDC on Fri., May 4th from 10 am until Noon.  Space is limited; Registration is required.  Call us at 255-6468 or drop by the BDC Research Room to register. 

Introduction to the 1940 Census Workshop

The 1940 Census has been released on the National Archives website.  Indexers throughout the country are furiously (and, we hope accurately) compiling the list of citizens and residents so that searching for one's ancestors will be easier than searching for them within enumeration districts. 


 To help illuminate the ways and means of census taking, and how to put a census to the test of extracting information about an ancestor (or yourself, if you happen to be older than 72 years old), we will be offering a workshop on these topics the first Friday in May. 



Introduction to the 1940 Census Workshop
Beaufort District Collection 
Fri., May 4th
10:00 am -- Noon

Registration is required.

Seating is very limited for this workshop. You must pre-register in person at the Beaufort District Collection Research Room Reference desk or call 843-255-6468 to reserve a seat.

Countdown to the Release of the US 1940 Census

Time is ticking down.  Watch the days, hours, minutes and seconds click away to the 04/02/2012 9:00 am release of the United States 1940 census. 

What is ED?

Q: Define "ED."

1. Leading character on a TV sitcom (1958-1966) about a talking horse
2. Erectile dysfunction
3. Enumeration district
4. Employment desired 

The answer in the context of the federal census is #3: Enumeration district.

An enumeration district was an area that could be covered by a single enumerator (census taker) in one census period. Enumeration districts varied in size from several city blocks in densely populated urban areas to an entire county in sparsely populated rural areas. In the 1940 census, Beaufort County had 21 EDs.

As there won't be a name index immediately posted (the US Census Bureau is only responsible for releasing the records, not indexing the names of all the people counted), knowing the ED in which your relatives lived will be crucial to accessing the information.


Educate yourself on how to identify 1940 enumeration districts BEFORE the Census is released on April 2, 2012 at 9 am. The National Archives has posted a page at http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/finding-aids.html#maps full of guidance for you.  Following the directions will ease your discovery path.

Heads up:  If you can wait a bit and want some help, the BDC is offering a program on the 1940 Census on Friday morning, May 4th from 10 am until Noon.  Registration will open April 13th.

(Image is the map of 1940 Census Enumeration Districts in Beaufort County, SC taken from the National Archives website.)

Get Ready for the 1940 Census Release

 
On April 2, 2012, users will be able to search, browse, and download the 1940 census schedules, free of charge, from their own computers through the new 1940 census website: www.1940census.archives.gov. For the release of the 1940 census online, the National Archives has digitized the entire census, creating more than 3.8 million digital images of census schedules, maps, and enumeration district descriptions.

NARA recommends that you go ahead and bookmark the new website www.1940census.archives.gov now!

A National Archives 3:13 minute video short on its YouTube channel (http://tiny.cc/1940Census) and on www.1940census.archives.gov provides a “behind-the-scenes” view of staff preparations and gives viewers tips on how to access the data once it is launched on April 2. This video is in the public domain and not subject to any copyright restrictions. The National Archives encourages the free distribution of it. Feel free to share it with whomever you want!

The National Archives is using social media to get the word out and inform family historians on Twitter (using hashtag #1940Census), Facebook,  Tumblr, Flickr, YouTube.  Customers can also subscribe to National Archives blogs: NARAtions and Prologue: Pieces of History to learn more about the 1940 Census.

Heads up:  On the morning of Friday, May 4th, the BDC will hold a program on how to use the 1940 Census to find yourself - or your relatives. Details forthcoming!