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Apr 1, 2012

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Share the family stories you find in the 1940 time capsule from US Census
Apr 2nd 2012, 05:07

By Bill Dedman, Investigative Reporter, msnbc.com

A time capsule from 1940 will be opened on Monday, at 9:30 a.m. ET, and we invite readers to share what they find. If you use the new records to find information about the loved or lost in your family, please post a note in the comments below or on our Open Channel page on Facebook.

U.S. Census records for individuals from April 1, 1940, protected until now by a 72-year privacy law, will be public for the first time, revealing details about millions of Americans from that day, as the country lingered in a Great Depression, still a year away from entry into war in Europe and the Pacific.

"I'm so excited!" Gary Robert Del Carlo of Martinsburg, W.Va., posted on Facebook. "Maybe for the first time ever, I'll be able to find out something about my father. All I have is my birth certificate with his name, date of birth, state born in, and that he was in the Army stationed in Washington State. His military records burned up in St. Louis in a fire in 1973. They would have told me a lot. Wrote for his birth certificate, and there was no records of his birth. I have done nothing but hit brick walls every which way I turn. I'm praying I find something useful tomorrow, anything."


NPR describes the release as the "Super Bowl for Genealogists." Librarians around the country are ready to provide assistance. At the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the staff will be serving cake and providing help.

When the 120,000 census takers counted 132,164,569 people living in the country on that day, the information collected included the address, whether the house was owned or rented, value of the home or monthly rent, is it considered a farm, names of adults and children, familiy relationships, sex, race, age, place of birth, citizenship, residence five years earlier, education. And for a small subset of people, about 5 percent, they were asked about place of birth of mother and father, language spoken in the home as a child, veteran status, wars served in, Social Security status, occupation, employment status, occupation, number of weeks worked in 1939, income and, for women, whether they had been married more than once, age at first marriage, and number of children ever born.

There is a catch. As the records go online, they can't be searched by name. For a city it's helpful to know an exact address, but often you can work with a neighborhood (near the corner of Canal and Varrick streets in New York City). Your public library may have old city directories or telephone directories from that period, allowing you to look up people by name to find an address. For a rural area, you need to know at least the county and the name of the town or township.

Genealogists, librarians and volunteers will begin the work of indexing the records, which eventually will allow searches by name. Two sites, the commercial Ancestry.com and the Mormon Church's FamilySearch.org, have announced plans to provide indexes to their customers as quickly as possible, with some images going online on Monday. But for most of the country,  for now, you must know at least an approximate address to get started. You use that address to find an "enumeration district," which in a big city might be only a few blocks, and would be a larger area in a small town.

Another approach, for those interested in a specific place, is to look at all the records for your block or street. If your area was settled in 1940, who lived there then, and what were their lives like?

Your goal: With that district number, you can look on the Census website at the online copy of the form filled out by the census taker in 1940. In 70 years, it has gone from paper to microfilm to computer.

Here are resources to help you with the search (links open in a new window), though as with most things in life, the key is: Ask a librarian.

 

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U.S. News: Share the family stories you find in the 1940 time capsule from US Census

Comments
U.S. News
Stories from NBC reporters around the country.
Share the family stories you find in the 1940 time capsule from US Census
Apr 2nd 2012, 05:07

By Bill Dedman, Investigative Reporter, msnbc.com

A time capsule from 1940 will be opened on Monday, at 9:30 a.m. ET, and we invite readers to share what they find. If you use the new records to find information about the loved or lost in your family, please post a note in the comments below or on our Open Channel page on Facebook.

U.S. Census records for individuals from April 1, 1940, protected until now by a 72-year privacy law, will be public for the first time, revealing details about millions of Americans from that day, as the country lingered in a Great Depression, still a year away from entry into war in Europe and the Pacific.

"I'm so excited!" Gary Robert Del Carlo of Martinsburg, W.Va., posted on Facebook. "Maybe for the first time ever, I'll be able to find out something about my father. All I have is my birth certificate with his name, date of birth, state born in, and that he was in the Army stationed in Washington State. His military records burned up in St. Louis in a fire in 1973. They would have told me a lot. Wrote for his birth certificate, and there was no records of his birth. I have done nothing but hit brick walls every which way I turn. I'm praying I find something useful tomorrow, anything."


NPR describes the release as the "Super Bowl for Genealogists." Librarians around the country are ready to provide assistance. At the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the staff will be serving cake and providing help.

When the 120,000 census takers counted 132,164,569 people living in the country on that day, the information collected included the address, whether the house was owned or rented, value of the home or monthly rent, is it considered a farm, names of adults and children, familiy relationships, sex, race, age, place of birth, citizenship, residence five years earlier, education. And for a small subset of people, about 5 percent, they were asked about place of birth of mother and father, language spoken in the home as a child, veteran status, wars served in, Social Security status, occupation, employment status, occupation, number of weeks worked in 1939, income and, for women, whether they had been married more than once, age at first marriage, and number of children ever born.

There is a catch. As the records go online, they can't be searched by name. For a city it's helpful to know an exact address, but often you can work with a neighborhood (near the corner of Canal and Varrick streets in New York City). Your public library may have old city directories or telephone directories from that period, allowing you to look up people by name to find an address. For a rural area, you need to know at least the county and the name of the town or township.

Genealogists, librarians and volunteers will begin the work of indexing the records, which eventually will allow searches by name. Two sites, the commercial Ancestry.com and the Mormon Church's FamilySearch.org, have announced plans to provide indexes to their customers as quickly as possible, with some images going online on Monday. But for most of the country,  for now, you must know at least an approximate address to get started. You use that address to find an "enumeration district," which in a big city might be only a few blocks, and would be a larger area in a small town. Then you'll look at the online copy of the microfilm page with the records from that district.

Another approach, for those interested in a specific place, is to look at all the records for your block or street. If your area was settled in 1940, who lived there then, and what were their lives like?

Here are resources to help you with the search (links open in a new window), though as with most things in life, the key is: Ask a librarian.

 

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Breaking News: CBS News: ACM Awards: country's big night

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ACM Awards: country's big night
Apr 2nd 2012, 00:03

Co-hosts Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire lead the way as stars celebrate country music  Photo highlights

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Economy: Economic News, Policy & Analysis - The Washington Post: Washington Nationals may finally meet expectations — on and off the field

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Economy: Economic News, Policy & Analysis - The Washington Post
Economy News: Get the latest headlines and in-depth coverage of economic news, policy, analysis and more from The Washington Post.
Washington Nationals may finally meet expectations — on and off the field
Apr 1st 2012, 00:16

In 2004, when Major League Baseball was demanding a 100 percent city-financed stadium in exchange for its forlorn Montreal Expos franchise and the D.C. government looked like a pitiful supplicant, desperate to win the prize but armed with near-zero leverage, Naomi Monk rose in defense of her neighborhood.

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Economy: Economic News, Policy & Analysis - The Washington Post: Washington area bankruptcy filings for the week of April 2

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Economy: Economic News, Policy & Analysis - The Washington Post
Economy News: Get the latest headlines and in-depth coverage of economic news, policy, analysis and more from The Washington Post.
Washington area bankruptcy filings for the week of April 2
Apr 2nd 2012, 02:59

These firms recently filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court's local court clerk's offices.

Under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code, a company is protected from claims by creditors while it attempts to reorganize its finances under a plan approved by the court.

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Breaking News: CBS News: Earl Scruggs remembered as "humble musician"

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Earl Scruggs remembered as "humble musician"
Apr 2nd 2012, 02:19

Thousands pay tribute to bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs at a funeral Sunday in Nashville

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Breaking News: CBS News: ACM Awards: country's big night

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Breaking News: CBS News
Top Breaking News Stories from CBSNews.com
ACM Awards: country's big night
Apr 2nd 2012, 00:03

Co-hosts Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire lead the way as stars celebrate country music  Photo highlights

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Economy: Economic News, Policy & Analysis - The Washington Post: Satellite imagery companies brace for cut in federal funding for contracts

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Economy: Economic News, Policy & Analysis - The Washington Post
Economy News: Get the latest headlines and in-depth coverage of economic news, policy, analysis and more from The Washington Post.
Satellite imagery companies brace for cut in federal funding for contracts
Apr 1st 2012, 22:44

Herndon-based GeoEye and a competitor that also produces satellite images of Earth are bracing for a reduction in federal funding they had hoped would help sustain their businesses over the next decade.

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