Thursday, January 5, 2012

Indexing Volunteers Needed for 1940 Census!!

FamilySearch, in collaboration with other leading genealogy organizations, will begin publishing the 1940 U.S. Federal Census online on April 2, 2012 -- and tens of thousands of indexers are needed to help make the digital images searchable online. This date marks 72 years to the day since the 1940 census was taken (the amount of time required by law before census records can be released.) FamilySearch will provide digital images online to indexing volunteers to start transcribing the records so they become searchable. Indexers type information from the images into electronic forms that make the information searchable online. They expect the 132 million records to be indexed by the end of 2012, but meeting that deadline depends on how many volunteers work on them. FamilySearch is looking for 100,000 additional indexers for this project! Its the genealogy story of the year, and there is a lot of interest both in and out of the Church. Tens of millions of people living in the United States in 1940 are still living today, making the 1940 census a record that connects people with recent family records. It was the first to record such interesting facts as where people lived five years before, an individual's highest educational level achieved, and detailed occupation and income information. Many of these individuals are part of what has been called the greatest generation -- people who lived through the Great Depression, fought in World War II, and lived throughout the 48 states that existed at the time. Volunteers can help with the 1940 U.S. census project online at: FamilySearch.org/1940Census .

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