1940 Census Online starting April 2nd!!!

Genealogists are thrilled by the pending release of the personal records from the 1940 Census.   On April 2nd, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will make the records available on special website.  Since names have not been indexed, you can only locate the record by searching for the enumeration district in which the person resided in 1940.  If you don't know an address, NARA suggests looking at old phone books or using an enumeration district database for the 1930 Census.  This information is available on NARA guide to finding the enumeration district.  By playing around with it, we discovered that the best place to start is to search in the maps file only at http://research.archives.gov/description/821491.  Enter a place or county name AND "enumeration" to find maps.  Results can be narrowed to the 1940 census by using the facets on the left side.  By looking at the maps, you can zoom in to identify the district number.    Will this work?  All will be revealed on April 2nd.    In the meantime, you find additional information on the Census on our subject guide to finding names and data from the Census.

Get ready to visit the 1940 Census at http://www.1940census.archives.gov/ on April 2nd.