The United States National Archives, in conjunction with Archives.com, released individual census records from the 1940 census on April 1, 2012 (note: this is the website to access for the individual census records from 1940. If you go to the Census Bureau's website, www.census.gov/1940, you will find background information on the census but no data). For those unfamiliar with the release dates, the US Census does not release individual names from each decennial census until 72 years after the fact, to preserve privacy of those responding. Each decade genealogists, historians, demographers, and researchers in a multitude of other disciplines eagerly await release of this data to add to their cache of primary source materials. In addition, because questions are asked as of a certain date, in this case April 1, 1940, the Census material is a unique resource that gives the status and demographics of the US population on a given day in history. Besides the continental US, territorial censuses were taken in 1940 for Alaska and Hawaii (not yet states), American Samoa, Guam, Panama Canal, Puerto Rico, and the American Virgin Islands, and this information is also included.
The 1940 Census is particularly important for several reasons. Each time the census is taken, the Bureau of the Census adds various new questions to be asked of respondents, often based on requests from researchers. The 1940 census covers the 1930s in the US, when the country was coming out of an economic depression, and this census added questions pertaining to these years. For example migration was very important as many dust bowl sufferers in southwestern states migrated to the west at this time. One question asked if the respondent lived in a different location five years previous, and where they lived at that time, which of course is useful when studying migrations back and forth.
Another important topic of the depression is employment, and many questions related to this topic, including salaries and wages, are included. Also asked were questions pertaining to those who worked on several of President Roosevelt's New Deal programmes, such as Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps jobs. Many of these jobs involved conservation (dams were built), arts and literature, and disaster relief, and these employment areas can be traced in the census. Related to employment, in the 1930s the national retirement plan – Social Security – came into being. Researchers can find out how many citizens participated in new national insurance plans such as Social Security and also the Railroad Retirement plan. Veterans' information was also recorded, a boon to historians tracing veterans of the First World War, the Spanish American War, or the Boxer Rebellion. For those wishing to have a list of all questions asked on the forms, there is a link under the heading About the 1940 Census.
Unlike today, the 1940 Census was collected entirely by hand, with Census workers, known as enumerators, collecting the data. To locate a specific person in the census, it is necessary to know the enumeration district. This is the geographic district assigned to each enumerator. The web pages provide a guide for this, depending upon whether you are starting out with a known enumeration district, a person's address at that time, or even a 1930 Census enumeration district. Since censuses are used to re‐align congressional districts, these districts will have changed from 1930 to 1940, and this web page will convert the data. The site provides a great deal of help for beginners seeking information. For example, in addition to step‐by‐step instructions to locate enumeration districts, the site includes maps of enumeration districts to help those without specific addresses. And all graphs, charts, maps, etc., can be downloaded for free.
The website includes many special features to help researchers. There is a bookmark feature to allow researchers to save data they have already found. There is also a shareware feature allowing the researcher to share information on Facebook, Twitter, or other social network sites. The site allows the user to download either a specific image, or all images within a specific enumeration district. And bear in mind that this is an open access website with no charge for any of these services.
The 1940 Census website is very easy to use, providing one can convert enumeration districts when looking for a specific person or persons (there is an indexing plan underway, with a shared website to create a free access index of names in the census, at www.the1940census.com). This long‐awaited information is finally available in a very usable website, job well done to the National Archives and Archives.com.
1 Note
As noted in the review, the official census website at www.census.gov/1940census provides a great deal of background information on the life in the US around 1940, with many colourful illustrations of the time, links to oral histories of various Census personnel, and connections to various news feeds and social network links for additional information.
