1940s Census is Here!

Did you know that the 1940s census was released today? Genealogists and family historians have long been waiting for this day as the information provided in this particular census is unlike any other. Coming after the decade of the Great Depression and before America's entrance into WWII, this census gives a wealth of information on 132 million Americans. The government was intent on documenting what people had gone through in the 1930s so asked more questions regarding people's economic situation.

The 1940s census can be found at http://1940census.archives.gov. One of the main problems with it right now is you can't search by name. This feature won't be available for months either on the government website or Ancestry.com. The only way to search is by address or ED (enumeration district) number. To figure out your ED number go to http://www.stevemorse.org/census/unified.html. (this looks like it has a lot of good general information on using the 1940 census).
If you think your ancestor might have been living at the same address in 1930 you can use Ancestry.com at the library and confirm that and then try the 1940 census with address in hand.

Remember to be patient. It looks like the goverment website is already overloaded with visitors and very slow.  And remember the library has an in-house subscription to Ancestry.com and a subscription to HeritageQuest that you can get from home. Just go to the library's website at www.northfieldmn.info and click on Electronic Resources. You will need your library card to access. HeritageQuest has most of the U.S. Census (but note that the 1930 census is only partially available.).
If you have any questions call the reference desk at the library at 645-1802.