Ancestry.com Releases Completely Searchable 1940 U.S. Federal Census
A
searchable index to 134 million records makes researching family history
in the latest available U.S. Census dramatically easier
PROVO, UTAH – (August 3, 2012) – Ancestry.com, the world’s largest
online family history resource,
is proud to announce that it has completed the records indexing process
for the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, which is available at
www.ancestry.com/1940census.
All 134 million records are now easily searchable by name, date, place
of birth and other key information recorded in the census. These
records, which are free to search, offer valuable
insight for the nearly 90 percent of Americans who either have family
members recorded in the 1940 U.S. Census or are in it themselves.
Since the initial release of the 1940 U.S. Census
by the National Archives in April, Ancestry.com has progressively
published information from this important family history resource state
by state. Ancestry.com has made this vital family
history information while providing an engaging user experience
including the ability to search for maiden names or other family names,
often a roadblock when searching records. Additionally, users can make
corrections or update information that is incomplete,
leading to a better overall database of information.
Assisting in navigation of the 1940 U.S. Census is
Ancestry.com’s Interactive Image Viewer, which enables users to easily
peruse document pages with simple graphical overlays. The viewer adds
highlights, transcriptions and other functionality
directly on the Census page. This enables searchers access to small
census fields by simply scrolling over them for a pop up that magnifies
the information recorded by census takers. With the ability to zoom in
on individual records, these new features dramatically
improve the usability of the 1940 U.S. Census, which previously only
included images of the paper records. These paper records, handwritten
in small entry fields, have traditionally been very hard to read, making
the visual enhancements in the Interactive
Viewer a huge improvement.
“We are so excited to be publishing our index to
the 1940 U.S. Federal Census for free on Ancestry.com,” said Tim
Sullivan, CEO of Ancestry.com. “As one of the most anticipated family
history resources ever, the 1940 Census is a fantastic
way for almost every American to get started making discoveries about
their family history as well as a key new resource for so many of our
two million existing subscribers. Experienced through our new
Interactive Image Viewer, the stories and discoveries
inside the 1940 Census really come to life.”
Users can now find basic information such as their
ancestors’ names and where they lived, but also gain more insight about
their ancestors’ daily lives. This information includes whether they
owned or rented their home, the value of the
residence and how many people resided there. For the first time, census
takers in 1940 also asked questions specific to income and education.
Interestingly, details like prior military service, the ability to read
or write, and whether citizens spoke English
– all asked in prior censuses – were not asked in 1940.
The entire census can be viewed online at
www.ancestry.com/1940census
About Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq:ACOM) is the world's largest online family
history resource, with approximately 2 million paying subscribers. More
than 10 billion records have been added to the site in the past 15
years. Ancestry users have created more than 38 million
family trees containing more than 4 billion profiles. In addition to its flagship site www.ancestry.com, Ancestry.com offers several localized Web sites designed to empower people to discover, preserve and share their
family history.
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materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements.
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any subsequent date and we assume no obligation to publicly update or
revise these forward-looking statements.
I can't find my relatives in St. Louis, MO on the 1940 census. Are there pages missing? I've gone through the entire collection for St. Louis page by page and haven't found them. They were a large family, most of the children are still alive so I know that they were in St. Louis in 1940.
ReplyDeleteCathy,
ReplyDeleteCan't answer the "missing pages" question, as I would not know.
Have you now searched for your missing relatives?
Have you tried FamilySearch.org to see if they are there.
Russ