What do General George Patton, John F. Kennedy, Dan Rather, Betty White, and Jesse Owens have in common?
They can all be found in the 1940 U.S. Census, newly released by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. The challenge, of course, will be finding them in the hundreds of thousands of digital images of the census pages online until a searchable name index can be created. Unless you know the state, county, and street address where they were residing in 1940, locating them without a name index will be daunting. Fortunately, that challenge is being resolved by thousands of goodhearted volunteers online at the1940census.org. If you are looking for a meaningful project for your next act of community service, The 1940 US Census Community Project is a great one.
Supported by genealogy giants www.archives.com, www.FamilySearch.org, www.findmypast.com, and local and national genealogy and historical societies, the project is trying to rally tens of thousands of individuals to join an online community of volunteers to create a free, high quality, searchable index online of every single name found in the 1940 census. Volunteers use an Internet application found at the1940census.org to look at digital images of 1940 Census pages and type in the names and information highlighted on the screen. About 30 to 40 minutes is all that’s required to do one census page. The data extracted by volunteers is saved online immediately and ultimately made available as a free, every name, searchable index at www.FamilySearch.org. With enough volunteers, the project aims to complete the index before the end of the year.
To participate, contact the Starke County Genealogist, Audrey Kinezian at 772-0009 or the President of the Starke County Genealogical Society Cynthia Wallace at 772-4900. You can also find information about volunteering on the website the1940census.org.
The Greatest Generation would be proud of The 1940 US Census Community Project.
