Countdown to the release of the 1940 Census,

April 2, 2012!

WNBT, was the first regular operating television station, in New York with an estimated 10,000 viewers

February 25: The 1st ice hockey game is televised, from Madison Square Garden on W2XBS-TV, the New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadians

February 28: The 1st basketball game is televised, from Madison Square Garden; the University of Pittsburgh beat Fordham

August 29: Peter Carl Goldmark of

CBS announces his invention of a color television system

CBS demonstrates color television in New York on November 14th

Awards for best in films of 1940 were presented on Feb. 27, 1941 at the Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles• Best Motion Picture:

"Rebecca " • Best Director: John

Ford for "The Grapes of Wrath"

• Best Actor: James Stewart in "The Philadelphia Story"

• Best Actress: Ginger Rogers in "Kitty Foyle

July 20: Billboard magazine publishes its first "Music Popularity Chart"

Woody Guthrie's musical career begins

Gene Autry has the hit record "Blueberry Hill"

Glenn Miller has the hit record "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square"

Bing Crosby has the hit record "Only Forever"CREDIT: Gottlieb, William P., photographer.

"Portrait of Frank Sinatra, 1947

The federal debt: 43 billion United States Population:

132,122,446 Unemployment: 14.6% or

8,120,000 Churchill becomes Britain's

prime minister January 30: The first Social

Security benefit checks are paid out

The first multilane U.S. superhighway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, opens

The first McDonald's hamburger stand opens in Pasadena, California

Started collecting the information for the 16th census of the United States.

72 years latter on April 2, 2012 the results of this Census will be released.

You can be part of indexing the census.

Part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

They were responsible for training the census takers.

Thanks to the National Archives we can view these films today.

http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/videos.html#video1

A dramatized review of the major questions relating to general population on the census schedule, this film demonstrates to enumerators how to accurately identify and enter the names of all members of a household, determine employment status, and identify categories of employment.

Col. 10 COLOR OR RACE: • White W • Negro Neg • Indian In • Chinese Chi • Japanese Jp • Filipino Fil • Hindu Hin • Korean Kor • Other races, spell out in full.

Col. 24 DID THIS PERSON HAVE A JOB ?

Enter ―Yes‖ for a person (not seeking work) who had a job, business, or professional enterprise, but did not work during week of March 24–30 for any of the following reasons: Vacation; temporary illness; industrial dispute; layoff not exceeding 4 weeks with instructions to return to work at a specific date; layoff due to temporarily bad weather conditions.

Col. 11 AGE AT LAST BIRTHDAY: Enter age of children born on or after

April 1, 1939, as follows. Born in: • April 1939 11/12 • May 1939 10/12 • June 1939 9/12 • July 1939 8/12 • August 1939 7/12 • September 1939 6/12 • October 1939 5/12 • November 1939 4/12 • December 1939 3/12 • January 1940 2/12 • February 1940 1/12 • March 1940 0/12 • (Do not include children born on or

after April 1, 1940

Col. 14 HIGHEST GRADE OF SCHOOL COMPLETED:

• None 0 • Elementary school, 1st – 8th 1, 2,

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 • High school, 1st – 4th year H-1, H-

2, H-3, H-4 • College, 1st – 4th year C-1, C-2, C-

3, C-4 • College, 5th or subsequent year C-

5

Col. 16 CITIZENSHIP OF THE FOREIGN BORN:

• Naturalized Na • Having first papers Pa • Alien Al • American citizen born abroad Am

Cit

Cols. 30 and 47 CLASS OF WORKER:

• Wage or salary worker in private work PW

• Wage or salary worker in Gov’t work GW

• Employer E • Working on own account OA • Unpaid family worker NP

Col. 41 WAR OR MILITARY SERVICE:

• World War W • Spanish -American War; Philippine

Insurrection or Boxer Rebellion S • Spanish-American War & World War

SW • Regular establishment (Army, Navy or

Marine Corps) Peace-Time Service only R

• Other war or expedition Ot

Down load the instruction booklet from the National Archives.

http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/complete-instructions.pdf

On April 2nd the National Archives will release the census.

In order to search the census your will need to know the Enumeration District (ED) in which they lived.

Knowing a person's address in 1940 is not sufficient for finding them in the census. You must know the Enumeration District (ED) in which they lived. So what is an Enumeration District?

The 1940 census is divided into EDs. The EDs are numbered. Within each state, each ED has a unique number. That number consists of two parts -- the first part is a region (typically a county) within the state and the second part specifying a district within that region.

Once you have the ED number, you will be able to access the census pages when they become public on April 2nd, 2012. The census pages will be released online by the National Archives.

Keep in mind that the ED number will get you to the image of the first census page for that ED. Once you are there, you will need to step through the other images for that ED looking for the family that you are interested in.

• Choose your State, County, and Town from the drop down menu.• Enter house # if known and the Street, then click get ED #• You may need to enter a cross street if you do not have the house # • The ED # I want is 49-28 • http://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html

It is turning part of a hand written document into a typed format that is easily searchable.

The index is then Linked to the original record.

Simple. No special skills or fixed time

commitments are required. Volunteer when you can. Just register, sign in, and

follow a simple process:• Select a “batch” of records to

download to your computer.• Enter the requested information

(names, dates, events, etc.) in the corresponding spaces.

• Submit your completed index to the online system

Try the Test Drive found on the indexing page.

Area to be transcribed will be highlighted.

Clues are given on the right side of the screen.

It will tell you if your answers are correct or incorrect.

Words or names to be indexed will be highlighted.

Type the information in the field value column .

You will be told if your answer is correct.

The transcribed information

@ https://www.familysearch.org/ To learn more about

indexing.

Also what you need to download to your computer to participate.

Then practice on a census before the big day.

This little girl will be there.

She will be two years old.

She will be living with her grandparents in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Her name is Patricia Bergstrom. Pictured with her are her sister Beverly and her mother Ethel.

Facts from 1940 http://www.woodstockcandy.com/fun-facts-from-1940.html

National Archives http://www.archives.gov/ Videos http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/videos.html#video1 Manual http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/complete-instructions.pdf

Census http://www.archives.com/1940census

Enumeration District http://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html

FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org

Created by Patricia Skubis

January 2012

Only 2 months to go, from February 2nd to April 2nd