1940 U.S. Census Community Indexing Project |

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1940 Census Indexing Society Badge
WSGS Wants You to Help Index the 1940 U.S. Census!

Join the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project, an historic national service project to preserve and share online the records of the "greatest generation." Through a joint project of Archives.com, FindMyPast.com and FamilySearch, the images of the 1940 census will be available FREE online! When it is released, however, the census will NOT be indexed, and therefore not easily searchable. You can make a difference by transcribing the census records in your local area--giving others the opportunity to connect with their past, while at the same time connecting with your own.

You can sign up today to help index at http://the1940census.com!
To be part of the WSGS's indexing group, just select Wisconsin State Genealogical Society as your group.


Official National Archives Site for the 1940 Census - http://www.1940census.archives.gov/
  • All of the 1940 census images are posted on this site.
FamilySearch Indexing Projects List - https://indexing.familysearch.org/projtab/current_projects.jsf
  • This is the page you should watch to see when the Wisconsin images (or any other state you're waiting for) are available for indexing. New projects are listed as the images are put up.
  • See an interactive map of which states are currently available for indexing and what percentage of its records have been indexed to date: https://www.familysearch.org/1940census/

Indexer of the Week Contest
WSGS will award the 1940 Census Indexer in our group who indexes the most names in that week with a certificate and special mention on this page! As a personal challenge to all of our Indexers, we're setting the goal for everyone to index at least 100 names per week (not batches--each batch contains multiple names). If all of the Indexers who are currently in our group did 100 names per week, we'd get 3,500 names done! While the Wisconsin images won't be immediately available for indexing, FamilySearch will be putting up images for 5 states per day until all of the states and territories have been released, which should take about two weeks. In the meantime, you can index other states until the Wisconsin images are posted and the WSGS Indexing Group will still get the credit for your work.

Top Indexers of the Week

Week Ending 1 April 2012: Jim Hoehn with 2,097 names indexed


Helpful Indexing Links

Indexing Tip
  • To index the 1935 residence, you should index exactly what it says, and there IS a difference between Same Place and Same House, so make sure you differentiate. Same Place means they lived in the same city, but a different house. Same House means they literally lived in the same house as in 1935.

Learn More About the 1940 Census

Learn More About the 1940 Census Community Project

Frequently Asked Questions
  • How can the census help with my family history research?
    • The U.S. census, taken every 10 years since 1790, can help you identify family members in your ancestral families (sometimes even in-laws). The 1790-1840 censuses only list the names of the heads of families and statistical information about the rest of the family. Beginning in 1850, a listing of all of the individuals living in each household was begun. Unfortunately, the majority of the 1890 census was lost in a fire, with very few returns remaining. Each census asked different questions about the household, but you can learn information about each householder such as their occupation, their age, their year of immigration, their relationship to the head of the household, how many children each woman had given birth to and how many were still living, and (in 1930) even if they owned a radio! In 1940, due to the migrations of people across the country to find work during the Great Depression, the census asked where each person lived in 1935, providing a mini 5-year census!
    • See FamilySearch's Research Assistance page for detailed articles and online courses to help you with your census research.
  • Will I be able to index a specific Wisconsin county that I'm interested in?
    • No. Due to technical limitations of the FamilySearch indexing software only a limited number of indexing projects can be ongoing at the same time. With the thousands of counties located throughout the United States, the software simply can't handle that many projects all at once. The indexing projects for the 1940 census WILL be broken down by state, however, so you will be indexing a Wisconsin county when you work on the project.
  • Why won't the 1940 census be indexed on April 2nd, when it's released?
    • By law, all census records are private until 72 years after the information was gathered, for privacy reasons. NO one, not even the three groups sponsoring the Community Project, will have access to the images until the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) releases them at 9 AM EST on April 2, 2012.
  • If the census isn't going to be indexed, how will I find anyone in it when it's released?
  • When will the Wisconsin census images be available for indexing?
    • The census images will NOT be immediately available at 8 AM CST on April 2nd for indexing! It will take FamilySearch several hours or days to put all of the images up for indexing. WSGS will let you know as soon as we've heard that the Wisconsin images are ready. Per the 1940 US Census Community Project: "The best way to know if your state is available to index is to check the Current Projects page on the indexing website. Check back frequently to see if your state is posted. Remember, it may take up to two weeks to make all of the states available for indexing but some states will be completed within a matter of hours after release." Let's hope they're not going to release them alphabetically by state name!
  • When will the Wisconsin 1940 Census index be available for searching?
    • No state indexes will be posted by FamilySearch until the ENTIRE state is indexed. Invite your friends to help (even the non-genies)! The more, the merrier, and the faster the Wisconsin index will be finished.
  • How do I set goals for myself and track my progress with the FamilySearch indexing software?
    • After you have logged into the indexing software you'll be presented with a page broken down into three sections: My Work, My Messages and My Personal Goal. In the My Personal Goal section, on the My Goals tab, you can click on the Set New Goal button. You'll be presented with another window which will let you set the dates you want start and end your goal for, and the number of records you'd like to index during that time period. Each time you complete and submit a batch of records, you'll see your Indexing Status listing where you are with your goal, what your goal is, when your End Date is, and your current Target Rate of names to index per day to reach your goal.
  • Will I be able to continue indexing even after the 1940 Community Project indexing is finished?
    • Yes! In fact, you can begin indexing other FamilySearch projects right now. The more indexing we all do, the faster you'll be able to find your own ancestors in the many family history record sets which FamilySearch is digitizing and putting online every day. After the 1940 Census index is complete, FamilySearch will be working with the genealogical societies which helped to index their own states to index other projects of interest from that state, particularly vital records.