The 1940 Census was conducted based on a census date of April 1, 1940 and was given a seventy-two year privacy restriction. After a 72 year embargo the 1940 census was finally released on 4/2/12.
How cool is it that you can now search for people from the 1940’s? I am always interested in my family tree and where my family was and came from so I am going to be using the website to see what kind of information I can find. What I find cool about the 1940 census is the questions that were asked and how the census was conducted.
The Bureau of the Census (Department of Commerce) provided standardized forms in 1940 for all Enumerators as in previous years. The standard Population Schedule had 34 questions and more than a dozen Supplemental Questions asked only for those persons who were enumerated on specified lines. This was the means used to ensure a random nature in obtaining supplemental information.
One of the questions was “PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS”. There are 12 total questions related to 14 year olds and working. In today’s society kids aren’t even allowed to work at the age of 14 due to child labor laws but I do find it interesting looking back into a whole different time in American history. I am not sure how many questions are on a modern day census but back in 1940 there were 34 questions plus 16 supplemental questions for a total of 50 questions. To me that seems like a lot of questions for someone to answer back in 1940.
So if you have been waiting for the 1940 census release it is now here after a long 72 years. A lot of people have been waiting for this because within the first three hours of the 1940 census being released 22.5 million people logged on causing the website to overload.
Be patient if you have a hard time logging on. We had to wait 72 years for this data so what is another hour or two?
Will you be searching the 1940 census for family?
