On April 2, 2012, David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, announced the release of the long-awaited 1940 census images. The 1940 census has long been of particular interest because of its pivotal timing. Coming at the end of the Depression but before the United States involvement in World War II, the 1940 census released images add a personal dimension to the fascinating overall snapshot of the census itself.
There are 3.8 million images that make up the archive taken from over 4000 rolls of microfilm. You can search through this online archive for images relevant to your family members. Searches can be done by enumeration district number. If you don’t know the 1940 enumeration district number, you can find it either by entering the 1930 enumeration district number or by using a different search tool to help you determine the enumeration district number based on home address information. The archive isn’t yet searchable by name, although you can sign up as a volunteer to participate in the project to index the images by name.
When you do find an interesting image, the archive site also provides tools so you can share that image. You can bookmark an image you like so you can easily find it again in the archive. The social media tools integrated on the site make it easy to publish links through Facebook, Twitter, and other sharing sites. Finally, you can also download images to your desktop.
Through the archive site, the 1940 census released images will keep future American generations close to this greatest generation.