And it’s all been done by volunteers like you and me. The 1940 Census Community Project shows that “More than Half of the 1940 U.S. Census Records Indexed in Just Two Months Thanks to Thousands of Volunteers Across the U.S.”

I just received a press release from FamilySearch that says “Thanks to the efforts of more than 125,000 volunteers, more than 75 million names from the 1940 U.S. census have been indexed with 18 state records already available to the public on all Project partner websites, including the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Archives.com, FamilySearch.org and findmypast.com. The records will also be made available in more than 7,000 public libraries nationwide in the coming months by ProQuest. The national service project, the first and largest of its kind, aims to establish a comprehensive searchable database and make the 1940 U.S. census records available for free.”

Let’s not stop. Keep up that indexing. My home state of Minnesota is about to be finished so I am now working on Wisconsin. When that is done I will choose another state. If you aren’t indexing, join us. Just visit FamilySearch.org and click on the 1940 census project logo in the upper right hand corner. It’s easy, it’s fun, and oh do you feel good after you submit each batch. I have indexed about 5,000 names but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to some of the loyal indexers.

Wouldn’t it be cool to have it all indexed by the Fourth of July as we celebrate our country’s birthday? Plus this is showing the record keepers, legislatures, librarians, archivists, and others that we are a powerful group. I suspect that some of those folks are also volunteer indexers for this project.

Those 18 searchable states already on those sites mentioned above are:

© 2012 – 2014, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.