Be part of the 1940 census opening!

Paula Stuart-Warren  census, National Archives  Leave a comment

Just received this Press Release from the National Archives:
 
March 26, 2012

National Archives Launches 1940 Census April 2 Online at 1940census.archives.gov 
Live webcast of Opening Event, 8:30 A.M. EDT 

Follow the 1940 Census on Twitter (using hashtag #1940census), Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, and YouTube, and subscribe to our blogs: NARAtions and Prologue: Pieces of History.

The launch event is open to the media and to a limited number of members of the public on a first come, first served basis, by emailing [email protected].

WHAT: Washington, DC…Special ceremonial launch of the 1940 census. The National Archives’ largest single release of digitized records will be online at 1940census.archives.gov. For the genealogical community, the 1940 census is the most eagerly-anticipated records release in the past decade. Following remarks, the Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero will launch the first search.

Beginning April 2, 2012, users will be able to search, browse, and download the 1940 census schedules, free of charge, through the new 1940 census website: 1940census.archives.gov. National Archives partnered with Archives.com to build and host the site.

The launch event will be webcast live online starting at 8:30 A.M., please visit 1940census.archives.gov, closer to April 2 for the link.

WHO: Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero; U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves; Archives.com Executive Vice President John Spottiswood; University of Maryland U.S. History Professor David Sicilia

WHEN:          Monday, April 2, 2012, 8:30 A.M.    
Electronic media preset 8:15 A.M.

WHERE: William G. McGowan Theater, National Archives Building, Washington, DC; Enter through Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue and 7th Streets, NW
View the National Archives 3:13 minute video short on its YouTube channel (http://tiny.cc/1940Census) and on www.1940census.archives.gov. The video provides a “behind-the-scenes” look at staff preparations and gives viewers tips on how to access the 1940 census data. This video is in the public domain and not subject to any copyright restrictions. The National Archives encourages the free distribution of it.

Background on the 1940 Census
When the Founding Fathers mandated a decennial census in the U.S. Constitution, the intent was to use this as a basis to determine how many representatives each state was entitled to send to the U.S. Congress.  It is now a vital tool for Federal agencies in determining allocation of Federal funds and resources. The census is also a key research tool for sociologists, demographers, historians, political scientists and genealogists. Many of the questions on the 1940 census are the standard ones: name, age, gender, and race, education, and place of birth. But the 1940 census also asks many new questions, some reflecting concerns of the Great Depression. The instructions ask the enumerator to enter  a circled X after the name of the person furnishing the information about the family; whether the person worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration, or National Youth Administration the week of March 24–30, 1940; and income for the 12 months ending December 31, 1939. The 1940 census also has a supplemental schedule for two names on each page. The supplemental schedule asks the place of birth of the person’s father and mother; the person’s usual occupation, not just what they were doing the week of March 24–30, 1940; and for all women who are or have been married, has this woman been married more than once and age at first marriage.

For the release of the 1940 census online, the National Archives has digitized the entire census, creating more than 3.8 million digital images of census schedules, maps, and enumeration district descriptions.

Citing a Tweet

Paula Stuart-Warren  Blogs, Citations  1 Comment

The Modern Language Association has debated and published “How to Cite a Tweet.” The moment I read their example, the first thought I had was “in 50 years will someone have a clue what ‘Tweet’ means?” I giggled a bit at the citation example:

Athar, Sohaib (ReallyVirtual). “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).” 1 May 2011, 3:58 p.m. Tweet.

I read about this in the American Historical Associations blog which gave me the link to the Modern Language Association’s site.  Read the AHA post to see that many questions have arisen about the correctness of this citation. Good questions are being asked and references are given to other articles. The main questions relate to the provenance of the actual news in this example.

New archivist at Iron Range Research Center

Paula Stuart-Warren  Iron Range Research Center, Minnesota Discovery Center  Leave a comment

According to the Duluth News Tribune, the Minnesota Discover Center’s Iron Range Research Center has a new archivist. Christopher Welter formerly worked “in the archives at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, where he described personal papers and business records, and assisted in making historically significant and rare collections available on the Web.”

To read the article click here.

To learn more about the Iron Range Research Center click here.

The IRRC is located in Chisholm, Minnesota and is a great place for research.

Minnesota societies involved in 1940 Census Indexing

Paula Stuart-Warren  census  Leave a comment

I just checked the website to see which Minnesota based organizations are involved in the project to index the 1940 U.S. Census. I have signed up to index under the Minnesota Genealogical Society. I have been an MGS member since 1982 and continue to support their endeavors.

I was pleased to see a number of organizations from my home state are involved:

Anoka County Genealogical Society
Carlton County Genealogical Society
Crow Wing Genealogical Society
Freeborn County Genealogical Society
Germanic Genealogy Society
Kanabec Genealogical Society
Martin County Genealocical Society
Minnesota Genealogical Society
Olmsted County Genealogical Society
Otter Tail County Genealogical Society
Pine County Genealogical Society
Polish Genealogy Society of Minnesota
Stevens County Historical Society

What organizations from your state of residence or where your ancestors lived are involved? Click here to find out.

Finding Your Roots on PBS tonight

Paula Stuart-Warren  PBS  2 Comments

Tonight marks the return of Henry Louis Gates’ forays into family history research on PBS. “Finding Your Roots” debuts on PBS from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (Central Time). The featured celebrities tonight are Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis.

My couch and popcorn are the accompaniments for tonight’s show. A big group of area genealogists and I tried to find a restaurant with a TV that would let us eat dinner together and watch the show. One place said we could sit in a private area and watch but they could not turn on the sound! We tried several places without success so we are eating dinner together earlier and then going to our separate homes to watch the show. It would have been nicer to watch as a group while we ate.

Today’s Washington Post has a nice article about the show. Click here to read that.

For more on the series visit PBS here. Unfortunately the material under the Resources tab is seriously out-of-date and lacking in vital links such as NGS, FGS, APG, BCG, Cyndi’s List, Ancestry, and others. It lists Footnote but that is now Fold3.com. The list doesn’t include the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Dr. Gates is a Councilor for NEHGS! It lists Digital Genealogist which has not been published since 2009. It was a great publication.

There is so much out there for continuing education and research in genealogy that I was astounded to see what was under the resources tab. Hopefully PBS will get it updated with the information that I and several of my colleagues have forwarded to them. 

I’m on FGS Radio Saturday, March 24th

Paula Stuart-Warren  FGS Radio  Leave a comment

Once again the Federation of Genealogical Societies My Society Radio is including a segment featuring speakers from its upcoming conference. The 2012 conference is in Birmingham, Alabama. If you tune in to FGS Radio via your computer on Saturday, March 24th, you will hear me featured as the segment kicks off. I will talk a bit about the lectures I am presenting at the FGS conference this August. Keep listening on future Saturdays for other featured speakers.

Ask an Editor: Publication Challenges to 21st Century Societies
Saturday, March 24, 2012
2-3pm Eastern US
1-2pm Central US
12-1pm Mountain US
11am-12pm Pacific US

Join us for the next episode of FGS Radio – My Society, an Internet radio show on Blog talk Radio presented by the Federation of Genealogical Societies. This week’s episode hosted by Randy Whited is entitled Ask an Editor: Publication Challenges to 21st Century Societies. Our first guest will be Matt Wright, Editor of the FGS FORUM. Matt and Randy will discuss challenges and successes for society publications.  Our next guest will be Paula Stuart-Warren, FGS Board member, as we start our series featuring speakers for the upcoming FGS 2012 Annual Conference in Birmingham.

 In addition, we’ll be featuring FGS member society, Northern Arizona Genealogical Society, in our weekly Society Spotlight feature. Tune in to FGS Radio – My Society each week to learn more about genealogy societies and join in a discussion of the issues impacting the genealogical community.

Neat video about the National Archives preservation work

Paula Stuart-Warren  National Archives  Leave a comment

One of today’s press releases from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration tells about a short video that takes us behind the scenes at NARA.

March 21, 2012

New National Archives Video Short Peeks Inside Archives State-of-the-Art Preservation Lab
Washington, DC… The National Archives today is releasing its latest Inside the Vaults video short, Boxing our Treasures, which takes viewers inside the National Archives preservation lab to see how archival treasures are lovingly and carefully housed in custom-made encasements. The three-minute video is part of the ongoing “Inside the Vaults” series and can be viewed on the National Archives YouTube channel:  http://tiny.cc/BoxesA2.

Every researcher should watch this. It’s now one of my favorites in the NARA videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbnanuMhErU&feature=relmfu.

1940 Census St. Paul, Minnesota Focus for me.

Paula Stuart-Warren  census  Leave a comment

I won’t be on the 1940 U.S. census when it is released on April 2d but both my parents will be on there. My dad will be among the workforce in St. Paul and my mother will be in the 8th grade at St. James grade school in St. Paul. The picture above is her 8th grade class. She is the girl with the longer hair and dress with jacket standing to the left of the George Washington picture. My high school Latin teacher is in the photo, too. The names of the students are listed on the reverse of the photo.

All four of my grandparents (Stuart & Hanley) will be in St. Paul as will five of my great grandparents (Stuart, Carlsen, Hanley, and Cook). Two of my other three great grandparents were on the 1930 census but died in 1932 and 1937. They died in St. Paul and one had died in 1905 in Winona, Minnesota. None of my great great grandparents are on the 1920, 1930, or 1940 censuses.

How many ancestors do you have alive then and who should be on the 1940 census? I look forward to all 11 of mine.

NGS Conference early-bird deadline is tomorrow!

Paula Stuart-Warren  National Genealogical Society, NGS  Leave a comment

I am registered. Are you? It’s time to register for the 2012 NGS Family History Conference if you want to save some money! The deadline for the early-bird price is March 20. That is tomorrow, Tuesday. A

fter that, the cost for NGS members will increase from $175 to $210 for all four days. For non-NGS members, the  cost will increase from $210 to $245. If you wish to purchase a paper copy of the syllabus, that must be done no later than March 20th. You will still receive the syllabus on flash drive even if you order a print syllabus. After that date, only the flash drive syllabus will be available.

If you plan to sign up for a luncheon or other meal event, that has a deadline of April 24.

To register for the May 9-12 conference which will be held in Cincinnati, visit www.ngsgenealogy.org

2 weeks/3 weeks: A Genealogist’s and Fan’s Delight

Paula Stuart-Warren  Baseball, census  1 Comment

I am looking forward to April. April 2 and April 9 to be exact. Two and three weeks from today.

April 2d
This is the day the 1940 U.S. decennial census is open for research. Not only does it open on Monday, April 2d, but it will be online and free. I mentioned this earlier but now that it’s just two weeks away I am getting more excited. Was my maternal grandfather in the U.S. or was he in another country? Was his brother in jail? Was my father-in-law in New Mexico, Montana, Minnesota, or where? For more info on the census and the website to view it, check the National Archives website. I signed up to be a volunteer indexer and I hope that all my readers will join me in this. How quickly can we accomplish this task and how accurately? Sign up here. This project is sponsored by FamilySearch, brightsolid, and Archives.com.

Click here for a detailed listing of the questions asked on this census and for special explanatory notes. I am looking forward to seeing how many children each of my grandmothers had given birth to but it won’t include
any stillbirths. I want to see the notes that tell where my relatives were living in 1935. Another neat detail is that I will be able to see their 1939 income and compare it to others in the area.

I am checking city directories, vital records, my own files, and other material to determine the 1939-1941 addresses for my family. The 1941 city directory information was likely collected in 1940 and that might be where they lived when the census was taken in 1940. I have some family members who did not own property and moved a lot. Next I will be determining in which Enumeration District they likely resided. Steve Morse’s website will be a great help in that.

April 9th
Once I calm down from viewing various parts of the 1940 census, this will be my next important date! This is the 2012 home opener for the Minnesota Twins and I will be in the stands. The L.A. Angels will be in town. Baseball means spring is truly here. Just hope I don’t have to wear a winter jacket! Once in a while I need to drag myself away from the computer other than time spent with my kids and grandkids.