Beth Bensman National Archives at

Philadelphia

Get Ready for Get Ready for The 1940 The 1940 Census!Census!

http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/

Bookmark these sites!

http://1940census.archives.gov/

1940 2010

Population 132.2 million 308.7 million

Occupations Frame spinner, salesman, laborer, rivet heater, music teacher

Computer programmer, human resources manager, clinical laboratory technologist, special education teacher

Industries Cotton mill, retail grocery, farm, shipyard, public school

Broadcasting, Internet publishing, computer stores, electronic shopping

Number of Farmers 5.1 million 613,000

Earnings: Men / Women

$956 / $592 $33,276 / $24,157

Most Populous States

New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and California

California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois

What is on the 1940 Census? What is on the 1940 Census?

Sex: M – Male; F – Female

Marital Status: Single (S), Married (M), Widowed (Wd), Divorced (D)

Column 10: Color or Race: White (W), Negro/ Black (Neg), Indian (In),

Chinese (Chi), Japanese (Jp), Filipino (Fil), Hindu (Hin), Korean (Kor) Other Races – spell out in full

Column 11: Age: 11/12 April 1939 10/12 May 1939 9/12 June 1939 8/12 July 1939 7/12 August 1939 6/12 September 1939 5/12 October 1939 4/12 November 1939 3/12 December 1939 2/12 January 1940 1/12 February 1940

0/12 March 1940(Do not include children born on or after April 1, 1940.)

Mexicans not counted separately as they were in 1930

Native Americans—no percentage of blood as they were in 1930

Education – Question 13: Yes/No

“For a person born in' any of those central European areas where there have been recent changes in boundaries…”

Column 14: Highest Grade of School Completed: 0 None 1 – 8 Elementary School, 1st – 8th

H-1 to H-4 High School, 1st to 4th YearC-1 to C-4 College, 1st to 4th YearC-5 College, 5th year or more

Column 16: Citizenship of Foreign Born

Na NaturalizedPa Having First Papers (Papers Applied For)

[Declaration of Intention]Al AlienAm Cit American Citizen Born Abroad or at sea

Why Ask?

Internal Migration – Due to:

Stock Market Crash

Dust Storms

Column 22:

During the week of March 24-30, 1940, was the person at work on, or assigned to, a public work project conducted by the WPA, CCC, or NYA [National Youth Administration]?

Column 21:

Enter “Yes” for persons at work for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Government work. Include unpaid family workers – that is, related members of the family working without money wages or salary on work (other then housework or incidental chores) which contributed to the family income.

Those not working, not assigned to public emergency work, not seeking work, and without a job, business, or professional enterprise.

This group will be subdivided into (a) persons who devote most of their time to the care of the home and doing housework for their families ("H"); (b) persons in school (“S”); (c) persons physically unable to work because of permanent disability, old age, or chronic illness (" U”); (d) other persons, including retired persons, persons who choose not to work, etc. ("OT”).

Column 30 (and 47) Class of WorkerPW Wage/Salary Worker in Private WorkGW Wage/Salary Worker in Government WorkE EmployerOA Working on Own Account (Self-Employed)NP Unpaid Family Worker

Column 41: War or Military ServiceW World War (I)S Spanish-American, Philippine Insurrection or Boxer RebellionSW Spanish-American & World WarR Regular Establishment: Peace-Time Service only (Army,

Navy or Marine Corps)Ot Other War or Expedition

The Census Bureau received 6,000 suggested questions, for example:

Cosmetics makers wanted to know the number of blondes, brunettes, and redheads

Cemetery operators wanted to know how many families owned burial plots

Uncommon occupations included “ham sniffer” and “whistle tester”

Released only in digital format, not on microfilm

Initially, no alphabetical or Soundex Index Need to know the street address and/or

the enumeration district (ED)

ED stands for Enumeration District.  An enumeration district is a "basic geographic area of a size that could be covered by a single census taker (enumerator) within one census period."

The ED consists of a two-part number separated by a hyphen where the first number represents the county number and the second number the number of the enumeration district within that county.

United States Online Historical Directories http://sites.google.com/site/onlinedirectorysite

/Home/usa

Distant Cousin http://distantcousin.com/directories/

Google specific states to locate directories

To locate a street address try:

WWII Draft cards 1930 Census Your Own Records

WWII Draft Card

http://www.stevemorse.org

If you have the ED from the 1930 Census Use Steve Morse’s Tool “Converting Between the 1930 and

1940 Census in One Step” http://stevemorse.org/census/ed2040.php?year=1940

Use Steve Morse’s Tool “Obtaining EDs for the Census in One Step (Large Cities)”

http://stevemorse.org/census/index.html?year=1940

Good for cities having a population of at least 50,000 or more in 1940

May also include some smaller cites Need to know the street address and cross

streets

Do you know the cross streets (those that border your address)?

To find cross streets, go to http://maps.google.com

Type in the address including city and state. You’ll see the address marked on the map

with a balloon. Note the streets that surround your address.

These are the cross streets.

Do you know the county where the town was/is located? If you do not know the county, go to

http://stevemorse.org/census/counties.html

When you know the town and county go to: Finding ED Definitions for the 1940 Census for “Small Communities And Rural Areas” http://stevemorse.org/ed/ed.php?year=1940

Use the 1940 Census Maps to Narrow EDs

Go to NARA’s On-line Public Access http://www.archives.gov/research/search/ Type in: 1940 Census maps + the county + the

state i.e.: 1940 Census maps + Hancock + Indiana

Blank PDF of the 1940 Census Formhttp://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/1940.pdf

Instructions to Enumeratorshttp://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/instructions-to-enumerators.pdf

1940 Publicity and Training Filmshttp://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/videos.html#video1

Census Resources and Linkshttp://www.archives.gov/research/census/resources.html