1940 US Federal Census

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Sherilyn Briggs
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1 1940 US Federal Census

2 US 1940 Census Image Icons Census Form Data Entry Icons Data Entry Area Project Help Tabs

3 Note the Project Help tabs in the lower right hand corner of the program. Before indexing any project, click on the Project Instructions tab and read the project instructions. Be sure to scroll down. At the bottom of the information you will see links to other important information. The option to Click here for a summary of project updates opens a page on the FamilySearch wiki.

4 The message box on the Project Updates page (outlined in red) will notify indexers of current information. On the Project Updates page are four tabs. Click here to see how to navigate the wiki pages. (Be sure to check out the How to Library.)

5 Field Help The directions for indexing each field are shown in the Field Help section. To activate the field help, click on the Field Help tab. When the field is selected during indexing, the instructions for that field will automatically be displayed.

6 Image Navigation The gray Image Navigation rectangle shows how much of the image is visible in the program window. Click the gray rectangle to move it around with your mouse to view the entire document. The Quality Checker will be discussed later.

7 Start indexing by filling out the Header Data in the Data Entry Area. There will be no Duplicate images in this project. Click the drop down arrow to see a list of options. Carefully read the Field Help then choose the correct Image Type. The image type selected will be displayed.

8 Next, fill out the Sheet Number and Letter- found in the upper right hand corner of the document. This information is recorded only once for the entire batch. Press Enter or Tab to move to the Data Entry Screen.

9 Now you have the option to select either Table Entry or Form Entry. Table Entry allows you to see several records at a time. With Form Entry you see the information for only one record at a time

10 Let s look at how the document is indexed using Table Entry First enter the line number and press tab or enter to move to the next field. The highlight will move to the area of the document that corresponds to the field you are indexing. If the highlights need adjusted click to learn more.

11 This is what the indexed batch would look like. All entry lines need to be accounted for. If an entry line on the census form is blank or has no data to be indexed, mark the record as blank in the data entry area.

12 Quality Checker When the last record has been indexed, the Quality Checker will start automatically. If the highlighted entry is correct then click Accept. If it was indexed more than once, you can speed up the quality check by clicking Accept All. If, however, you are unsure whether what you have entered is correct or not you can double check. Look at the document and if you still have questions...

After the quality check is completed, you will be asked if you want to submit your batch. Congratulations!

13 Look up List To check the spelling of a name click the down arrow and Lookup. This feature can be used at anytime during the indexing process. After the quality check is completed, you will be asked if you want to submit your batch. Congratulations! You have just completed your batch. Enter what you are sure of... Note-Not all names will be in the authority list. It is a help. If what is on the document is not in the list- enter what is on the document.

14 The following slides have additional Instructions for: Retrieving Household Numbers and Surnames from the previous image Required Fields Marks of Repetition with explanation of Residence Fields Blank lines Using Program Icons Things to remember as you index in this project

15 Retrieving a household number or surname from a previous image Click the Previous Image Icon at the top of the program window. Use the scroll bars on the previous image window to navigate to the needed information from the previous image.

16 Required Fields Some of the field names have an asterisk (*) in front of them. This indicates a required field. Before the batch can be submitted each required field must contain information or be marked <Blank>, indicating there is nothing to enter. To mark a required field <Blank>, use Ctrl+B or click the Mark the field blank icon. If the field is not a required field and there is no information for it, press Tab or Enter to skip the field. In this project the only field not required is the Title or Terms field.

17 Marks indicating information to be repeated These lines indicate the previous information should be repeated. Other marks of repetition such as DO, ditto marks or a vertical squiggly line may be used. When indexing indications of repetition, enter the information that precedes them. In this case the surname Carruth would be entered for Mindy S, Peter W and Olive J

18 However - A straight line or dash in the City or Town of Residence on April 1, 1935 does not always indicate information to be dittoed. It can be an indication that the information is for a child less than 5 years of age. The residence fields would be marked <Blank>. The purpose of this information was to track population movement between 1935 and Let s look at how this field would be indexed. Provo Utah Utah <Blank> <Blank> <Blank> <Blank> <Blank> <Blank> Same House <Blank> <Blank> Same House <Blank> <Blank> Oakland Contra Costa California Same House <Blank> <Blank>

19 The Data Entry area defaults to 40 records, but some census pages have fewer than 40 records. All entry lines need to be accounted for. If an entry line on the census form is blank or has no data to be indexed, mark the record as blank in the data entry area. Be sure to mark it as blank in the same order as it appears on the census form. To mark a record blank, press Ctrl+Shift+B, or click the Mark the record blank icon

20 All lines must be accounted for. Lines that do not include a name are marked blank. Note the line number is also marked <Blank>.

21 Image Toolbar This icon takes you back to the My Work page This set of icons allows you to resize the image for better view ability. You can also enter a value in the % box not in the drop down list. This icon makes the image a negative.

22 Clicking this icon brings up a box where you can adjust the brightness or contrast of an image. This icon lets you turn the highlights off and on. This icon opens a secondary viewer so the previous image is visible in case you need to capture the Number of Household or family Surname from it. This icon rotates the image 90 degrees right or left.

23 Data Entry Toolbar The program has a row of icons above the data entry area. Here is a quick summary of the purpose of each icon. The numbers in the list apply to the icons from left to right. 1. Save your work 2. Submit your work. This icon is helpful if the option to submit a batch is not given after you ve completed the quality check. 3. Cut after the work in a field is highlighted, clicking this icon will delete it. 4. Copy information that is highlighted. 5. Paste information that has been copied. 6. Undo removes work just entered. 7. Redo restores work accidentally removed. This icon can be very helpful if a large amount of work was accidentally deleted. (Ctrl+Z will also work.) 8. Allows you to add diacritic marks when needed. 9. Handwriting helps. 10. Mark a field blank. 11. Mark a record blank. 12. Mark a field unreadable. 13. Mark a record unreadable. 14. Insert a line above another record (helpful when a name has been skipped). 15. Insert a line below another record. 16. Delete a line that is not needed.

24 Things to remember as you index this project Names Do not expand names that have been abbreviated, such as Wm to William. Type what is on the document. Index any middle initials in the given name field. If punctuation, such as a hyphen (-) or an apostrophe ( ), is normally part of a name, type the punctuation. Otherwise, do not. Do not type a period after an initial or abbreviated name. For help with: Catholic Nuns or Fathers click here Names from various cultures click here Spanish names click here

25 Things to remember as you index this project Locality With a locality field the rule is to correct the spelling or expand the abbreviation if you are sure what the correct word is. If a birth place is recorded as Canada- French or Canada-English, index only Canada. When you index the residence fields, you should correct misspellings and expand abbreviations, if you can do so accurately, but don t try to correct what may seem to be factual errors. For example, if Oakland was recorded as the city of residence and Contra Costa as the county (rather than Alameda), index Oakland in the city field and Contra Costa in the county field. If Same House, Same Place, was recorded in any of the residence fields, type just what you see in the City or Town of Residence on April 1, 1935 field, and mark the county and state of residence fields blank. If R or Rural was recorded type what is on the document. If multiple levels of locality were recorded in column 15 (place of birth), index all levels in the order they were recorded, separating each level of locality with a space. For example Albany New York or Paris France.

26 Things to remember as you index this project As a general rule type what you see or index exactly what is written on the document. The only time we don t follow this is the previously stated rule about places. If you cannot read all of a word, enter what you can read using a (?) for one unreadable letter. For multiple consecutive unreadable letters use one (*). When information is crossed out and the clerk wrote replacement data, type the new data into the appropriate fields. When information is crossed out and not replaced but you can read what was crossed out, enter the crossed-out information. When the information is crossed out, not replaced, and cannot be read, mark the field as <Unreadable> by pressing Ctrl+U. At times you will see notations written after a name such as Ab, or a circle with an X in the middle. These notations are not indexed. If a relationship was recorded as Wife-H in column 8, do not index the H; just type Wife in the Relationship field. The line number in your batch may begin with 41.

27 Things to remember as you index this project continued If the household number field was left blank on the census form and the census taker recorded a new street address in column 2, mark the household number as blank; do not copy the household number from the previous household. Do not confuse the house number (which is recorded in column 2 of the census form) and the number of household (which is recorded in column 3 of the census form). In this project, you will index only the number of household the number in column 3. If T is all that is recorded in the household number column mark the field <Blank> If relationships in column 8 were abbreviated and you can determine what the abbreviation stands for, type the complete word instead of the abbreviation. (For example, type Daughter if "DAUG" was recorded in column 8). If any titles or terms, such as Mr or Mrs, were included in the census entry, index them in the titles or terms field. Type titles or terms exactly as they were written in the census entry. For example, roman numerals (such as "V," for 5th), should be indexed in the Titles and Terms field, exactly as they were written in the census entry.

Some additional helps: At times there will be two people recorded on one line or an extra person added at the bottom of the sheet making it necessary to add an additional line.

28 Some additional helps: At times there will be two people recorded on one line or an extra person added at the bottom of the sheet making it necessary to add an additional line. Click one of these icons to add a line above or below the current line. Some helpful information can be found at the bottom of the form. At times you will download a batch that appears to be out of order click here to learn more.

By comparing it with other known words on the document we can see it is an H.

29 The most important tool to use to help you correctly read the records is the document itself. You can also access the previous and next image to compare letters. How would you index this initial? By comparing it with other known words on the document we can see it is an H. Watch for letters that carry down from a line above. The above name is Owen B Notice the unique y s- by comparing they are easier to read. Notice the p in Joseph-that would help decipher the surname in question.

ResearchTies: Where to Begin

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