Aug 19, 2009
Google announced last week
that it has quadrupled its searchable archive of historical news
articles, many of which are free to access.
From the Genealogy Insider
Blog
The National Archives just announced that it has launched what it calls a Narations blog. The new blog is going to focus on online public access to records of the U.S. National Archives
MyHeritage.com, has announced the release of Family Tree Builder 4.0. The Family Tree Builder software is available for free download
Read the article about Google's new improved search BBC News
MAILBOX:
Sean
shared his recent discoveries and then had some questions about the
1930 census and the Office Use Only columns.
GEM: IPUMS USA website
The site is described as "Census microdata for social and economic research". It's an excellent and little known web site that is dedicated to collecting and distributing US census data. Its goals are to:
1850 - 1950 Enumerator Instructions
But as the column implies, the census taker was instructed not to write in column 26D so in this case the instructions can't help much. Column 26D was filled in by the staff at the census bureau after the census taker completed the task. The codes written in the column were to assist them in tabulating statistical information which they reported to Congress.
Unfortunately these numbers really don't provide additional information because they just reflect what was written in the Occupation columns by the census taker
GEM: Tools for Occupation
Codes
But if you have a
curious streak and would like to see exactly what the codes meant
I've got a gem for you. Steve Morse the author of the One
Step Tools shares your curiosity and he created a page on his
website called "Deciphering Language and Nativity Codes Appended to the
1930 Census in One Step."
You can
learn what the occupation codes in Column 26D mean by visiting this
page: "Deciphering Occupation Codes Appended to the 1930
Census in One Step."
GEM:
Agricultural Census (Non-Population
Census)
Farm # -
It refers to the Special census called the Farm
Schedule
Listen to Family
Tree Magazine podcast #12 Census secrets with Curt Witcher for more
information.
Non-population census at the National
Archives
Agricultural
census
Where to find the records at the
National Archives
GEM: Member Connect with Ancestry
David
Graham. Director of Product Management at Ancestry.com gives us a
tour of the new Member Connect
feature.