Thanks to the contributions of over 136,000 indexers, the 1940 US Census project is well ahead of schedule. Indexing and arbitration of all states is expected to be complete in July. The indexes for many states have already been published at FamilySearch.org. The remainder will be published soon. Volunteers are naturally concerned about maintaining their enthusiasm.
FamilySearch is pleased to announce that following completion of the 1940 US Census, a major effort will commence to index US Immigration and Naturalization records. As the U. S. is a nation of immigrant families, this is a foundational element of American research. Many millions of these records are currently available as images in the FamilySearch collections, but now must be indexed in order to make them searchable. As with the 1940 US Census, FamilySearch will seek support from genealogical societies and the general public.
FamilySearch is also preparing large-scale national projects from other parts of the world. For example, the recent historic partnership with the National Archives of Italy allows FamilySearch to index millions of Italian Civil Registration (birth, marriage and death) records. Thousands of volunteers (Italian speaking and others who can learn simple Italian phrases) are needed to meet this challenge. See the English version of the Italy page at FamilySearch.org. View this same page in Italian by clicking this link. To learn more about these records, visit the DGA Italian Ancestors web page. Similar plans are also being developed for Latin America. Watch for more shortly to come! Similar plans are also being developed for Latin America. Watch for more shortly to come!
