The 1950 US census--Help Wanted!

 The release of the 1950 US census is very exciting. However, if you've tried to search someone by name at the National Archives site, you've probably felt frustrated. Knowing your ancestor's enumeration district is critical, and if you don't have an address where the person lived in 1950, you can't determine the enumeration district. 

An every person name index is necessary. Unfortunately, a reliable one doesn't exist as of today. The National Archives has a computer-generated index (discussed in the previous blog), and like most such lists, it's seriously flawed. 

Family Search, Ancestry, and My Heritage are all working to provide a reliable every-name index, and they hope to have it online by May 14. Per the census bureau, there are 150,697,361 names to be indexed, so meeting the deadline is a challenge. 

But YOU can help.

As it did with the 1940 US census, FamilySearch is offering each of us a volunteer opportunity to be done from the comfort of our own homes---reviewing the OCR-generated names. Go to https://www.familysearch.org/getinvolved/1950 and you can start immediately. 

When you click on the link above, beneath the words "Indexed by computers, reviewed by people", you'll see a dropdown menu where you can choose a state to help index. As of today, you only have three choices, Oregon, Nevada. and Utah. Choose one, and you'll be taken to a screen with "Get Started" button. Click on that and it takes to a "Review Individual Names in the 1950 Census" screen. You don't need to enter a surname (unless you know someone in that state in 1950!); just press the search button. A census page image will appear. Part of a name will be highlighted in blue. The computer's "transcription" of the name appears in a box. You compare the highlighted name with the one in the box. If they match, click the match button. If you see an error, click the edit button and fix the transcription in the box then hit "Submit". If you're not sure, click the "Unsure" button. 

This sounds a lot more complex than it is. I did 40 names (with 12 corrections) in less than 10 minutes. I urge you to give it a try. If you only index 20 names, you've made it possible for 20 individuals to be found by family historians. The more of us doing this, the better the chance that in a month and a half, there'll be a reliable index to make all of our searches easier.

Thanks!