National Archives Releases 1940 Census

Genealogists and amateur family historians flocked to the National Archives’ website Monday as it released more than 3.9 million images taken from the 1940 Census. It’s the largest database ever produced by the archives, and includes information that’s been locked safely away for the 72 years required by law. The database will open “a window into the past that until now has been obscured,” said David S. Ferriero, the nation’s archivist. “We now have access to a street-level view of a country in the grips of a depression and on the brink of global war.”