What’s the Deal with the Census?

The use of census records is a common tool for researchers and genealogists. Did you know that the federal government regularly evaluates the types of information it collects from citizens and modifies the decennial census to help them gather that data? For example, the 1940s census was in part used to gauge the effectiveness of New Deal programming. Individuals were not only asked about their families, but also whether they had participated in one of the varieties of federal jobs programs (for example, the CCC) the preceding year. This type of information can be used to help families track whether their ancestors worked on important public projects in their neighborhoods through CCC, WPA, or other federal jobs programs. Each census is unique and provides genealogists with new and exciting clues to the lives of those they research.