04 Broadcaster Press July 17, 2012 www.broadcasteronline.com 1940 Census information now available online By Travis Gulbrandson travis.gulbrandson@plaintalk.net On April 2, the National Archives and Records administration began to release data from the 1940 U.S. Census. Last month, volunteers finished uploading all of the South Dakota records to the Internet. “I think it’s safe to say that families and folks interested in their family history are kind of like kids in a candy store,” said Paul Nauta, spokesperson for the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project. Available for free since June 14, the records contain such information as the names and ages of all family members, occupations, place of residence and whether they owned or rented the place in which they were living. One question unique to the 1940 census was where individuals had been living five years previous. “(That) is really interesting, because there was a lot of migration during that decade because of the Great Depression,” Nauta said. “People began moving to find work, so the federal government was interested to see where people were, where they had migrated from.” Once all information pertaining to a state has been uploaded, documents are searchable by name, as well. All of the records have been uploaded through the efforts from thousands of volunteers across the country. “As an online project, we were hoping to get around 100,000 volunteers to help us with that project so we could complete it by the end of the year,” Nauta said. “We’ve actually had close to 200,000 volunteers, and we continue to get about 1,000 a day logging on new to the cause to help out with it.” As of last month, those volunteers already passed the halfway mark, indexing 80 million of the approximately 132 million names listed. By the beginning of this week, 30 states have been made completely available online. “It’s technologydriven, it’s all Webbased, so anyone that wants to volunteer just logs on at The1940Census.com, clicks the link to be a volunteer, and it downloads the indexing software on your desktop,” Nauta said. “There’s a tutorial that shows you how to work it and everything, and you choose a state that’s remaining that’s of interest to you.” For example, if a volunteer chooses New York, a page from the 1940 New York Census will be downloaded for them. They must then follow the instructions until they have typed the entire document, Nauta said. “Two indexers are doing the exact same document unbeknownst to each other,” he said. “Two volunteers are getting the same page to index. If every bit of their entries do not match up 100 percent, the discrepancies are then electronically sent to an arbitrator, who will look at the entries … and make a judgment call as to what the correct transcription was. “The result is, it is processed and the index is put online for free,” he said. Besides just looking at the data itself, users also have the option of clicking an image icon that allows them to view the actual document. “You can discover all kinds of things,” Nauta said. “My mother-in-law is alive and in the census – about 25 percent of Americans are alive today that were in the census – and so I called her and told her I was looking at her. … “She was totally fascinated, and I was able to go own the street on that census page and ask her if she knew any of the other families, calling out the names of the children who were about her age,” he said. “And she knew all of them – a lot of them she had totally forgotten about. It was a fun experience for her to be able to kind of walk down memory lane that way.” The 1940 U.S. Census Community Project is a joint initiative between the National Archives and Records Administration, Archives.com, FamilySearch.org, findmypast.com, ProQuest and other genealogy organizations. To volunteer or to browse the records, visit The1940Census.com. SESQUICENTENNIAL HIGHLIGHTS By Cleo Erickson Excerpts from the Plain Talk 1977 Hanny’s Men’s Store in Vermillion has been sold to Doug Ashmore and Dave Peterson on January 1. The Harlem Globetrotters will be at the Sioux City Auditorium on January 7th. The Vermillion High School Tanager boy’s basketball team has a perfect 8-0 record to date. Their next game is at home when they play the Miller team. Congressman, Larry Pressler, will be holding a public meeting in Vermilion to discuss the proposed bridge over the Missouri River at Vermillion. The gas company is urging all users to lower the thermostat in their homes to 65 degrees. This will help to reduce the energy demands during the continuing record breaking cold spell. Whew — the Tanagers win Game 13, barely as Blaze Okerlund tips in the winning basket. It was the second time this season that Blaze scored the winning basket for the Vermillion Tanagers. As he hit a 10 foot shot with one second remaining on the clock, in overtime, to give the Tanagers the 62-60 victory over the South Sioux City Cardinals. The following week the Tanagers defeated Sioux Falls Washington in a 5048 overtime victory and the team remains undefeated. The Senior Citizens bus is supported this month by an Anonymous Donor who gave $200.00. The donation is greatly appreciated. Charles Lein, Dean of the School of Business at Boise, Idaho, has been named President of the University of South Dakota. Lein was selected from a field of more than 200 candidates. All applicants were screened over the past seven months. South Dakotas 4 year med school has received full and final accreditation. An estimated price tag of $3,345,000.00 was presented to the City Council for the upgrading of the city waste water disposal plant in order to meet the requirement of the Federal Pollution Control Agency. Banners estimate the cost, 75 percent of which will be paid by the federal government, means that the annual operating costs for the city will increase from $90,000.00 per year to $295,000.00 per year. The IGA store has the following prices for this weekend. Morrell Smoked Picnics, 69 cents per lb., ground beef, 69 cents per lb., Kleenex, 59 cents per box, Red potatoes, 10 lb bag, 79 cents, 3 lb bag of large red delicious apples, 99cents, navel oranges, 79 cents per dozen, 16 oz. can Hershey’s Chocolate syrup, 43 cents, and Terrace Park Ice Cream, ½ gallon, $1.23. The Alliance Church broke ground on March 13, 1977 for a new building on the corner of Constance Drive. Over 2000 people attended the Sport and Home Show this week at the Armory. Tom Sullivan of Burbank was the winner of the $200.00 bond that was given away. Thousands of geese have been stopping by the river and in the fields on their way north. Get your tickets now for the Lion’s Pancake Days. Adult Tickets are $2.00 and children a $1.00. Remember the date is April 21 and 22, PRECISION PAINTING A17407 1977. The Vermillion Teen Center will hold an open house on April 24, 1977. Gambles Store has their paint on sale for $3.97 per gallon. J. C. Penney at 9 Court Street, will be celebrating their 75th anniversary on April 14 and invite everyone for cake and coffee throughout the day. Next year the Vermillion J. C. Penney store will celebrate its 50th anniversary in Vermillion. Residents are warned of a large group of people traveling in southeastern South Dakota, trying to sell lightning rods, roofing, drive way finishes and other items. They do not have a license to sell these items. The same group is committing crimes in the state. Anyone approached by this group of people should contact the Sheriff ’s office immediately. A gasoline trench in the new housing development on North Cottage Avenue made an unexpected archaeological find. The equipment being used exposed the bones of a large animal that was identified as a buffalo by Allen Schroeder of the W H Over Museum. Too the Dakota Dome construction site on Dakota Day prior to the game. Willson’s Florist will be moving into the former Reedy’s Hardware building next week. Melstad Jewelry has completed remodeling their building and is having an open house on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Several Vermillion business places have new addresses. Jacobsen’s Bakery is now at 25 Market Street and has added a snack bar. They will have specials each day of the week. Nook & Cranny is hosting an open house in their new and newly remodeled location at 19 W. Main Street. Many specials will be offered on Friday and Saturday. The USD Theatre is presenting “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To The Forum”. Adult tickets are $3.50, youth and Sr. Citizens, $2.50 and Students, $1.50. END 1977 WANTED Buying all types of SCRAP IRON Farm Machinery • Cars & Trucks References Available • Top Market Prices Paid Home: 402-945-1512 • Cell: 402-533-3640 K&K Iron & Metal INTERIOR • EXTERIOR COMMERCIAL • RESIDENTIAL Quality Workmanship, Reasonable Rates Since 1983 CLINT TUCKER • 624-4621 • WANTED • Old Vehicles • Farm Machinery • Scrap Iron PAYING TOP DOLLAR Call many of the bones have been lost or damaged to allow a reconstruction of the skeleton but those found will be carefully cleaned and treated to prevent further decay. Mr. Schroeder believes the animal died of natural causes. No stone tools were found at the site. A chart has been made of the exact location. The new Super 8 Motel will hold an open house on Saturday, July 23, 1977. Coffee and cookies will be served all day. Richards House of Gems, 7 East Main Street will be opening soon. The buffalo bones from the last week’s excavation turned out to be a horse. After analyzing the bones it was determined the leg bones were from a single hoofed animal, such as a horse rather than a cloven hoofed animal such as a bison. The USD Coyotes football team will be playing the U of North Dakota Sioux on Saturday in Inman Field. The public is invited to take a sneak preview of 402- 841-1060 For Price •Licensed •Bonded •Insured Wakonda, SD 605-267-2768 LONG REACHOF REACH OR EXCAVAT WITH 65' Give us a call for a quote … Laser Guided Ditching Stock Dam Cleanout Lagoon Cleanout • Bank Stabilization Rip Rap Placement • Demolition A18295