Getting Everyones Ancestors Recorded

It's time to GEAR Up! Why?? You might ask. Because we need to 

Get Everyones Ancestors Recorded.

Recorded where??  You might ask.  Well, the 1940 US Census Index of course!!  The 1940 US census is soon to be released.  It will take an army of people to get the information indexed and recorded.  But, if we GEAR up and work together we can make it happen!! 

When I was a young adult I learned the importance of gears and learning to use them in the correct way.  My first car was a stick shift and I didn't know how to drive it or anything about gears for that matter. YIKES!  Consequently, I stalled a lot and was getting no where fast!  At one point I stalled in the middle of an intersection and had to be pushed out by a friendly policeman.  I was embarrassed!  So, I practiced and took advice from those who were more experienced and soon I was a pro at driving a stick shift and getting that car in the right gear!! 

Those are lessons that can be applied to being in the right GEAR for indexing.  As with anything there is a bit of a learning curve.  But, FamilySearch has you covered.  There are tons of places to get advice and help for Indexing.  You can start here with a test drive.  There is a Help page here, with tutorials and FAQ's, handwriting guides and even a "live chat" and contact info to get help directly from FamilySearch.  

Oh, and there are other places to get help for Indexing. FamilySearch Indexing is on Facebook, here and Twitter, here.  Basic indexing help can be found at the Research Wiki here.  And the 1940 US Census Community Project is on Facebook here and on Twitter here.  

 

Once you download the Indexing software to your computer you can actually download a practice batch that will simulate what indexing the 1940 U.S. Census will be like.  And guess what, just for doing that you will be entered into a contest!  Who doesn't like to win things???  What could you win? You might ask. Well one lucky entrant will be chosen at random to win a $100 Visa gift card and two entrants will be chosen to win $50 Visa gift cards.  To register to win, first, visit the Games and Prizes page of the 1940 Blog to register for all project contests (there will be one every week). This weeks contest is here.  Then start Indexing, don't forget to give the 1940 U.S. Census a try on the simulation batch! 

Oh, and they have learned some things from the simulation already and make a video of common mistakes.  This will be helpful so we can GEAR up and be accurate.  

 Why is all this important you might ask.   Well, it is so much easier to find a name on a census when it's indexed.  This following video explains better than I can.

Please join me and let's GEAR up together and get the 1940 US Census indexed. Oh, and good luck with the contest. 

As part of the1940census.com ambassador program this blog post enters me into a drawing for an Amazon Kindle Fire.