# 1930 census is available!!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1930-census-is-available/101254>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 1, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1930-census-is-available/101254 "2002-04-01T19:18:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1930-census-is-available/101254/1 "2002-04-01T19:18:20Z")

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Today, for the first time, the records from the 1930 census are available for the public to look at. Census records are sealed for 72 years. Census day in 1930 was April 1. So, today, 72 years later, the records are available.

For geneaologists like me, this is great news. Previously, I was only able to search up to the 1920 census.

I may wait a month before visiting my local [NARA](http://www.nara.gov) office. I’m sure there will be a lot of people who have been waiting for this day and I’m sure all the microfilm readers will be booked for at least a month solid.

Anyone else here going to take advantage of the opening of the 1930 census?

Zev Steinhardt

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**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1930-census-is-available/101254/2 "2002-04-01T19:39:15Z")

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yep. The WI State Historical Society has been a great help in my research, since my families all got here (WI, not MN) in the mid 19th century, and stayed in the state.

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**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1930-census-is-available/101254/3 "2002-04-02T00:22:53Z")

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It’s the first one my parents are on, so, yeah, I’ll be headed on downtown soon. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1930-census-is-available/101254/4 "2002-04-02T02:59:02Z")

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Since the nearest National Archives is six to seven hundred dollars away physically and six to eight weeks away by Inter-Library Loan, I’ve had to get myself one of those census subscriptions from [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com). They plan on having the whole thing on-line soon. The first records any hour they say. And eventually indexed so I am quite excited about that cause I’ll tell you I used to torture my eyes looking for family in unindexed places. NY 1910, NJ 1910. Or just about anywhere in 1880. It’s not fun. But I got pretty good at it.

So where will you all be looking? Texas and New York has my dad’s family. Maryland and New Jersey for my moms. If I knew my mother’s father I could find him on the Hawaii census. And I’ll also be looking in Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Nebraska and California for cousins.