Historical Gold Mine: Depression-Era Census to Be Released Online

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Associated Press

A census enumerator interviews actor Cesar Romero, right, to get data for the 1940 Census.

For the first time, information regarding the 1940 census will finally be released to the public. It’s expected to shed light on an era when millions of people struggled through massive unemployment and migration as a result.

The records, which will be released on April 2, will be posted online through the National Archives and Records Administration. Thanks to privacy protections, the 1940 census was kept under wraps for 72 years.

While the entire census will be available, a name index won’t be immediately available thanks to the complexity of the project. It is said to be the organization’s “biggest digitization effort to date,” and thus could take up to six months for the project to be name-searchable. It is the first decennial census to be released online rather than through microfilm.

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Genealogists and historians are expecting the census to contain a massive trove of information. More than 132 million people were surveyed to gather information on homelessness, migration, salaries and more. It is estimated that about 21 million people questioned during that time are still alive today.

According to the Associated Press, the information reveals more than simple statistics do, and can greatly enlighten historians on significant issues during the era:

Researchers might be able to follow the movement of refugees from war-torn Europe in the latter half of the 1930s; sketch out in more detail where 100,000 Japanese Americans interned during World War II were living before they were removed; and more fully trace the decades-long migration of blacks from the rural South to cities.

The census will remain free online to the general public through the end of 2013.

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Erica Ho is a contributor at TIME and the editor of Map Happy. Find her on Twitter at @ericamho and Google+. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.