A few days ago I published an announcement from Footnote.com about a new Great Depression Collection the company has added. That announcement is at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/03/footnotecom-releases-great-depression-collection.html. I then wrote my impressions of the new interactive 1930 U.S. census that is a part of that collection. My comments are at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/03/commentary-footnotes-interactive-1930-census-and-the-great-depression-collection.html.
Now Beau Sharbrough, former VP of Acquisitions at Footnote, has written about his impressions of the new collection and has offered step-by-step instructions in an article titled, “1930 Census - WWII Collection?”
In this article Beau describes some of the information he found in the new collection. In one case, the info about one ancestor was easy to find, but another person in the family tree required some sleuthing before surfacing.
If you are a Footnote user, or if you are thinking about using the service, I'd suggest you look at this and Beau's other articles on The Unofficial Footnote Blog (TUFBLOG) at http://tufblog.com.
Dick,
I really like the "illegible" listings- which give information about who's in a household despite the illegible surname of the "head." Sometimes, the residents have surnames, sometimes they are illegible too. But at least- usually- the given names are there. If someone were really, really stumped they might identify their family by its members' given names.
However--I am appalled to note that at least two counties in California are completely missing from Footnote's version of the 1930 census. Neither SANTA CRUZ nor YOLO Counties are in the dropdown menu, nor does either county appear valid upon typing in the name: both yield a "0" result. A glaring hole in the 1930 census for California.
Posted by: Marjorie Wilser | April 02, 2009 at 02:42 PM