INFORMATION FROM 1930 CENSUS MAY BE DIFFICULT TO SEARCH Sunday, August 12, 2001 FEATURES - ACCENT & ARTS 03I By Joy Wade Moulton For The Dispatch Prepare to have difficulty searching the 1930 federal census, which is scheduled to be released April 1. Why? There is no index to most Americans enumerated that year. What's being released is the personal data compiled by the 1930 census, listing the names of people living in households and their relationships. By law, personal information cannot be released until 72 years after the Census to protect participants' privacy. The Soundex index -- a compilation of names that can be accessed phonetically -- is complete for 10 Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Kentucky and West Virginia have partial indexes. The National Archives will not be indexing the remaining states, but some companies have indicated a willingness to do so, said Constance Potter, a reference archivist for the National Archives. For all other states, you will need to identify the specific location where a family or individual resided in April 1930. And the 1930 census was complicated by the stock-market crash in October 1929. As a result, many people moved in search of work. This is reflected in some of the questions asked on that return. Under employment, each individual was asked whether he or she "was actually at work yesterday (or the last regular working day).'' Published city directories can be helpful in locating those who lived in urban areas in 1930. An alphabetical listing of names includes street address and occupation. Some may include a separate street directory and description of ward boundaries. The last printed city directory for Chicago (1929) may be useful, as might those for New York boroughs of Bronx and Manhattan in 1931. When only the street address is known, you will need to use the geographic description of the census enumeration districts -- an area that a census-taker covered -- to locate the individual or family on the census. A block-by-block listing of streets is included for larger cities. Microfilm copies of these descriptions (file No. T1224) are now available at the National Archives and the 13 National Archives and Records Administration centers. Soon to be available at these same sites will be colored maps of the enumeration districts (M1930) and an index to streets in selected cities (M1931). The maps of some cities will show streets within each enumeration district. Check the Web site www.nara.gov/genealogy/1930cen.html for updated information on the 1930 census and its search aids. A list of those included is available in The Source: a Guide for American Genealogy (1997), edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, pp. 338-392. Some may be available at the State Library of Ohio or the Ohio Historical Society Library. Others can be ordered locally on interlibrary loan from the Family History Centers at Dublin, Grove City, Reynoldsburg or Westerville for a small fee. The National Archives and its 13 centers also have 1930 city directories available on microfilm at those sites. For families living in small towns and rural areas, most counties have published business directories which include all residents. Names are arranged in alphabetical order, with occupation and either street address or rural location. These are usually available in the reference department of a public library in the town or county seat. The address and phone number can be obtained from the American Library Association Directory. (Any local library has a copy). Enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Joy Wade Moulton is a certified genealogist and a fellow of the Society of Genealogists London, England. Find Your Ancestors appears the second and fourth Sundays of each month. The second column each month addresses questions from readers. Send inquiries to Find Your Ancestors, P.O. Box 218422, Columbus, Ohio 43221.