In a message dated 1/14/02 7:01:32 PM, [email protected] writes: << I am interested to know when the 1930 census will become available? Thanks in advance for answering. Kathleen >> In short, April 1 at midnight. Get all the details at the National Archives web site...http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/genindex.html You can order microfilms any time and they'll be shipped the first week of April. The bad news is how few states have a Soundex - Illinois is not among them, so be prepared to tough it out. They explain that NARA bought lots of City Directories on microfilm from around the country to make it easier to find where a person lived - then you can dig out the Enumeration District and that will save you lots of reader cranking. I'm glad I don't have to research Cook County! Our local National Archives office down in Fort Worth plans to open at midnight - and I bet they'll be busy! If you can get to one of the 9 regional offices it sure will save you time if you have a number of names to research. When I can't go on the road to do research, I can always do another lookup in the census after work... Bob Denton County, Texas