FYI, The following message is one I received from another mailing list and thought someone may benefit from it. Leslie -- I work at the Laguna Niguel, CA - Regional NARA (National Archives & Records Admin). One of the things that I do is instruct patrons on the Federal Census day in and day out. During the 1990 census the Federal Gov published a book entitles "200 Years of Census Taking" which describes everything you will ever want to know about each census to date. It deals with even the instructions given each census taker. This publication might let you amplify on some of your areas. ...the census forms that we see on microfilm ARE NOT those of the census taker but those recopied from the field sheets to a formal form by the Census Administrator. Ever wonder why the handwritting looked so much alike? What this means is the census taker had the first shot at the information, the census administrator took a second shot. The WPA had a further shot at it when FDR created Social Security and FRD ordered SOUNDEX/MIRACODE. Then along came Ron Jackson (AISI) & his famous Census Index books which were produced by students in UTAH. Last but "very" least, Ron Jackson sold the print tapes of his books which produced tons of new errors in the CDs you now read as the print tapes had deteriorated. ALWAYS check both the books & the CDs for indexed names...... One last.... Why did the Census Index for 1880 only list the Head of House with children 10 or younger? HINT, children 10 or younger in 1880 were the only group eligible for Social Security at age 65 as originally intended, 1870 plus 65 equals 1935 when Social Security became effective. One last on 1880 Index.... The LDS started a project 10 years ago to produce a complete 1880 Census Index with NO restrictions. They finished gathering the raw data 5 years ago and are in the "midst of formating" it for public consumption. Maybe someone can get a release date. Lloyd McDaniel NARA Housegeny@AOL.COM