One of my friends emailed the folks at Family Search Indexing and asked when Nebraska 1900 census was going to be put up for indexing. She got a reply back that said if we had a group of people who wanted to work on it, it was basically ready to go, and to let them know. If you are willing to help, let me know, so that we can let them know and have Nebraska posted. There are currently 14 states posted (there were 20 when I started, so some have been finished--Missouri and Massachusetts to name 2 that I helped on.) If you don't already know about this project, it is part of the project the LDS Family History Library has to scan, index and put on line the majority of their 3 million reels of microfilm and their microfiche. There are other agencies that have contacted them about the project because they want their records on line as well, and a reel of microfilm can be scanned in about 1/2 an hour with their new technology [indexing takes longer]. (Current estimate to scan 3 million reels of film for use on line: 7 years. How long it takes to get it all on line, depends on how many people we can get to help.) UNDERSTAND: you do not need to be a Mormon to help with this project, because the records are of everybody's ancestors, not just ancestors of Mormons. The records will be of all kinds of different records from all kinds of different countries, and all kinds of different religions, in case you haven't ever used the Family History Center because you're a ways from one in rural Nebraska or somewhere similar. Registering to help is a 3 part process at the _www.familysearchindexing.org_ (http://www.familysearchindexing.org) web site: 1. Register by clicking on the first link. They'd like to know who you are, and where you're from, and if you are LDS. (Just so they know how many of their own people are participating...not so missionaries will come knocking on a door.) 2. Downloading the software to your computer. 3. Downloading a project to work on. When you get to that screen, you can download from a current project and they select the one they're anxious to finish up first (I think they're getting Ohio this week), or select the button next to it to select your own project from the ones that are currently up for indexing. Each "project" consists of one page of material, right now all the posted ones are 1900 censuses...from 14 different states. You will get a template that tells you what they want indexed off of that page, and there's a "cheat sheet" on the side as you come to each blank, so that you know what they want you to type into the blank. When you've finished the record, you will be given a chance to review what you typed for errors (the computer pulls up stuff that's not in the typical data base and you look at it again. Sometimes you recognize an oops in your typing, sometimes, it's REALLY what it looks like it says...then you submit.) They ask their volunteers to do 1 page a week and most pages can be done in 1/2 hr to 2 hours. If the volunteers want to do more, they can (I try to do 1 or 2 pages a day, and have friends doing much more), but a minimum of one page. You can leave & come back and open it up again if you have to. If you don't get it done in the week, it will be given to someone else to finish. This is not to be taken as an insult, but the fact they want to get things up and rolling--and sometimes our lives intrude in what we want to do--they recognize that. You can download another page to work on next time. Currently they estimate there are 30,000 people indexing. They estimate there will be 130,000 indexing by the end of the year. You may be indexing in your state, but don't get to pick your county. I've had one page from a county where I had family living, and nobody I recognized was on that page...but somebody did those pages, because it's off the list that needs to be done! Also, you need to know, that 2 people index each page. (Not two people in the same room) The computer compares the two transcriptions and if they don't match--it gets looked at by a third person who has more experience with the hand writing and the time period to try to determine which is correct. It still isn't going to be a perfect system, because sometimes the census taker spelled the names REALLY bizarre as you know, but it's better than having only one person in Sri Lanka or similar, look at it. If you want to help, let me know, so I can get a head count to them that we have people willing to help on Nebraska. In the meantime, you could help on another state to get your feet wet if you want and it would be appreciated...whether it's one of your states or not. (I've done pages from both Washington and Oregon, and don't have family in either state.) You don't have to live in Nebraska to help on Nebraska, nor on any of the other states that you are interested in helping on. Share this with your local Nebraska genealogy societies, and other Nebraska county lists you may be on. Like I said, if I tell them I have 50, or 100, or 150 people raring to go, it'll be up a lot faster. The more we do, the faster there are going to be more records available. Understand this too: many, maybe even most of the images will be available for free. Some of the rights to the images are retained by the original owner of the record and there may be a small fee to get a copy, but even at that it takes a lot of guess work out of whether or not the John Jones you're sending the money to get a marriage license for is the right one or not before you even mail it off. And yeah, even this system isn't going to be perfect, but it's going to be great, even with a few glitches. I am only connected with this project as an avid genealogist volunteer who is working to get more volunteers, so we can get more records indexed, and we can all find more ancestors. I will try to answer questions, on or off list, if you have them. Let's go get 'em done! Karen _OmahaMom@aol.com_ (mailto:OmahaMom@aol.com) ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.