This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: rongoodman1 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.tennessee.counties.greene/9674.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: You have at least 2 years to wait. 1940 72 years = 2012 for that US census to be publicly available to anyone by any means, including from the Census Bureau. Probably a year or two after that for indexes to be available from Ancestry.com, and maybe another year or two for images. The 72 years delay was implemented to protect the privacy of living persons, when that was about the maximum lifespan. Given that lifespans are much longer now, and considering the privacy and identity theft issues that releasing the 1940 census might involve for still living persons, I expect that in the next couple of years, Congress may debate and act to tack on at least another 10 years to the release date for census info, if not more. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.