Hi, everybody:
For what it is worth, I received the following message (very quickly, by
the way) as a reply to a query I placed with the United States Bureau of
the Census. Under U.S. law, the Federal decennial censuses are released 72
years after they are taken.
========================
Hello,
The 1930 Federal census records will be released to the custody of the
National Archives on April 1, 2002, for microfilming. You may want to
contact the National Archives about their anticipated availability date of
these records to the public.
Regards,
Carolyn
History Staff
========================
After I got this message, I called the Chicago Regional Branch of the
National Archives as suggested. I expected from the wording, "released ...
for microfilming" that the filming would begin in April 2002, take a
certain amount of time, then the rolls would have to be shipped out, etc.
Instead, they told me today, 16 July 2001, that the Monday, 1 April 2002
date is the actual date of the release of the census film for public
viewing. The archivist in Chicago informed me that the microfilm is
*currently* in their possession, and they are doing quality control
checking on each roll at this time.
I would suggest that other National Archives sites would have the same
schedule, this being the government and all, but my direct information is
limited to the Chicago branch.
Take whatever action you deem appropriate. No breaking and entering,
though, and don't blame *me* when you tell your family and friends this far
in advance what you'll be doing early next April <grin>.
Permission is granted to redistribute this message.
Darrell A. Martin
a native Vermonter currently in exile in Addison, Illinois
darrellm(a)sprynet.com