A small group of genealogists decided to help index and arbitrate the 1940 census for familysearch.org to make these images searchable and easier to use by researchers and dedicated their efforts to the Lamar County Genealogical Society. As a partner society, the Lamar County Genealogical Society was eligible to win some prizes for the society library.
In April, the National Archives and Records Administration released the digital images of the 1940 United States Federal Census after a 72-year embargo. These census images are available on familysearch.org. The entire 1940 census data was indexed by a community of volunteers as well. The index of the census records and corresponding images are available free to the public for perpetuity. This project was predicted to take eight months to finish, yet was completed in 124 days—four full months ahead of schedule. On Aug. 4, just before 2 p.m., the last batch of the 1940 U.S. Census was arbitrated and submitted for publication. The indexing portion of the 1940 US Census Community Project was officially done.
There are 22,693,907 searchable records. In all, 434 societies and 163,285 volunteers across the United States participated in the project. The nine volunteers from Lamar County indexed and arbitrated 560,844 records. They won the May contest for most records indexed — small society category (two-15 participating members) and won the June contest for most records arbitrated — small society category. They were in fifth place for overall production, surpassing large societies with more than 100 participating members. They finished in second place in the number of records arbitrated. They took first place for overall production — small society category and second place in per capita production. Two of the volunteers were in the top 10 producers out of the 163,285 volunteers.
The Lamar County volunteers included: Joy Fisher, Calif.; Gayle Triller, Ore.; Marceline Beem, Fla.; Tina Vickery, Maine; Sundee Anderson, Ga.; Sue Cravy, McKinney; and Debra Usry, Mary Tallant and Betsy Mills, all of Paris.
As a result of the combined efforts of these nine volunteers, they won goodie bags for each member of the team and these prizes for the Lamar County Genealogical Society: two laptop computers, a projector, an HD webcam, four one-hour Family History Library live webinar sessions, an annual subscription toGoToWebinar (a webinar provider service) and a $1,700 Amazon gift card.

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