As many of you may know 1940 is an important year to genealogists and historians right now. On April 2, 2012 at 9 AM EDT the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration will make the 1940 Census available to the public online. This is the first time the 1940 Census can be made available because of the
72-year rule. This rule basically states that the U.S. government cannot release personally identifiable information about a person until 72 years after it’s been collected.
As some of us anxiously wait for April 2 I thought it would be fun to look at the faces of people from 1940 as documented in Nebraska Memories. To start
off the year it appears they had more snow in the early months of 1940 then we did this year. A photo from January 1940 shows a large group of children bundled in their winter coats sitting and in the back of a
pickup truck on a snow covered road. Another photo from February shows a boy outside in his coat and hat
shoveling snow.
Photos taken in March of 1940 give us a glimpse of the workers at the
Falstaff Brewery. The brewery was located at 25th and Vinton in Omaha. In contrast to the brewery works dressed in overalls most of the business men of
Bertrand and 
Loomis are pictured wearing ties with jackets or vests. According to the note this group of businessmen was on an outing to the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District.
The
10th grade class of Bruno High School got their picture taken on April 30, 1940. The four young men in the class look dashing in their dark suites.
The latter half of 1940 appeared to be the time for fun just by looking at the photos in Nebraska Memories. I have no idea who George Turner was but it sure looks like he knew how to through a party. One photo from the party shows a number of
party goers proudly holding up their mugs of beer. I have to wonder if it’s Falstaff beer. The party goers even had a
mock shotgun wedding at the party.
The other fun event documented was
Laurel and Hardy appearing in person at the Orpheum Theatre in October of 1940. I bet that would have been a fun show to attend.
I hope you enjoyed looking at some of the faces of 1940 as you wait to view the 1940 Census. You can learn more about the 1940 Census by visiting the
National Archives 1940 Census website. If you’ve never explored a historic U.S. Census Nebraskan’s have access to the 1790-1930 Census through the HeritageQuest Online databases. This database is made available at no cost to all Nebraskans through
NebraskAccess.
Visit
Nebraska Memories to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, negatives, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books and other materials.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska
Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see
http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information, or contact
Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or
Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
