How do we gain access to the 1950 census for indexing?

J. Britt Franklin

On April 1, does the census show up in the list of projects or is there some other mechanism?

Also, is it possible to request to index specific counties?

Thanks!

Susan Ann Mullen

We will be finding out the answers to your questions soon! We do know you can request states and surnames!

erutherford

Yes. On your Indexing landing page, there is this, which resembles, in a way, what the census reviewing will look like. Click Try It, go down to Review Names, click Get Started and from the pop-up box, you can review by state and surname. Note that there are only a handful of states available.

J. Britt Franklin

Thank you! I am way stoked for this event. 😃

erutherford

The census will be indexed by AI.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/indexing-1950-census

Ancestry will create an initial automated index using machine learning algorithms and AI handwriting recognition technology.

In past years, thousands of indexing volunteers spent months or even years making census collections searchable. This year, Ancestry's sophisticated artificial intelligence and handwriting recognition technology will save time by creating an initial index from digital census images. While this index won’t be perfect, it will expedite the review and publication process to let you search for your family’s names in the 1950 census sooner after its release.

J. Britt Franklin

I am assuming there will be a review process for the AI indexed images. Correct?

Susan Ann Mullen

Yes we will be reviewing them! We are so excited! In fact we can review by state and by our surnames!