Detailed tips for geographic searches - 1930 U.S. Census

Tip #1. Use known street intersections to narrow search results in heavily populated locations. Geographic and institution searches in large states, counties, and cities often return a very large results set (e.g., a large list of ED descriptions). One quick way of narrowing the search and pinpointing the ED can be to enter the names of the two intersecting streets of your local street corner, if you know them. For example, entering "Grand" and "May" in Chicago. This search will return only two ED descriptions, both of which are on a single microfilm roll. Entering only "Grand" will return 34 ED descriptions contained on nine microfilm rolls. When entering multiple search terms in the ED description, separate each search term by a comma. For example, you would enter the following: Grand, May

Tip #2. Take advantage of nearby major streets. Keep in mind that Bureau of the Census tended to lay out urban EDs along major street boundaries. Practically speaking, census takers didn't have to cross as many large streets to do their jobs when EDs lay on one or the other side of a major street. Entering the name(s) of major streets nearby your location may return search results that allow you to peruse the geographical description and to recognize the best ED to search.

Tip #3. Use current online maps to help narrow down large ED search results. Comparing search results with local maps will greatly assist your identification of the ED.

Contemporary 1930 Census Maps of the EDs are available from NARA, but these are not on-line. Current online electronic maps are useful as long as you remember their limitations and recognize how major cities have evolved over the past 72 years. Among other factors, the above link to the U.S. Census Bureau Web site allows a direct search of a current street address. Also, various useful map overlays can be turned on and off such as street names, institution names, zip code boundaries, various census boundaries, etc. The only downside is that the map data is current (e.g., 2000) as opposed to circa 1930.

For many of the major cities (especially in the Northeast and Midwest), residential streets especially in the "inner city" have not changed much, and people still refer to neighborhoods in many cities as the "old neighborhood". Where there are now expressways that have cut through old neighborhoods, more often than not, you can readily see where the smaller streets have stopped on one side of the expressway, then continue on the other side. Residential neighborhoods (especially the layout of the streets) in big cities such as Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Milwaukee have not changed much, and the suburban sprawl is largely a phenomenon of the post World War II era. Thus, current online maps may have some value in narrowing your geographic search.

You can use current online maps such as those available from the Bureau of the Census web site at: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet Or check other commercial online map sites such as MapPoint or MapQuest to compare your ED search results with the local geography.

Tip #4. Your objective in the search is to find the right microfilm roll. The major objective of this web site is to assist you in identifying the correct microfilm roll to view. As a practical matter in obtaining the information needed to view/rent/buy the microfilm, remember that your search will return both the number of EDs and the number of microfilm rolls based on the geographic information you enter. The number of microfilm rolls is more important than the number of EDs because that tells you how many you will have to view to find your family. Census microfilm rolls always contain a number of EDs on each roll and often contain many EDs. Don't be alarmed if the latter is the case for your search. If your ED search results indicate just one (1) microfilm roll number, go ahead and take the steps given when you click the roll number to get access to that microfilm roll. If your ED search indicates many rolls of microfilm, use the guidelines given here and in the Search Strategies pages to narrow the results down to a few rolls or just one roll of microfilm.

Tip #5. Recognize the limits of the database and don't be too detailed in your search. For geographic searches, be careful to not enter too detailed street or place descriptions, such as "W. Grand Avenue." or "N. May Street." For both of these instances (in Chicago), you would get zero results, because the search terms are too specific. It is best to enter the proper name of the street or place without any N-S-E-W designators and without any designation such as "Rd.", "St.", "Ave.", "Blvd.", etc. Similarly, searching numbered street names such as "83rd Street" or "14th Avenue" can also be problematic due to the potential for abbreviations. In the instance of numbered streets, NARA recommends that the user just enter the number into the search form. In this example, you should just enter "83" or "14".

Tip #6. Take advantage of place name and institutional name searches. In conducting geographic searches, especially in less populated areas, try entering local and institutional names wherever applicable instead of entering proper street names. For example, for small towns and villages, just enter the name of the town or village. Similarly, many states and counties have townships and boroughs. Larger cities tended to have numbered Wards and Precincts. If you know the proper name of the particular town, village, borough, precinct, parish, township, Ward, etc. - then just enter the proper name (or a piece of the name, if your spelling is uncertain). Often these searches will point you to one specific ED on a single roll of microfilm. If you know that a hospital, jail, school, or the like was nearby your family's location in 1930, enter the proper name of the institution. Its ED number may be right next to the ED number of the neighborhood you have to search. This approach has worked to narrow ED searches in heavily populated urban areas. Entering generic names such as "hospital", "jail", "convent", "sanitarium", "prison", etc. will, however, return all ED containing those search terms.

Tip #7. "Walk" the ED in your mind, then do it using the microfilm. In general, the Bureau had a consistent scheme for laying out and numbering Enumeration Districts in major cities and counties. The EDs were laid out and numbered in rows with the ED number in ascending order from west to east. If your search result returns an ED number and an ED description that is a bit east or west of what you are looking for, you can readily "walk" your way along the map in the direction needed by incrementing (in the easterly direction) or decrementing (in the western direction) the ED number by one (1) value. The incremented or decremented ED number can be directly entered into the "Search Enumerations District (ED)" data entry form at the bottom of all State Search pages.