Talk:FamilySearch Indexing: US—1940 Federal Census, Project Updates

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What do you do when he name of the state is written in the city field? (Please see the Wiki Project Updates page for the answer under the Place of Birth and Residence fields section)

Hawaii Census - Race
The census form shows Caucasian - Cau. The indexer put white. How should this be arbitrated, Caucasian or White?

Comments with feedback when reviewing arbitration?
I had a very difficult when indexing a page from Wisconsin. It was loaded with Norwegian last names, poor handwriting and bad focus. My solution: I found the same street in the 1930 and 1920 census where the image quality was better and found the same families and how they were spelled back then. However, the arbitrator did not always choose my entries, even though I was very confident of the ones that were hard to read because of my research. Is there any way to comment to an arbitrator when sending feedback to explain why your choices were made?

"Ab" after the given name
I understand that "Ab" means the person was temporarily absent from the household on April 1, but should it be indexed in the Titles or Terms field? I'm guessing it shouldn't. I think I remember not indexing it for the 1930 census, but I just thought I would check. Thanks!

Index the "R" or type out "RURAL"
When the City of Residence has an "R", should the "R" be typed or "Rural"? I've been arbitrated both ways. What is correct?

Alleghany County, MD vs. Allegheny County, PA
I have been mis-arbitrated several times on this one.. I was pretty sure I was right, since I grew up in Western PA, but I researched it to verify...

Although they both have the same long a pronunciation, the correct spelling in Pennsylvania is Allegh e

It ends with - a ny in Maryland.

"Same place" notations in New York City
Project instructions state that when "Same place" is noted in Column 17 (City of residence in 1935), columns 18 and 19 (county and state of residence in 1935) should always be marked blank. This instruction makes sense in most places. New York City, however, encompasses 5 counties within the city limits. Therefore, someone may live in Brooklyn in New York CIty (Kings County) in 1940, but have moved there from Manhattan in New York City (New York County) in 1935. So they are in the "same place" i.e., the same city, but in a different county.

Indeed, in the pages I have been indexing from the Bronx in New York City (Bronx County) I have found numerous incidences where people have moved from one county within New York City to another. I have therefore -- on New York City census pages only -- when "same place" is noted in column 17, been filling in column 18 whenever the enumerator has done so. Column 19 (State) is always the same, so I mark it blank. With "same house" notations, I mark both 18 and 19 blank.

I expect that when arbitrators get to these pages, they are going to "correct" them according to project rules, but I don't know how to prevent this. For researchers, knowing which county someone lived in in 1935 can be valuable information. It's a shame to have it lost to those who don't look at the original images.