Census Images Online
Two websites, Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com dominate the census images online market. See my December 2004 newsletter for detailed reviews.
The impact on census research by each of millions of census images available on command is enormous. We can all access digitally enhanced images of any of the hundreds of millions of census records from the comfort of our home computers! For any of us who have spent countless hours hunched over a microfilm reader, this luxury is a dream come true.
If you have been hesitating, I urge you to
view Census Records Online at Ancestry.com or
Genealogy.com and see for yourself.
Now picture this...
On one side of your computer screen, you have your browser window open to Ancestry.com, looking at a census record image for your great grandparents. On the other side of your screen you have your CensusTools spreadsheet open and ready to permanently record your findings! You can even save the digitally enhanced image to your computer.
Compare that to the process we currently know...pay to rent the microfilm at your FHC...wait 2 weeks for the film to arrive...hope to have a microfilm viewer available when you go to the FHC...find your record...hope it's readable...transcribe the information onto a paper extraction sheet...pay to make a lousy copy of the microfilm page...and 2 weeks later look for your data in a pile of paper when you finally have time to analyze the records. Whew!
I for one am thrilled that we now have instant access to any census image. I plan to eventually archive my personal research to CD format for permanent storage. Not only will I pass on professional appearing census records via my CensusTools spreadsheets, I will also be able to catalog and store high quality images of the originals! It doesn't get any better for genealogists!
