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Related to this question, I have found a page in the 1940 US Census of which I would like a clearer image. Would it be easy or straightforward to obtain one from another source? (The source if my image is Ancestry.com.)

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It would be easier to find the same page on another source if you provided either the full page or some names that appear on the page. I don't know if they use the same original sources, but FamilySearch also has images of the 1940 census. – bstpierre Oct 27 '12 at 1:10

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up vote 8 down vote accepted

Archive.org has independently scanned US census images, although not unfortunately for 1940. Their description is:

The record of the population census from 1790 to 1930. Scanned from microfilm from the collections of the Allen County Public Library and originally from the United States National Archives Record Administration.

I believe that the images for 1940 were digitised by NARA from microfilms made in the 1940s or early 1950s. Once the microfilming was completed, the original documents were destroyed by the Bureau of the Census. So the only way of getting a clearer page would be if one of the providers such as Ancestry invested in some digital signal processing to clean them up.

Source: The Ancestry Insider (16 May 2012). "1940 Census Update for 16 May 2012: Bad News". www.ancestryinsider.blogspot.com. Retrieved 28 October 2012.

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up vote 5 down vote

The image on your other question looks to me like Police Precinct 6, Tract 19. A name would help to narrow it down.

This query on FamilySearch has about 8000 records matching against that precinct/tract. Searching on Rittenhouse Street does not provide any results.

Ok, I think this your matching image. How I found it:

  • Use the query above.
  • Click through to an arbitrary image.

  • Look at the "breadcrumbs" header above the image:

    United States Census, 1940 >> District of Columbia >> District of Columbia >> Police Precinct 9, District of Columbia, Tract 23

  • Click on the Police Precinct link, navigate to Precinct 6, Tract 19

  • Notice that the images are in order according to "Population Schedule", jump forward 39 images to the right page for Schedule 263 as seen in the header you posted in the other question.

It's also worth noting that searching for, say, "Raymond Mitchell" in Precinct 6, Tract 19 would have gotten you immediately to the record in question.

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Thanks for the link - surprisingly it would seem that scan has a double image and is fuzzy in the same areas as the ancestry.com image, hinting that they were obtained from the same (possibly original) source. – fbrereto Oct 27 '12 at 22:03
up vote 4 down vote

Digital images of the 1940 census were sold to Ancestry.com. FamilySearch..org, Archives.com and other content providers by NARA who prepared the original images. You could try any of those sites.

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So in theory then if there was an issue with the NARA scan the various sites you mention would have the same issues? The page mentioned in the prior question appears to have been jostled in the scan, and it would be great to find a version of the page without the blurring. – fbrereto Oct 28 '12 at 5:45

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