Tomorrow is the big day for historians and genealogists.  The 1940 census will be made public following its 72 year hibernation and people like me are eagerly awaiting access to these images.  The census is not yet indexed so that means searching by address and related EDs.  EDs from census records are not the same ED we hear about in those magazine advertisements and smarmy TV ads, just in case you didn't already realize. 

In census-speak EDs are enumeration districts which outline the geographic area a census take could cover in a specified amount of time.  For 1940, a month's time was allotted so enumeration districts were established based on the area a census taker could cover in that time.  In urban areas, enumeration districts would be much smaller geographically than rural areas. 

Having the 1940 enumeration district allows the user to find the 'old neighborhood'.  The tricky part is that the enumeration districts changed from census to census so I cannot rely on 1930 information to locate 1940 records.  But there are finding aids and someday soon the records will be indexed.  In the meantime, I'll be going page by page looking for the Manzellis, the Coffarellis, the Messas and the Dalpiazs.  I look forward the the great surprises and treats in store and cannot wait to share them with you (unless you find them first!)