It has been twelve long years of waiting, but the United States 1940 Federal Census release is nearly upon us. This will mark the first ever digital release of the census. Government officials have been extracting 3.9 million digital images for months preparing for the release on April 2, 2012 at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.

Sorry, Ancestry.com will not have an every-name index we’re accustomed to. You’ll have to do a little digging on your families and know where they lived in 1940. Hopefully, they were the type of family who stuck around the same general area. Check out the National Archives’ dedicated site to discover how to best prepare for researching your family: http://1940census.archives.gov/