Monday, April 2 nd , saw the official release to the public of the detailed information gathered during the 1940 census. To say that the census information has been popular would be a gross understatement. The National Archives, the agency tasked with storing, organizing, and sharing census information, reported that in the first three hours after the information was released, their website received over 22 million hits.

The sheer volume of web traffic outpaced estimates and slowed servers for much of the first day. Throughout the day on Monday, many users were only able to access periphery functions and information, while larger files and images were delayed or would not load at all. Staff at The Archives worked to streamline functions on the website and increase server capacity, and by Tuesday, most users reported that they were able to find the information they were looking for.

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Download this file (233_md1s16p1.pdf)233_md1s16p1.pdf[ A Look Back: The U.S. Releasing 1940 Census Data ]105 kB