Counting History
I've been working on my genealogy for a long time now and in the course of my research, I've spent many hours peering at census forms trying to tease every piece of information I could out of them. So it's there's a certain pleasing circularity to the fact that I've been sworn in as an Enumerator for the US Census Bureau for the 2010 Census.
The actual enumeration doesn't start until next year but I've been hired on now to work on address canvassing phase in preparation for the big count next year. While the work is part time and temporary, and there's no promise of future assignments, I'm hopeful that satisfactory work on this project will help me land more projects going forward. I'd love to be able to be able to work with them right until the end.
Training started today and I got to geek out over my (temporary) new toys. I'm thrilled to be able to fill in gaps in my classwork with knowledge gleaned for my many hours of scrutiny. And suddenly the mysterious of the forms are beginning to make a little more sense. At least I'll be able to figure out how blocks work!
There's a feeling of being part of history that I really enjoy. The knowledge that 72 years hence some genealogist will be patiently waiting for my work to be released and hoping that it contains the answers they're looking for makes me smile. And to that genealogist I hereby pledge to be as accurate and complete in my work as I possibly can, to spell the names as correctly as possible and if I should ever have to hand write something you'll one day read, I'll print it neatly and legibly.
The actual enumeration doesn't start until next year but I've been hired on now to work on address canvassing phase in preparation for the big count next year. While the work is part time and temporary, and there's no promise of future assignments, I'm hopeful that satisfactory work on this project will help me land more projects going forward. I'd love to be able to be able to work with them right until the end.
Training started today and I got to geek out over my (temporary) new toys. I'm thrilled to be able to fill in gaps in my classwork with knowledge gleaned for my many hours of scrutiny. And suddenly the mysterious of the forms are beginning to make a little more sense. At least I'll be able to figure out how blocks work!
There's a feeling of being part of history that I really enjoy. The knowledge that 72 years hence some genealogist will be patiently waiting for my work to be released and hoping that it contains the answers they're looking for makes me smile. And to that genealogist I hereby pledge to be as accurate and complete in my work as I possibly can, to spell the names as correctly as possible and if I should ever have to hand write something you'll one day read, I'll print it neatly and legibly.