Many online resources are available to help you learn about New York City in the 1940s. Here are some links to help you in your research.

1940 Census

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau has made available online the original record forms prepared by Census enumerators in 1940. Several websites provide access to this information, including:

• the National Archives site; and
• private entities such as
  • Ancestry.com,
  • FamilySearch.org,
  • MyHeritage.org, and
  • 1940census.net.

In New York City, the NY Public Library provides an online service to make it easy to determine the street addresses for your ancestors, which you'll need to search the sites above.

• The NYPL 'Direct Me NYC' site lets you search scanned telephone directories from 1940, and links you directly to the 1940 Census enumeration sheets for your location.

Life in New York City in the '40s

The NYPL 'DirectMeNYC' site has a great FAQ with links to online resources about New York in the '40s, such as:

• photos of New York in the '40s from the Library's digital archives.

Other online sites with information about life in New York City in the 1940s include:

• the 1939 World's Fair
• impressive color photos from the early 1940s