A wide variety of options exist online for searching and viewing digitized copies of U.S. census records from 1790 to 1940. Several subscription-based sites offer the entire run, with seamless searching and browsing. However, if you only need access to a few census records, or are particularly budget-conscious, you can also achieve free access to the entire U.S. census run 1790-1940 with a little extra effort.

Heritage Quest Online offers free access to all U.S. census images 1790-1940 (and select indexes) to anyone who has free access through a participating local, state, or university library system. Contact or check the website of your local public library, as well as your state and any nearby university libraries, to see if they offer remote access to Heritage Quest Online and if you are eligible to apply for a library card. Alternatively, you can use the free census indexes available on FamilySearch, in combination with the free digitized U.S. census images on Internet Archive (no indexes) to achieve free access to the entire U.S. census collection 1790-1930. The 1940 U.S. census is completely free from several sources, including Archives.com (not to be confused with Internet Archive--archive.org), Ancestry.com (free account required to view records), FamilySearch.org, MyHeritage.com, and FindMyPast.com (free registration required).

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Family documents such as letters, diaries, and even original land deeds, like the one pictured, are hiding among the manuscript collections held by archives, university libraries, historical societies and other repositories around the world. Since they are generally not easily accessible, especially online, many people overlook this wonderful family resource.

Related Resources:
U.S. State Archives Online - Record Collections, Finding Aids, and Catalogs
10 Questions to Ask a Research Facility Before You Visit

Two new free online study group options are now available for discussing and learning from the book Mastering Genealogical Proof by Thomas W. Jones, PhD, GG, CGL, FASG, FNGS. This book is published by the National Genealogical Society (NGS) and is now available. It can be ordered directly from the National Genealogical Society here, and will also be available at next week's NGS Family History Conference.  I blogged about this book last fall under its then working title, after taking a course taught by Dr. Jones at the British Institute based on exercises from the pre-press copy. The press release from National Genealogical Society also describes the new book:

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I'm excited to be presenting at and attending the 2013 National Genealogical Society (NGS) Family History Conference next week in Las Vegas, Nevada. For those of you who will also be attending, I've highlighted a few tools to help you plan and make the most of your experience:

1) The 2013 NGS Conference Syllabus is now available online for registered attendees. I encourage you to browse through it now so you can start thinking about which sessions you most want to attend, and either print pages for the sessions you wish to attend, or download a copy to your tablet, computer or other device if you desire. To view and download the syllabus, log in to the NGS website at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/2013syllabus. Please allow up to 10 minutes for the download to complete as the file is very large. Attendees will also receive a digital copy of the syllabus at conference check in. You can prepare for the conference before you leave home by viewing and printing syllabi for the sessions you would like to attend. NGS will not have syllabus printing stations at the conference, although you can print from your flash drive syllabus at the LVH business center for 30 cents per page in black and white, plus an additional $1 to open a file and print from a CD or flash drive.

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