The historical records subscription site Footnote has branched into census territory by adding 1860 US census schedules to its collection.

Footnote took a different angle with this addition—not surprising, since census records are widely available on the Web.

The site, which divides its collections by historical era rather than record type, has grouped the 1860 census with its Civil War collection and made the database interactive. That means subscribers can attach stories, photos and comments to entries in the census.

You also can use Footnote’s records viewer to adjust the brightness and contrast of digitized records and invert images (so they appear as white print on a black background instead of the other way around).

The viewer actually is pretty cool: You hover over an entry and a pop-up window tells you the person’s name. You click for other information, and to see other users’ comments (or add yours). At the bottom of the viewer is a "film strip" you use to navigate to other pages. Here's a look:



The Civil War collection also includes a pension index, Confederate soldiers’ service records and Southern Claims Commission files. Footnote is working with FamilySearch and the National Archives on a pilot project to digitize Union widows’ pension applications.

Annual subscriptions to Footnote cost $59.95.