Arkansas: State Archives: Wonderful Local Sources for Genealogical Research

http://archives.arkansas.gov/

I am starting my nationwide tour of all of the state archives with a visit to Arkansas. My thanks to Jeanne Rollberg of the Friends of the Arkansas State Archives for her valuable information about the Arkansas State Archives. Much of the information I include below, came from her.

The way that archives are organized varies considerably across the United States. In the case of the Arkansas State Archives, the agency is part of The Department of Arkansas Heritage.

http://www.arkansasheritage.com/

For genealogists, the main attraction of state archives is that they are usually responsible for storing and preserving state records. Here is a description of the Arkansas collections:

The Arkansas State Archives houses approximately 13,000 cubic feet of state records and manuscript collections pertaining to the history of Arkansas and its people. These materials have been described and inventoried for ease of access. These inventories, called finding aids, are keyword searchable. You may also browse these finding aids alphabetically using the links below. Click the collection's title to view the finding aid. 

Separated Materials:  Some archival collections contain materials that have been stored separately from the bulk of the collection due to those items' preservation needs. Generally, this affects collections that include artifacts that have been moved to the archives' museum collection, and the existence of artifacts in a collection has been noted in that collection's finding aid. Due to the nature of artifact and other separated materials, we require researchers to fill out an Artifact Access Form and send it in to state.archives@arkansas.gov, to schedule an appointment to view artifacts from the museum collection.  

In Arkansas, there are three divisions of the State Archives: the main archives located in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives located in Powhatan, Arkansas and the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives located in Washington, Arkansas. The physical division of the archives will mandate that a researcher spend some time locating the particular records needed for research to avoid unnecessary travel. In any state, it is important to determine the location of the record collections since it common that some records are maintained locally in cities, towns, and counties and other collections of records may only be available at the state level.

I would start my search by looking at the records available online. Here is the section called Arkansas Digital Ark-ives:

http://ahc.digital-ar.org/

This page also provides access to Arkansas History Commission Resource Guides.

http://ahc.digital-ar.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16790coll13

In beginning this exploration, I was contacted by a very helpful genealogist who is a member of the Freinds of the Arkansas State Archives.

https://ararchivesfriends.org/

After spending about a year working 8 hours a day, five days a week (except for holidays and some personal time days) am I considerably more familiar with the inner workings of archives than I was previously. One thing I do know for sure is that visiting an archive for genealogical research requires a considerable amount of preparation. Do not expect to walk in and start working immediately without finding out whatever is possible from their online resources. It also helps to talk to someone who has had some experience with the archive. Hence, the Friends of the Archives.

The Arkansas State Archives has started a Genealogy Day. Here is a link to a video with some images of the 2018 Genealogy Day. It might also be a good idea to see if anyone has uploaded a video to YouTube.com or Vimeo.com about the archives. In fact, the Arkansas State Archives has a YouTube.com Channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh0N747O9AYPYfdVPifqOTw

Note the video on the Foodways Symposium.

Another important resource in addition to the Archives is the Arkansas Genealogical Society. Here is a screenshot of their publications page. You might try finding some of these publications in libraries through WorldCat.org or order them directly from the Genealogical Society.

https://www.agsgenealogy.org/publications/default.html

Note the Arkansas Prior Birth Index which appears to be a valuable resource. I found a copy of this book listed in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah for example.

The Arkansas State Archives is also digitizing their collection of newspapers that will become available on the Library of Congress Chronicling America website. From this example, you can see that using the resources of a state archive should be fully integrated with broad and in-depth research methodology. Quoting from the information supplied to me by Jeanne Rollberg of the Friends of the Arkansas Archives about the Archives' newspaper project:

Newspaper digitization has been a top priority the last few years. Here is an item about some completed digitization last year: Archives partnership digitizes 24 Arkansas newspapers.  Here is about upcoming digitization. NEH grant goes to state archives for newspaper digitization. 

"The project will take two years to complete. Once digitized, the newspapers will be housed online through the Chronicling America website hosted by the Library of Congress (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) and will be accessible to the public for free. An announcement of which Arkansas newspapers are to be digitized will be made at a later date following the work of a selection committee. 

The State Archives holds the largest and most extensive Arkansas newspaper collection in existence. Its total newspaper holdings include an estimated twenty million pages from almost 1,800 titles representing all seventy-five counties in the state."

I had the opportunity to speak at a Lunch and Learn presentation here in the Maryland State Archives and I was happy to learn that the Arkansas State Archives has a similar program in the Arkansas Writer Series called Pen to Podium lectures four times a year. The next presentation will be on November 13, 2018. 

I am sure as I continue to write about these wonderful organizations, that I will discover many interesting and useful resources for genealogists. 

Saroo Brierley is the Friday Keynote Speaker at RootsTech 2019

https://www.rootstech.org/speakers?et_cid=1196110&et_rid=107108866&linkid=BannerImage&cid=em-rt-8052

Saroo Brierley with be speaking on Friday, March 11, 2019, on the Main Stage at RootsTech 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here is the announcement from RootsTech:

Saroo Brierley lost contact with his family as a 5-year-old boy at a train station in India. He was later adopted and raised by an Australian family. But he was unable, and unwilling, to forget the land of his childhood. 

Determined to rediscover his past, Saroo poured over Google Earth and eventually managed to recognize his home town—and track down his birth mother. 

Their reunion in 2012 made headlines across the world, and his full story is recounted in his number 1 international bestselling autobiography, A Long Way Home. 

The film Lion, based on his autobiography, was released in November 2016 and nominated for 4 Golden Globe and 6 Academy Awards.

You can read more about him at Wikipedia: Saroo Brierley. 

MyHeritage LIVE Keynote from Gilad Japhet now available

Gilad’s Keynote Address

The historic MyHeritage LIVE Conference is now over and the presentations made during the Conference are now appearing online. I strongly suggest that you watch the Keynote. It is a wonderful and remarkable story of one very influential person's involvement in genealogy. It is also an excellent introduction to the background and philosophy of MyHeritage.com which will undoubtedly become the largest genealogy company in the world and is already the main force for technological change and advancement in our very tradition-bound pursuit.

Here is the link to the presentation: Gilad’s Keynote Address

Ten Threats to the Future of Genealogical Research

As time passes, certain social, economic, and cultural factors do not bode well for the future of genealogical research. Because of the involvement of large, online genealogy companies, we are being led to believe that the "future" of genealogical research lies in their huge online collections of documents and the application of genealogical DNA testing, but despite these two greatly beneficial developments, we still have, at best, a murky genealogical future.

The items set forth below are based on my own observations and opinions. I could find some quantitative statistics to support most of them but I don't really think putting numbers to these issues will change the degree of threat they constitute. Many of these threats are interrelated.

Here, not in any particular order, are ten items that I think will pose a major threat to genealogical research:

#1 The abandonment of training of cursive handwriting

When you started doing genealogical research and found out that your ancestors came from a place where they did not speak your own native language, You likely dispaired of being able to do any further research. Now, let's think about young people in the United States who are not being taught cursive handwriting. When they start doing genealogy, they are almost immediately going to find themselves in foreign territory, for example, reading US Federal Census records. This issue is going to have a significant and increasing impact on the future of genealogical research. Even those students who learn one form of cursive are not going to have the need to use their skill because of the pervasive use of keyboards. If you think that young people are going to take over the job of doing research, then make sure they know how to read and write cursive.

#2 Lack of adequate document preservation

The continued physical degradation and loss of paper-based records despite preservation efforts particularly those in smaller collections that will be mostly ignored by the large online genealogy companies digitization efforts will erode access to many valuable genealogical resources. The economics of scale mandate that the large genealogy companies who are spearheading the digitization efforts concentrate on large collections and so the smaller valuable collections are unlikely to be digitized before there is significant document loss. Meanwhile, smaller collections are also those where the repositories have limited resources for preservation. For example, many of us have visions of courthouses with piles of old records in a damp basement or attic. Local politics fail to provide for the preservation, but the collections are small so none of the larger companies will spend the time or money to salvage the records.

#3 Lack of history training for younger students

There is an almost complete consensus among those who are still teaching history, especially on a university or college level that a general knowledge of history among the upcoming generation of students is dismally lacking. There is no question that what is being taught about "history" in grade schools and high schools is now "social studies" with an emphasis on race relations, economic disadvantage, and other social ills. If you disagree spend a few minutes quizzing some young people about some subject like the Korean War or the US Civil War. Lack of historical context for adding names to online family trees is a rampant problem.

#4 The huge avalanche of information that is overwhelming our ability to focus on any specific task long enough to solve complex problems

The availability of online information is often seen as a benefit and not a detriment to doing research, but the amount of information today has become the challenge rather than the solution. It is entirely possible that the information you are seeking has been digitized and is online, but there are so many websites with different procedures for accessing those records to make the job nearly impossible.

#5 The unsure future of digital preservation

Digitizing paper records moves the process of preserving those records from the physical threats of deterioration to the more esoteric issues of electronic record migration in the changing world of technology. How many records were lost with the demise of old 3.5 floppy disks? All electronic records need to be migrated as the technology changes. Large companies do this as a matter of course, but smaller electronic collections may become obsolete.

#6 Political pressure to destroy or restrict access to certain genealogically important documents

Many governments around the world have sunset laws that require the automatic destruction of genealogically valuable records after a few years. In addition, other records are lost due to the inaction of governments to provide for their preservation. This is an ongoing problem. The most prominent example is the 1890 US Census. If you think this Census was destroyed by a fire, then you don't know the whole story. See "The Fate of the 1890 Population Census" In addition, many records are restricted because of racial, social, cultural and other political concerns.

#7 General lack of appreciation of genealogically important documents

Many dedicated genealogists are so protective of their research that they end up alienating their family members. When the genealogist dies, all of his or her records are consigned to the trash. This is a constant and persistent loss of valuable information and records.

#8 The proliferation of inaccurate and unsupported family trees

The huge number of family trees online almost guarantees that a significant number of those trees are entirely inaccurate. Unfortunately, information runs downhill. Unless there is a constant effort to maintain and correct the information in a family tree, it is inevitable that the information will deteriorate over time.

#9 Increases in natural disasters

As more records are created, the danger of destruction from natural disasters increases. These natural disasters could be floods, earthquakes, fires, or just the constant decay and destruction of records by rodents, insects, mold, or other such agents.

#10 A general impression that genealogy is "easy."

The whole concept that genealogy is both fun and easy promote sloppy and haphazard research. It may well be "fun" in the sense that it is enjoyable for those who become involved, but it is no picnic. We all have to start somewhere, but if genealogy is actually a complex activity requiring a number of specific skills, then filling in a few spots on an online family tree is not a realistic way to encourage participation.


What can you do to help prevent this loss? The main thing you can do is to learn how to do well documented genealogical research and include, where possible copies of your supporting documents. This includes doing onsite research and obtaining copies where permitted.

State Archives: Wonderful Local Sources for Genealogical Research -- Introduction

https://www.statearchivists.org/connect/resources-state/

During the past year as I have been digitizing records in the Maryland State Archives, I have come to appreciate the vast resources available in these record repositories. I have decided to do a long series of posts highlighting each of the 50 state archives in the United States. I will also include those in possessions and territories where applicable. In each case, I will be detailing the records that are online and those that have yet to be digitized. I am sure that I will have to guess with some of the collections. Since I cannot think of a better way to start, I am going to proceed alphabetically. If you live in Wisconsin or Wyoming and really want to be moved up in the list, I suggest commenting and I will consider jumping around. The image above is from the Council of State Archivists and it is a Directory of all of the State Archives so even if I haven't gotten to your state yet, you can begin your own investigation. I will end up with another list of a few National Archives. This will keep me busy for a while.

There is a considerable variation in the types of items stored and available at the different Archives, but my service at the Maryland State Archives has shown me that what is there and what is available is exceptionally valuable to genealogists doing research in each state. I would suggest that despite the number of records that may be digitized, a visit to the state archives will always prove to be a valuable experience.

For most of my life, I have lived in Utah and Arizona. My ancestors from these states are well documented and I have had little incentive to do additional research in my own state archives. It was only by coming to Maryland for this extended visit that I have fully appreciated the value of these institutions.

I would like to do the same kind of survey for the various university libraries' special collections but since there are well over 2000 public and private universities in the United States, this will not likely happen. I do, however, suggest that genealogists become familiar with their local, state university libraries' special collections. You may find some very interesting and helpful documents and records. I have found several very interesting things in the Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library while I have been working there.

Stay tuned for the first installment on Alabama. I am not planning on keeping a running list of links to these posts but they will all have the same name "State Archives: Wonderful Local Sources for Genealogical Research -- [state name]. You will find them with a Google search.

MyHeritage Live Starts Today

The MyHeritage.com Live Conference starts today, November 2, 2018. Here is a link where you can watch parts of the Conference Live.

MyHeritage Live Conference

Live Stream and Information about the Schedule

Are there any Shortcuts in Genealogy?

Wormhole

It would be nice if there were genealogical wormholes that could transport us back to talk to our ancestors and interview them about their lives. But, alas, wormholes and time travel are mostly left to people like Dr. Who and his friends and Stargates. The fact that both wormholes and time travel have yet to make a dent into the need for genealogical research does not seem to stop some genealogists from touting shortcuts and using terms such as quick, easy, fast, and so forth.

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. Let's suppose you are looking for an ancestor in Maryland. You begin by searching on Google for your ancestor's name. No results. You have access to FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, and Findmypast.com, so you search all four of these huge websites. No results. You don't find any mention of your ancestor. Wait a minute. You have just barely started looking but you have definitely left quick, easy, fast and any shortcuts far behind. What about the Maryland State Archives? Yes, they do have some records online, but after serving in Annapolis digitizing records for FamilySearch at the Maryland State Archives, I can surely attest that we are far from having all of their records digitized. We are only partly the way through the probate records for Maryland and according to our information, we have years of digitizing left to do.

So what is a diligent genealogist to do? Where is the shortcut? If you can't find the records online, you have to travel to the Maryland State Archives and look at the original records. Annapolis is a lovely place to visit but you might have to spend days, maybe weeks searching the records before you can feel that you have properly searched just this source.

Granted, you can always be more efficient. There are always better ways to do some of the things we do as genealogical researchers, but when you are searching through microfilm or even original records when there is no index, there is no shortcut. You just have to bite the bullet and look through the images one by one focusing on the time and the place where your ancestor lived. I have long lists of microfilmed records, now digitized to search and in some cases, I will have to be in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah to see the only copy I can find.

Returning to the Maryland example, there are also a number of local historical societies and genealogical societies that have their own collections. For example, the Anne Arundel Genealogical Society has some very valuable collections that are available to members. Local and state genealogical societies are always a good source for specific information about any area of the country. But contacting these societies takes time and probably some money to access all of their records. So far, I have only mentioned a few record types and there are a lot more left to search.

Let's face reality. Genealogical research can take a great deal of effort over an extended period of time. But spending the time and the effort and when necessary, the money is worth it.