Heritage Seekers

AHS Annual Conference - Arkansas at Work: Histories of Labor, Land, and Learning
2026-04-09 08:00 - 2026-04-11 17:00 (America/Chicago)
The Arkansas Historical Association will host its eighty-fifth annual conference in Monticello, April 9-11, 2026. Presentations will cover a wide range of topics from all time periods that explore the history of Arkansas at work, from the production and trade of material goods by Indigenous peoples for hundreds of generations to a diverse economy based on agriculture, mining, forestry, manufacturing, and tourism in more modern times.

See the AHS website for more details.

Arkansas State Archives Spring Symposium
2026-05-02 08:30 - 12:00 | Historic Arkansas Museum, 201 W 3rd St, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201, United States
From 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, 2026, the Arkansas State Archives (ASA) will host their spring symposium at the Historic Arkansas Museum.

The symposium will focus on the legacy of sports in the Natural State. Historian Jim Yeager will talk about the history of the Arkansas Travelers; ASA archival assistant Brian Irby will speak about the history of prizefighting in the state; UCA Professor Buckley T. Foster will talk about Arkansas’ history of hunting and conservation; and Muskie Harris will discuss his football career at Central High School and with the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The event is free to attend, but registration is required. Seating is limited, so be sure to register below!

Register on Eventbrite

Family History Research in Arkansas: An Introduction
2026-07-27 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Russell Baker

Russell Baker has been active in Arkansas genealogical education for decades. He is retired from the Arkansas State Archives and recently stepped down as the long-time editor of the Arkansas Genealogical Society’s journal, The Arkansas Family Historian.

A Zoom link will be sent to members and mailing list subscribers the morning of the meeting.

You Only Have a Death Announcement: Now What?
2026-08-24 18:30 - 20:00 | Virtual Meeting
Deborah A. Abbott, Ph.D.

Dr. Deborah Abbott is a professional genealogist specializing in African American research, manuscript collections, and genealogy methodology. She is a Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Archives Advisory Commission member and serves on the Lake View (Ohio) Cemetery Outreach Committee. She is an associate with the Kentucky-Tennessee Associates based in Springfield, TN; past president of the African American Genealogical Society, Cleveland, OH; and a retired professor of Counseling from Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland. She holds both a BS and an M.Ed. from Tuskegee University in Alabama and a PhD from Kent State University in Ohio.

Dr. Abbott is an instructor and the coordinator for both the week-long African American tracts at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), held at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, and the Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP), held at LaRoche University in Pittsburgh, PA. She is also an instructor at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) in Salt Lake City, UT. She presents lectures and workshops at national, state, and local genealogy conferences. She lectures at colleges, businesses & libraries. She has published in both the Ohio Genealogy News and Family Tree Magazine. Dr. Abbott can be seen teaching the African American research course “Needles & Threads” in an educational video on Ancestry Academy, available on Ancestry.com. She coordinates monthly classes for the Genealogy and Family History Clinic for the Cleveland Public Library.

A Cleveland, Ohio native, Dr. Abbott is a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Tuskegee University National Alumni Association, and Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland.

A Zoom link will be sent to members and mailing list subscribers the morning of the meeting.
