National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair, October 28, 29 and 30, 2014

Please join the National Archives for the 2014 Virtual Genealogy Fair on October 28, 29, & 30, starting daily at 10 a.m. eastern time. This will be a live broadcast via the Internet so you can ask our genealogy experts questions at the end of their talks. The entire event is free and open to all, so there is no registration.

Presenters

Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero will provide opening remarks. Other speakers include experts from National Archives’ facilities nationwide, the historian from the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, and representatives from Ancestry and FamilySearch.

Schedule and Session Material

Lectures will feature tips and techniques for using Federal records at the National Archives for genealogy research. Lectures are designed for experienced genealogists and novices.

View the full schedule here.

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Event Reminder: Genealogy Conference, Saturday

We are still taking registrations for the Genealogy Conference, featuring Billie Fogarty, this Saturday, July 19, 9am-4pm, at the Ron Robinson Theater, and for the Genealogy Meet & Greet on Friday, July 18, from 4-6pm in ASI Room 124. This event is free and open to the public. Please register online here, in person in the Research Room, or by calling Kate at 501-918-3033.

Can't make it to the conference? The Butler Center will host a Genealogy Meet & Greet Friday, July 18, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in room 124 in the Arkansas Studies Institute building. This is an opportunity to get acquainted with fellow genealogists and share research experiences. For those unable to attend the Genealogy Conference on Saturday, this will be a chance to gather research hints from experienced genealogists. Two episodes of PBS’s Genealogy Roadshow will be screened, and refreshments will be served. Please register if you plan to attend. 

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Event Reminder: Genealogy Conference, July 19

Genealogy Conference Looks at Land Records

When studying a family tree, it might help to think about where it grows. Using land records in genealogical research will be discussed in depth at the Butler Center's Genealogy Conference 2014, featuring Billie M. Fogarty, M. Ed., on Saturday, July 19, from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. in the CALS Ron Robinson Theater. The conference is free and open to the public; registration is required and available at www.butlercenter.org/conference. The theater's entrance may be accessed from the Main Library's parking lot, 100 Rock Street.

In addition to the conference, a Genealogy Meet & Greet will be held on Friday, July 19, from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. in Room 124 of the Arkansas Studies Institute building, 401 President Clinton Avenue. This is an opportunity for genealogists to meet each other and share research experiences. Two episodes of PBS's Genealogy Roadshow will be shown, and refreshments will be served. This program is free and open to the public; registration is required and available at www.butlercenter.org/conference.

Billie M. Fogarty, M. Ed., of Oklahoma City, will cover the following topics at the conference: Land/ Property: "War of 1812 Bounty Land in Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois"; Migration: "Land Runs, Lotteries, and Homesteading: Settlement American Style"; and Native American Issues: "Discovering the American Indian Archives: Repositories/Record Types-Dead Men Tell No Tales, but Their Tombstones Do."

For more information, call 501-918-3033.

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Event Reminder: Finding Family Facts, June 9

Finding Family Facts

Every second Monday
3:30 to 5 p.m.
Arkansas Studies Institute, Room 204
401 President Clinton Ave.

The Butler Center offers a beginner's genealogy class the second Monday of every month, taught by Rhonda Stewart, the Butler Center's local history and genealogy expert. Participants will learn how to use online databases and city directories, as well as how to archive family documents. Jump-start your genealogy research with this fun and creative way to learn about the past.

For more information, contact the Butler Center at 501-320-5700.

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Save the Date!

July 19, 2014
2014 Genealogy Conference

The Butler Center is pleased to host Billie Fogarty, M.Ed, of Oklahoma City, as speaker for its annual genealogy workshop. This day-long workshop, held in the Central Arkansas Library System's Ron Robinson Theater on the Main Library campus, is free and open to the public; registration is required.

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Event Reminder: Finding Family Facts, March 10

Finding Family Facts

Every second Monday
3:30 to 5 p.m.
Arkansas Studies Institute, Room 204
401 President Clinton Ave.

The Butler Center offers a beginner's genealogy class the second Monday of every month, taught by Rhonda Stewart, the Butler Center's local history and genealogy expert. Participants will learn how to use online databases and city directories, as well as how to archive family documents. Jump-start your genealogy research with this fun and creative way to learn about the past.

For more information, contact the Butler Center at 501-320-5700.

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News from the Butler Center

New Year's Resolution: Reconnect with Family History
It's a new year, and it's a great time for families to reconnect with their roots. Anyone can learn more about genealogy and family history at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, which offers access to numerous databases, city directories, and county records. Many of these resources may be used online with a Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) library card, and all may be accessed on the second floor of the Arkansas Studies Institute (ASI) building, 401 President Clinton Ave.

People who are just starting out with their family research are invited to attend Finding Family Facts, a free beginners' genealogy class held on the second Monday of each month at 3:30-5 p.m. in Room 204 of the ASI building. Participants are shown how to use online databases and to archive family documents. The class is taught by Rhonda Stewart, the Butler Center's local history and genealogy expert. For more information, call 918-3033.

View Unusual Portraits at Butler Center Galleries
Explorations in portraiture by two accomplished Little Rock artists will be displayed at the Butler Center Galleries, 401 President Clinton Ave., beginning Friday, January 10. An opening reception will be held as part of Second Friday Art Night from 5-8 p.m. Unusual Portraits: New Works by Michael Warrick and David O'Brien features sculpture and two-dimensional works. The exhibition will be displayed through March 22, 2014. Second Friday Art Night is a free, once-a-month opportunity to visit downtown Little Rock's galleries, museums, and businesses after hours.

Admission to the Butler Center Galleries is free and open to the public. Butler Center Galleries are open 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, contact 918-3033.

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Upcoming Event: 2013 Genealogy Conference

2013 Genealogy Conference
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Central Arkansas Library System   The Central Arkansas Library System's Butler Center for Arkansas Studies is honored to host Tony Burroughs – Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association (FUGA)– as speaker for our annual genealogy workshop, held on July 13, 2013. Burroughs is an internationally known genealogist whose work has been featured on several television programs. His topics range from using iPhones and iPads for genealogy research, to researching land and military resources.

The workshop is free and open to the public; registration is required.

Meet & Greet

A Meet & Greet for Tony Burroughs will be held Friday, July 12, from 6-8 p.m at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center (501 W. 9th St.) Attendance is free and guests are invited. An RSVP is requested and you may do so when you register for the conference.

For mroe information or to register, click here.

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2012 Genealogy Conference, July 21

Saturday, July 21, 2012
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Central Arkansas Library System
Darragh Center, Main Library
100 Rock St., Little Rock

This year's genealogy workshop will take place on Saturday, July 21, in the Darragh Center of the Main Library. The annual Butler Center event will feature Lisa McKinney, an award-winning writer and genealogist. McKinney's workshop sessions will include "Coming to Understand Sources: A Case Study in Proper Genealogy," "The 1940 Census," and "Your Cemetery Visit."

The workshop is free and open to the public.

This workshop has been approved by the Arkansas Department of Education for teacher professional development and in-service credit.

Click here for more information and online registration.

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The 1940 Census

From the National Archives:

The National Archives has launched its new website http://1940census.archives.gov in preparation for its first-ever online U.S. census release, which will take place on April 2, 2012, at 9 a.m. (EST). The public is encouraged to bookmark the website now in order to more quickly access the 1940 census data when it goes live. No other website will host the 1940 census data on its April 2, release date.

A National Archives 3:13 minute video short. . . provides a “behind-the-scenes” view of staff preparations and gives viewers tips on how to access the data once it is launched on April 2.

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2011 Genealogy Conference: Reading the Records

The Butler Center presents:
2011 Genealogy Conference: Reading the Records

Saturday, July 16, 2011
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Darragh Center, Main Library
The Butler Center will host the tenth annual genealogy workshop on Saturday, July 16, 2011. The featured speakers are Russell Baker—native Arkansan and former Arkansas Senior Archivist with the Arkansas History Commission who will discuss researching military records—and Earnest E. Lacey, author, publisher, genealogist, and exhibit curator who will discuss slave schedules and Social Security records, as well as birth, death, and plantation records.

Workshop attendees will learn to find and use records commonly searched and also to find records not commonly looked for.

The workshop is free and open to the public.

This workshop has been approved by the Arkansas Department of Education for teacher professional development and in-service credit.

Visit www.butlercenter.org/conference to learn more about this annual program and to register!

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The Butler Center Celebrates Family History Month

Tuesday, October 19 – 3:30 - 5 p.m.
Saturday, October 23 – 11:30 - 1:30 p.m.

Arkansas Studies Institute Research Room

In celebration of Family History Month, the Butler Center is offering a kid-friendly basic genealogy course. Participants will learn how to use online databases and city directories, as well as how to archive family documents. Led by local history specialist and Butler Center staffer Rhonda Stewart, the sessions will be a fun and creative way to learn about the past.

The sessions are recommended for children age 10 and up. A parent or other adult must be present. Space is limited, so please contact Anna Lancaster at (501) 320-5754 or alancaster@cals.org to reserve your spot today. Snacks will be provided during the Tuesday session, and lunch will be provided during the Saturday session.

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News from the National Archives

From the National Archives:

For the first time, more than 300,000 case files on alien residents of the United States who were born 1909 and prior are now open to the public at the National Archives at Kansas City. These files, known as “Alien Files” (commonly referred to as “A-Files”) were transferred to the National Archives from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) and are only a small part of the millions of case files that will eventually be transferred and opened to the public.

Read the rest of the press release here.

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Upcoming Conference: The Genealogist's Camera

The Butler Center, in conjunction with the Arkansas Genealogical Society, will present their annual genealogy workshop on Saturday, July 17, 2010 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The featured speaker will be Desmond Walls Allen, author of First Steps in Genealogy: A Beginner's Guide to Researching Your Family History (1998). Allen owns Arkansas Research, Inc., a publishing company devoted to making information about Arkansas history available to genealogists and historians. She has written numerous books and articles about research techniques and resources. She is a past president of the Arkansas Genealogical Society and co-founder of Professional Genealogists of Arkansas. She appeared in the Ancestors series for PBS, and, in 2000, hosted AETN's special on genealogical research in Arkansas.

For more information email Rhonda Stewart at rstewart@cals.org or call at (501)320-5720.

Click here to register online. To register by email or phone, contact Anna Lancaster at alancaster@cals.org or (501)320-5754.

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Ancestry.com to update SSDI weekly

From the Ancestry.com Blog:

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) was one of Ancestry.com’s very first databases. We’ve been adding names to this collection since 1996, and in that time we have listed more than 86 million names in the collection. In fact, we were the first to provide family historians online access to the SSDI, so we realize the importance of this collection. This is why we will now be updating the SSDI every week to add the names of those whose deaths were recently reported to the Social Security Administration. Read More

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StoryCorps, Part II.

StoryCorps, an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening, is coming to the 2009 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 2-4, to capture stories of our community.

Step 1: Make a reservation.

StoryCorps interviews are designed to be conversations between people who are part of each other's lives. Your interview partner can be anyone with whom you feel comfortable - for example, a family member or friend. Should you choose to come alone, a StoryCorps facilitator can interview you. Once you've decided who is coming to the interview with you, make a reservation by contacting Sara Thompson at storycorps@fgs.org or 501-320-5718 by September 1st. There are a limited number of slots available.


Step 2: Prepare for your session.

A StoryCorps interview is 40 minutes of uninterrupted time for meaningful conversation with a friend or loved one. What are the questions you want to ask and the memories you want to preserve? No matter how well you know your storyteller, a little preparation will improve the quality of your interview enormously.

Read what to expect at a StoryCorps interview http://www.storycorps.org/record-your-story/what-to-expect and visit our suggested questions list http://www.storycorps.org/record-your-story/question-generator/list.

Step 3: Tell your story, pass it on.

At the end of your session, you'll receive a free broadcast-quality CD to share with family and friends. Copies will also be archived at the Library of Congress and at The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, a part of the Central Arkansas Library System.



Contributed by Sara Thompson, AV/AR Specialist.

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StoryCorps interviews online!

If you’re excited about StoryCorps presence at the upcoming Federation of Genealogical Societies conference,* here’s a taste of their work in central Arkansas from 2006!

In September 2006, StoryCorps traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas and gave numerous people the opportunity to tell and share life experiences. One of the partners of this project was the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies of the Central Arkansas Library System.

Interviewed by children, siblings, parents, and friends, the interviews are more like comfortable conversations now saved for posterity. The interviews allow people to candidly share painful memories as well as life successes. Some of the topics covered in these interviews include public and private school integration in Little Rock (Central High School and Mount St. Mary Academy), renovation of a room for victims at the Faulkner County Courthouse, and adjustment to Arkansas after immigration from El Salvador.


Currently, the Butler Center’s AV/AR Audio Video Collection contains eleven StoryCorps interviews. The AV/AR database provides full oral history interviews and lectures online. The full length content is divided into clips averaging two minutes and clips are searchable by subject terms. Researchers can search the collection by subject term or by interviewee/speaker.

StoryCorps’s 2006 interviews are in full-length format on the Butler Center digital collections website. You can also listen to clips from other StoryCorps interviews at their website.

*Do you want more information about the FGS annual conference? Visit the 2009 website or the official conference blog.

Contributed by Sara Thompson, AV/AR Specialist.

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Genealogy Conference: July 18, 2009

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, in conjunction with the Arkansas Genealogical Society (AGS), will host the eighth annual Genealogy Workshop. Featured guest speaker Beau Sharbrough will be introduced by the Butler Center's genealogy specialist, Rhonda Stewart. The workshop will be held Saturday, July 18, 2009, in the Darragh Center at the Main Library.

Genealogy Workshop attendees will learn about practical applications for family history research. Sharbrough will introduce the group to Footnote.com, a website of historical documents and social networking, and RootsWorks.com, where researchers can learn how to use the latest technical tools to easily maintain and navigate genealogy research. The group will also discuss the pros and cons of automatic research assistants such as GenSmarts, Ancestry.com, and Internet search engines.

The workshop is free and open to the public. Registration is from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m., and the workshop begins at 9:30 a.m. To reserve your spot and order your lunch, contact the Arkansas Studies Institute at (501) 320-5700 or e-mail Rhonda Stewart at rstewart@cals.org.

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Civilian Personnel Records Open to the Public

From The National Archives' National Presonnel Records Center in St. Louis:

The National Archives’ National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) opened more than 6 million individual personnel files of former Federal civilian employees from the mid-1800s through 1951. These records will be of special interest to genealogists, family members, researchers, sociologists, and historians.

Among the records are the files of prominent individuals who worked for the federal government, such as Walt Disney, Ansel Adams, Eliot Ness, Calvin Coolidge, J. Edgar Hoover, Gifford Pinchot, Walker Evans, and Albert Einstein.

Ronald L. Hindman, Director of NPRC characterized these records “as a veritable treasure-trove of information for researchers and genealogists.” He continued, “There are records from more than one hundred government agencies now available for discovery. They showcase the careers of government employees who investigated bootleggers; taught at Indian schools; worked in Japanese-American interment camps, in prisons, and on anti-prostitution boards, and created and implemented initiatives in Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal agencies, among others." Read the rest of the announcement here.

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Using Yearbooks

Have you ever wondered how Great-Grandpa Joe looked in high school? Or what kind of hairstyle Aunt Sue had when she started college? You might not have these types of photographs at home, but your relatives are most likely pictured in a school yearbook somewhere. All you have to do is find it. . .

Did you know the Butler Center has a collection of yearbooks from Arkansas college and universities and from high schools in Pulaski and Perry county?

These items are available to researchers in the Arkansas Studies Institute research room. You can browse the available yearbooks here. Or go to the main CALS catalog search to look for a specific school and year.

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