To start your research, gather as many family documents as you can find and be sure to write down details about your immediate family:

• Try to record full names and important dates (births, marriages, and deaths).
• Other details such as place of birth and your mother's maiden name may also be useful.
• State birth and death records should be requested from the Arkansas Department of Health.
• County courthouses are also good places to begin an inquiry about legal records, including marriage certificates.
• Speak to your grandparents and ask them about their lives, memories and names of their parents and grandparents.
• Ask your relatives if they have previously completed any genealogical research. (If any attempts at recording your family's genealogy has already occurred, this will save you a lot of time).
• Search your belongings for old photographs or diaries, ask your relatives if they have any items that might be useful in your research.
• You can gain a lot of information from relatives, so make sure you ask around. Remember to document anything useful that you find out.

When conducting Arkansas genealogy at UAMS Library, there are three databases that should be the first line of inquiry:

Library Catalog

Many exceptional genealogical resources are available either under family names or (more commonly) as county histories. Since the results of searches are more general, always include “Arkansas” as one of your keywords. For instance, “Arkansas Washington County” will turn up a broad range of publications related to Washington County, Arkansas. You can also target specific information with more precise terms such as: “Arkansas Washington County Census.” 

Index Arkansas

Index Arkansas is an online database that provides very useful citation information to articles published in Arkansas historical journals, magazines, university publications, and newspaper. There is a wealth of genealogical information hidden away in articles. Many of the Index Arkansas citations related to family histories are only indexed here and cannot be found anywhere else.  

Finding Aids 

HRC Finding Aids are compiled to help researchers determine the content of archival papers, often without having to travel to the library. Placing your family name in the search engine from the link above, you may generate a broad range of interesting results.

Searching for the historical record of your family can seem a daunting task. However, there are some methods that can make the work both fun and rewarding. This guide has been composed to serve as a blueprint, which will enable you to cover the basics of genealogical research.

You will note that there are three research links posted on this page. Not only are these links vital to your genealogy, but they will enable you to conduct most of the necessary and time-saving preliminary research from home.

Using your family member’s name as a keyword may lead you directly to a good result and should be your first line of inquiry. However, in most cases, genealogical information will exist under general topics that cannot be accessed directly. For instance, if your family lived in a specific area of the state for any length of time, a keyword search for histories of that region is likely to call up invaluable resources for your genealogical research.

Remember, when direct searches fail to render results, try to think outside of the box. The genealogical data you are searching for might well be there, but it is not organized in such a way that you can easily find the information. Some of the most rewarding gems for family history can only be discovered by laboriously searching through general topics.