Arkansas Trail of Tears Association

This was received on an Arkansas History list and may be of interest to those with an Arkansas and/or a Trail of Tears interest. This posting also gives an overview of a the Sequoyah National Research Center which is located in Little Rock.

In conjunction with the Arkansas Trail of Tears Association (ARTOTA) annual meeting on Saturday, July 25 at the Arkansas Studies Institute in Little Rock, the staff of the Sequoyah National Research Center (SNRC) in Little Rock will host a Research Day, Friday, July 24. The Research Day is free and open to the public, however, seating in the SNRC reading room is limited, so participants are asked to preregister for ONE of two sessions: 8:30 a.m.-noon OR 12:30-4:30 p.m. Each session is limited to 30 participants. The sessions will be devoted to research activities only; SNRC director Dr. Daniel F. Littlefield Jr. asks that participants come with research goals in mind. To preregister for the Research Day, email ARTOTA board member Carolyn Kent, carolke5@aol.com.

SNRC has the largest collection of Indian removal documents outside of the National Archives. The center also houses the American Native Press Archives -- the world's largest collection of tribal newspapers-and the J. W. Wiggins Native American Art Collection. SNRC is located on the UALR campus, University Plaza, Suite 500, 5820 Asher Avenue. To learn more about SNRC, visit http://www.ualr.edu/sequoyahcenter or http://www.anpa.ualr.edu.

The ARTOTA annual meeting on Saturday, July 25 begins at 1:00 p.m. at the Arkansas Studies Institute in Little Rock. The programs are free and open to the public. Attendance certificates will be available for teachers interested in professional development credit. The Arkansas Studies Institute is located at 401 President Clinton Avenue in downtown Little Rock.

Topics include:

• Ten on the Trail: Arkansas Locations on the Trail of Tears,Carolyn Kent, ARTOTA research coordinator

• Arkansas Heritage Trail Initiative,Marilyn Heifner, Heritage Trail Partners board of directors
  

• News from the National Front, Jerra Quinton, Trail of Tears Association executive director
  

• Removal of the Other Four Tribes through Arkansas, Daniel F. Littlefield Jr., Sequoyah National Research Center director
  

For more information on the SNRC Research Day or the ARTOTA annual meeting, email Susan Young at syoung@springdalear.gov

Susan Young
Secretary/Treasurer
Arkansas Trail of Tears Association

Big Sale SouthWest Airlines by July 8th

Pat Oxley, President of the Federation of Genealogical Societies reports that Southwest Airlines is having a huge 48 hour sale - and the last day to take advantage of it is Wednesday, July 8th.

FGS can't do it alone

Each and every FGS Conference is made up of many components. It is also made up of many people, organizations, and businesses. FGS is fortunate to have generous supporters at many levels. Please be sure to thank them or their representatives when you are in Little Rock. For this year's event in Little Rock, these are the major sponsors:

Arkansas Traveler Platinum Level: Ancestry.com

Arkansas Traveler Silver Level: Arkansas Humanities Council

Arkansas Traveler Diamond Level:
Historic Arkansas Museum
Alvie L. Davidson, CG
FM89.1 KUAR UALR Public Radio

James Dent Walker Memorial Lecture: Black History Commission of Arkansas

Librarians Day: ProQuest

Sponsorship Opportunities are always available.We would welcome the opportunity to discuss specific details on the benefits and sponsorship ideas with any individual, business, or organization. More details can be provided upon request. For more information contact:

Jan Davenport
FGS/AGS 2009 National Conference Chair
1 Cinnamon Dr.
North Little Rock, AR 72120
Email: fgs2009@fgs.org

Print Edition Conference Syllabus: Purchase Deadline is August 1st, 2009

Each conference registrant receives the syllabus of lecture handouts on a CD when they pick up their registration materials in Little Rock. Prior to the conference, the same info will be online for conference registrants to print out the pages they wish to have along at lectures. This blog will let readers know when it is available later in August.

As discussed in earlier entries, conference registrants may also purchase the full syllabus print edition that includes a binder for the pages. The last day to order the full printed syllabus is August 1st, 2009. Order online no later than August 1st or if you mail in your order make sure it is postmarked no later than August 1st.

To order, visit the conference website, click on Registration, and add the syllabus when you register for the conference. If you have already registered but wish to add the syllabus, use the PIN number you received with your registration confirmation to add the full printed syllabus for $20.00. It will be ready for you at the conference along with the CD version.

If there are any CD or print syllabus versions left after the conference, FGS will post ordering info on its website and on the FGS Conference Blog.

Memoirs with Arkansas History

Bill Lindsay, Local/Regional Publicity Chair, sent this article on memoirs that tell the story of early Arkansas.

Many of the earliest accounts of life in Arkansas Territory and the early statehood period were written by travelers from other places. These set the tone for what has become a national stereotype of the area as backwards, inaccessible, lacking in education, and inhabited by citizens without cultural accomplishments. Arkansas’s citizens have naturally resented this stereotype for generations, and have persistently disproven it. But it has “stuck,” and often colors media depictions of the state even now.

Among early accounts of life in the region are Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s Journal of a Tour into the Interior of Missouri and Arkansaw (1821); George Featherstonhaugh’s Excursion Through the Slave States (1844); and Friedrich Gerstäcker’s Wild Sports in the Far West (1845).

An important document regarding the settlement of the state soon after statehood is the diary of Harriet Bailey Bullock Daniel, which tracks the move of the Bullock family from west Tennessee to Dallas County in 1848, and their life opening a plantation in south Arkansas in the period leading to and through the Civil War. Margaret Jones Bolsterli has published an edited edition of the diary in A Remembrance of Eden (Fayetteville: Univ. of AR Press, 1993). Bolsterli herself is a native of south Arkansas—of the Delta region east of Dallas County. She has gathered her memories of growing up in the Delta, and the history of the region preserved in her family’s documents, in Born in the Delta: Reflections on the Making of a Southern White Sensibility (Fayetteville: Univ. of AR Press, 1991).

Also capturing the migration of families into the south part of Arkansas in the early 19^th century is Sarah M. Fountain’s Sisters, Seeds, & Cedars (Conway:UCA Press, 1995), which transcribes letters of her family in Camden back to relatives in Autauga Co., Alabama, and from those relatives to kinfolks at Camden.

Another very significant account of life in southwest Arkansas at a later period, and from a different vantage point, is Maya Angelou’s award-winning I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), which describes her growing up in Stamps in Lafayette County in the period before World War II.

Valuable accounts of life in the Ozarks in the early 20^th century are found in Charlie May Simon’s Straw in the Sun (1945), recounting her life with husband Howard Simon in a cabin they built in Perry County before the second world war.

From the period shortly before this, Wayman Hogue also captured life among the people of the Ozarks in Back Yonder, An Ozark Chronicle (1932), as did Otto Rayburn at a slight later date in his Forty Years in the Ozarks (1957).

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• Check back for frequent updates from today through the Conference.

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Yes, today (July 1) is the discount deadline

We have received some questions about the deadline to receive the discount. Register today July 1st, 2009 and you still receive the $50.00 discount off a full conference registration.

• Mailing in your registration or check? Be sure that it is postmarked today, July 1st.
  
  
• Registering and paying online with your Visa, Master, or Discover card? Be sure to do it today, July st. This system accepts these three types of credit cards but not debit cards.

Visit www.fgsconference.org and click on Registration in the left hand column to begin the registration process. You may add meals and special events later -- just keep that "pin number" you receive as an email after you register. That pin number will allow you to go in and add items. However, the Association of Professional Genealogists PMC is also part of the July 1st deadline to receive their discount.

The printed edition of the syllabus is currently available only if you register for the conference and pay the $20.00 extra cost. Everyone that registers for the conference receives the syllabus on CD. It will also be available online before the conference so that you can print out pertinent sections to bring with you. Watch this blog for that release date in August.

Hotel Room availability

Earlier, Jan Davenport, the National Conference Chair, increased the number of hotel rooms at the Peabody Hotel and there are still some available. There are also overflow rooms at the Doubletree Hotel.

Two days left to save on FGS Conference

Now we are down to just two more days to take advantage of the discounted registration price for the FGS/AGS Conference. That is a savings of $50.00. Register at www.fgsconference.org. You have June 30th and July 1st left to register with that savings.

What does your conference fee cover? Among the detailed list of conference costs are the syllabus of lecture handouts on a CD, printing of conference literature, tote bag, rental of convention center with rooms large enough to handle the audience, registration, luncheons, Society Corner, and vendors, program development and some lodging, honorarium, and transportation of top-notch speakers, advertising costs, postage to mail conference 16 page program brochure, printing of onsite Conference Guide, signage, charge card fees, and many other things that I won't bore you with. I am just glad I am not the treasurer dealing with the many tasks associated with all this.

Free -- a magic word!

While we all need to pay in order to attend the lectures, workshops, and meals, there are many parts of a genealogy conference that don't cost -- or cost very little.

• Peabody and DoubleTree hotel guests have free transportation between the airports and the hotels. Parking at the DoubleTree is free.
  

• Conference registrants can attend Tuesday's Ice Cream Social for free.
  

• The Exhibit Hall that will be open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday is free for anyone.
  

• Networking is free but be fair warning is that it might cost you some sleep once you get started talking!
  

• Hospitality Table is free -- volunteers will answer your questions about Little Rock, historic sites, area transportation, restaurants, and many other questions that may arise. They will have lots of free literature to help answer questions.
  

• Freebies tables in the Exhibit Hall will be loaded with flyers, brochures, booklets, pamphlets and other paper that tell about genealogical books, events, articles, libraries, archives, databases, CDs, and software.
  

• Society Corner in the Exhibit Hall includes information on many of the genealogical societies that are members of FGS.

• Free wireless Internet access is extensive in the hotels, convention center, airport and some restaurants.

• The Peabody Ducks march at 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and the show is free.
  

• Sitting behind the hotels and convention center and gazing at the Arkansas River doesn't cost a thing and actually gives a lot back in the form of relaxation.

• Visiting the Clinton Presidential Library is free. This includes the exhibits and library.

• Research at the Arkansas Studies Institute and the Arkansas History Commission is free.

• Walking through the historic exhibits at the Old Statehouse Museum between the two hotels is free.

OK -- that is enough, but you get the idea!