CENSUS RECORDS

The U.S. census will help you build your family tree. With 70 million names, the census is the best place to find basic information about your relatives. Start you search by filling in the form below. The search box below will search U.S. Federal Census records as well as Birth, Marriage, death records and historical newspapers. The search results will be displayed on Ancestry.com's website.

The first available federal census for the state of Arkansas is dated 1830. They are available for each decennial year thereafter, except for the destroyed census of 1890. All are indexed in one form or another. The Arkansas Genealogical Society has sponsored a statewide program to reconstruct the 1890 census from tax records and other sources, making it the only state to have such a complete census substitute for that year. Pre-statehood censuses were mostly lost or destroyed. The 1810 and 1820 federal territorial censuses are said to be lost, but the 1820 has been reconstructed using tax returns and other sources. Sheriff's censuses do exist for some areas, though are fragmented and in inconsistent formats.

Arkansas Research Sources

Ferguson, John L. and J. H. Atkinson. Historic Arkansas. Little Rock: Arkansas History Commission, 1966.

Dillard, Tom W., and Michael B. Dougan, comps. Arkansas History: A Selected Research Bibliography. Little Rock: Rose Publishers, 1979.

Writers' Program, WPA, Arkansas. Arkansas: A Guide to the State. New York: WPA, 1941.

Archives, Libraries, Societies, and Other Resources Arkansas History Commission/Archives
One Capitol Mall
Little Rock, AR 72201
Tel: 501-682-6900
http://www.state.ar.us/ahc/index.htm

Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives
Old Washington Historic State Park
Hempstead County Courthouse
P.O. Box 98
Washington, AR 71862
Tel: 870-983-2684 (Mon-Fri)
870-983-2733 (Sat-Sun)
http://www.gorp.com/gorp/location/ar/parks/old.htm

Arkansas Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 908
Hot Springs, AR 71902-0908
Tel: 501-262-4513
http://www.uark.edu/ALADDIN/agsinfo/

Arkansas State Library
One Capitol Mall
Little Rock, AR 72201-1081
Tel: 501-682-1527
http://www.state.ar.us/html/statelibrary.html

Arkansas Genweb Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~argenweb/

Original Arkansas Genealogy
http://www.couchgenweb.com/arkansas/

Persistence of the Spirit
African-American Experience in Arkansas
URL: http://www.aristotle.net/persistence/

State of Arkansas - My Hometown
Links to City, Town and Local Resources
http://www.state.ar.us/ina/myhometown.html

State of Arkansas - Genealogy Links & Resources
http://www.state.ar.us/ina/genealogy.html

Downtown Branch
Central Arkansas Library System
700 South Louisiana
Little Rock, AR 72203

University of Arkansas
Special Collections Library
Fayetteville, AR 72701