Genealogy & Local History
The Jessie Ashford Genealogy Annex
The library’s genealogy annex is located directly behind the main library at 219 S. Ash Street, Malvern, Arkansas. Parking is available in front of the building. Are you curious about your ancestry? Would you like to use some of the free time that you have right now to learn more about your family history? We have some resources that might help. Our Genealogy Annex has volumes of printed material from Hot Spring County, Arkansas, and many other states that have been very useful to those looking for information. In addition to printed material, we also have subscriptions to Folds3, a military database, and Newspapers.com.
Hours: Call for an appointment: 501-332-5441
MISSION
For genealogical purposes; to promote and stimulate interest in history through family research; and disseminate information to the public by highlighting the importance of history, tradition, family knowledge, and pride.
HISTORY OF THE BUILDING
The house was built in 1929, and was once home to the DeJarnatt and Baker Family. Ms. DeJarnatt spent many hours teaching piano in her front room. The family enjoyed living next door to the library, and her son Dick DeJarnatt would visit the library to check out a book in the morning, and would return in the afternoon to borrow another. The Library purchased the building in 2015 and began the process of a complete renovations. The renovation was completed in January 2018.
Equipment and Technology
- Microfilm Machine (with print and email access)
- Flat Bed Scanner
- Copy Machine
Genealogy Databases
Heritage Quest
Ancestry (Library Use Only)
Newspapers.com Log in with your Library Card number
Fold 3 Log in with your Library Card number
National Archives
Genealogy 101
Online Resources and Tools
FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. For over 100 years, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide. Patrons may freely access our resources and service online at FamilySearch.org, or through over 4,500 family history centers in 70 countries, including the renowned Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
A genealogy site compiling information on the historic disasters, events, and tragic accidents our ancestors endured, as well as information about their lives and deaths. The database and records are searchable by surname.
The purpose of the society is to promote family history research, to educate persons in genealogical research methods and the use of historical records, to publish articles pertaining to Arkansas ancestors, and to preserve and make accessible historical, genealogical, and biographical sources pertaining to Arkansas.
Finding Genealogy Records for Living People
Randy Seaver writes: “Because I have added so many living people, born in the 20th century, to my RootsMagic family tree as I find descendants of my fourth great-grandparents, or as I find census records, or marriage records, or obituaries of persons with children and grandchildren, I don’t always have the birth dates or birth places for those living people. One genealogy record collection that has birth dates is the US Public Records Index on Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, MyHeritage.com, and FamilyTreeNow.com—there are over 800 million records in these collections. The databases can be searched by name, location, and approximate birth year.”
The UCA Archives has completed a five-year project of scanning and placing UCA’s yearbook, The Scroll, online. All Scrolls from 1915 to 2018 can be viewed by going to the link below. The 2019 Scroll will be online shortly. For those of you who attended UCA, or had relatives or friends attend UCA, this is a great resource. Or, if you just want to take a trip back in time, click on the Scrolls from the early years.
UCA Digitized Photo Collection
The UCA Archives has been scanning a great deal of material from manuscript collections and will soon be adding that material as an online resource.
The public can now explore more than 1.5 million historical newspaper images online and free of charge. The latest machine learning experience from Library of Congress Labs, Newspaper Navigator allows users to search visual content in American newspapers dating 1789-1963.
The National Archives also have a wealth of resources.
The National Archives holds information about American Indians who maintained their ties to Federally-recognized Tribes (1830-1970). Most records are arranged by tribe.
Sequoyah National Research Center
The collections of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Sequoyah National Research Center constitute the largest assemblage of Native American expression in the world. Our mission, to acquire and preserve the writings and ideas of Native North Americans, is accomplished through collecting the written word and art of Native Americans and creating a research atmosphere that invites indigenous peoples to make the Center an archival home for their creative work.
History, Legends, and Folklore of the Cherokee Nation
This is an online photocopy of History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folk Lore by Emmet Starr.
Enslaved Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade
Search over numerous datasets and reconstruct the lives of people involved in the historical slave trade. Browse interconnected data, generate visualizations, and explore short biographies of enslaved and freed peoples.
Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement
Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movements focuses on unearthing and digitizing the histories of civil rights activism by the everyday citizens of Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian American/Pacific Islander communities.
Arkansas Collection
Our Arkansas Collection includes resources such as:
- Biographical Dictionaries
- Arkansas Literature
- Works from Arkansas Authors
- Arkansas Code
- Almanacs
- Slave Narratives
- Arkansas Gazette Index
- Historical Reports
Genealogy Collection
Our genealogy collection includes many research materials including historical resources, such as The Heritage. We also have a large collection of family histories of Hot Spring County.
We have limited cemetery, census, obituary, marriage, and death records for the following states:
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- New Hampshire
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
Our genealogy collection also includes limited cemetery, census, obituary, marriage, and death records from the following Arkansas counties:
- Arkansas
- Ashley
- Baxter
- Bradley
- Clark
- Cleburne
- Cleveland
- Craighead
- Dallas
- Drew
- Faulkner
- Garland
- Grant
- Hot Spring
- Howard
- Lonoke
- Lafayette
- Montgomery
- Newton
- OLA
- Perry
- Pike
- Polk
- Pulaski
- Saline
- Scott
- Sevier
- Union
- Van Buren
- Washington
- White
- Woodruff
Yearbooks
| Malvern High School | 1925, 1931, 1939-1990, 1994-99 |
| Malvern Cub | 1958-1982, 1991 |
| Glen Rose High School | 1950, 1975, 1996, 2007, 2009 |
| Arkansas State University | 2012 |
| Ouachita Baptist | 1954, 1956-57, 1970, 1973, 1981-86, 1991, 1995 |
| Malvern Colored School | 1950, 1945-69 |
| Central High School | 1945 and 1948 |
| Magnet Cove High School | 1960-62, 1967-68, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1988, 1989 |
| Poyen High School | 1986-94, 2000-02, 2004-2011 |
| Henderson State University | 1934, 1968-69, 1971-72, 1974, 1981, 1983-84, 1989, 1995, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2011 |
| Caduceus | 1983-84 |
| Wilson High | 1954 and 1965 |
| Malvern High (Then) | 1958 |
| Malvern High Reunion | 1953 and 1969 |
| Morning Years | 1954 |
Microfilm
Our microfilm collection includes limited records such as:
Newspapers
- Arkansas Gazette | 1969-1985
- Malvern Times Journal | 1893-1899, 1913-1934
- Malvern Meteor | 1883-1919
- Arkansas Times | 1892-1893
- Arkansas State Journal | 1888
- Malvern Daily Record | 1931-2020
Other limited records such as:
- Family Histories
- Soldiers of WWI
- Hot Spring County Tax Records
- 1930 Federal Census
- Deed and Mortgage Index
We also have limited census records from 1830-1910 for the following Arkansas Counties:
- Arkansas
- Hempstead
- Hot Spring
- Madison
- Phillips
- Pike
- Poinsett
- Pope
- Pulaski
- Randolph
- St. Francis
- Saline
- Scott
- Searcy
- Sevier
- Union
- Van Buren
- Washington
- White
Our microfilm collection also includes limited census records from Tennessee for the following counties:
- Bedford
- Carroll
- Davidson
- Dickson
- Dyer
