Record Atlas
7 eras · 1686–2026 · 63 places

Arkansas

Arkansas Post, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Helena, Pine Bluff. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1686–1763 French Louisiana (Arkansas Post from 1686) no registers survive

Henri de Tonti founded Arkansas Post in 1686, the first lasting European settlement in the state. The post was attacked by the Chickasaw in 1749.
1763–1803 Spanish Louisiana (Arkansas Post) no registers survive

France ceded the region to Spain in 1762 and Spain administered it from the late 1760s or 1771 depending on the source; the post moved to Red Bluff in 1779 and Fort Carlos III was built in 1781. Spain returned the region to France in 1800.
1803–1819 Louisiana Purchase: District of Louisiana (1804), Louisiana Territory (1805), Missouri Territory (1812) FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

The United States acquired the area in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The Territory of Orleans was limited to ground south of the 33rd parallel, so Arkansas fell in the District of Louisiana and then, from 1812, in Missouri Territory, whose capital was St. Louis, until 1819.
1819–1836 Arkansas Territory (act of March 2, 1819, effective July 4, 1819) FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

The territory was cut from the part of Missouri Territory south of 36 30 N and at first included present-day Oklahoma south of that line; its western parts were removed in 1824 and 1828. Arkansas Post was the capital to 1821 and Little Rock after; the 1820 census reported seven counties and the 1830 census 23.
1836–1861 State of Arkansas (statehood June 15, 1836) FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Arkansas was admitted as a state on June 15, 1836. The Quapaw had been moved out of Arkansas to a reservation in northeast Oklahoma by 1833.
1861–1865 Confederate State of Arkansas FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Arkansas seceded on May 6, 1861. Union forces took Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post in January 1863 and captured Little Rock in 1863, so Confederate control was partial from 1863.
1865–2026 State of Arkansas FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Arkansas was readmitted on June 22, 1868. Statewide birth and death registration began on February 1, 1914; earlier events are in city, county and church records, and the state holds some Little Rock and Fort Smith deaths from 1881.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1686–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

63 places on this ground

1742 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1682 more.

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