I’ve always felt deeply connected to my family through cherished photos and memories. My official research journey didn’t begin until 2011. In these past 14 years, I have made some wonderful discoveries that I will be sharing to celebrate the holiday season.
When I began collecting funeral programs in 2015, I referred to it as my year of the obituary/funeral program. I have always thought that funeral programs are one of the most underrated resources for African American family history. At the time I only had six funeral programs, and my goal at the time was to find three of my four grandparents funeral programs as well as their siblings.
Fast forward 10 years to now, I now have all of my grandparent’s funeral programs and their siblings. I also have funeral programs from other relatives, church members, community leaders, and friends from my hometown of Newport. My collection is now housed in 4 three ring binders that I have organized one binder for my family by surname, and the other binders are organized by community in alphabetical order by last name.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to my collection. And like I said in 2015, if you or your parent/grandparent has funeral programs from Jackson or Woodruff County, Arkansas, I would love to see them because collecting funeral programs will always be a part of my journey.
Click HERE to read more about my funeral program collection
Click HERE to listen to our podcast about funeral programs
Journey Through the Generations 
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