Fifth Annual Cherokee Ancestry Conference The fifth annual Cherokee Heritage Center's research conference will be a two day conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event will take place at the Best Western Trade Winds Central Inn at 3141 East Skelly Drive in Tulsa. The conference has been themed: "A Cherokee Road Trip: Down Genealogy Lane." This will be the first two-day conference since March, 2002. It is also the first time that the event is being held outside of the Tahlequah area since September, 2003, when it was a one-day event held at Porum, Oklahoma. The speakers this year will be Dr. Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., of Little Rock, Arkansas, the director of the Sequoyah Research Institute and the Native American Press Archives. He will be speaking about the Sequoyah Center's work on indexing and digitizing the Cherokee Nation newspapers online. Barbara Butler Rust, the senior archivist at the Southwest Region of the United States National Archives in Fort Worth, Texas. Ms. Rust will speak about the Cherokee records available for research at the archives. Another speaker, Jack D. Baker, a Cherokee National Historical Society board member and officer as well as President of the National Trail of Tears Association, will give a presentation entitled, "Truths and Myths About the Cherokee Trail of Tears." Another presentation will be given by William D. Welge, senior archivist at the Oklahoma Historical Society. His subject will concern the little used records of Cherokee resources at the OHS. Anita A. Finger of North Carolina, a genealogist affiliated with the Qualla Family History Research Group, will talk about Cherokee research in Western North Carolina. Sue Tolbert, president of the Oklahoma Cemeteries Preservation Association, will give her presentation on historic cemeteries in the Cherokee Nation. Other speakers include, Roy Hamilton, President of the Cherokee National Historical Society will discuss the work of the late Dr. Angie Debo concerning the corruption among the members of the Dawes Commission and its effect on the Cherokee Nation. Gene Norris, senior genealogist at the Cherokee National Historical Society, will discuss the topic, "Records: A Cherokee by Blood or Citizenship." Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday in the lobby of the hotel. The sessions of each day will being at 9:30 a.m. Lunch is at the discretion of the attendee as there is a restaurant in the hotel and several in the vicinity of the Trade Winds. Cost for the two-day conference is $60 for members of the CNHS and $75 for non-members. The fees must be received by May 26, 2006. After May 26, the cost will be $80 and $95, respectively. Seating is limited to 75. The Trade Winds Central Inn has rooms available each night for a special rate of $50 for a single and $55 for a double, if reserved by May 26, 2006. There will be vendors at the conference including the Cherokee National Museum Store, Marybelle Chase, Cherokee author, and the National Trail of Tears Association. For more information, please contact Gene Norris or Ben Chasenah at the Cherokee Family Research Center, P. O. Box 515, Tahlequah, OK 74465 or call 1-888-999-6007, Ext. 239 or 242. The email address is genealogy@cherokeeheritage.org or chasenah@cherokeeheritage.org