BEFORE TILL archival sealBefore TillThe Living Evidence Archive

Participatory research

Contribute to the Archive

This archive grows through records held in family hands. What you contribute is reviewed, sourced, and credited — and it never silently rewrites a conclusion.

Last reviewed byAmberly R. Carter-Mills— Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist

What helps most

Records the archive is seeking

  • Deeds, plats, tax rolls, and land patents naming Smith or Tolliver households
  • Church registers, burial records, and cemetery photographs from the Delta counties
  • Photographs with names, dates, or studio marks on the reverse
  • Letters, funeral programs, family Bibles, and school records
  • Firsthand family accounts, including accounts that conflict with what is published here

The review process

What happens to a submission

Received

Your submission is logged with its date and your attribution preference. It is not published on receipt.

Reviewed

The lead researcher assesses the record against the evidence standard and existing holdings.

Recorded

If it changes a conclusion, the change appears in the Research Ledger with its reason. Contributors are credited.

Submit

Send a record or account

Do you hold a record, a photograph, or a family account bearing on this question? Submit it for review. A submission becomes a research lead; it does not change a published conclusion on its own.

Attach files (optional)

Scans, photographs, or a recorded account. Up to 5 files, 25.0 MB each — images, PDF, or audio. Attachments are stored privately and are never published without review.

Please do not send Social Security numbers, account or policy numbers, unredacted identification for living people, financial information, private medical records, or records about a living person who has not agreed to it. Everything you send is stored privately and reviewed before anything is published — nothing you submit appears on the site automatically. See the records and documents policy.