A free history conference that highlights the latest scholarly research on Natchez will open Wednesday at the Natchez Eola Hotel.

Lecturers representing universities from coast to coast will speak on topics that follow the theme “Never Past: History and Memory in the Old Natchez District” at the seventh biennial Historic Natchez Conference.

From California State University in Northridge, Sharon Rosen will present her research on the Dumas family of Natchez.

From the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Brett H. Riggs will present “The Natchez Among the Cherokees.”

Others presenting lectures hail from Louisiana State University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern Mississippi, Troy University, University of Washington, Mount Holyoke College, University of Virginia and other institutions.

Historic Natchez Foundation volunteers and conference coordinators Ruthie Coy and Patricia Catchings said registrants for the conference are amazed that the programs are free.

“You come to the Eola and register for the conference, get your nametag and attend whichever lectures you want to attend,” Catchings said. “People find it pretty amazing that there is no cost.

Several events outside the lecture hall do require purchasing a ticket, however.

Those are cocktail buffets at Elms Court, Stanton Hall and Longwood; a lunch at the Carriage House; and a brunch at Magnolia Hall. They range in cost from $20 to $25 per person.

At 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, a cocktail reception at the hotel is free and open to all who register for the conference.

Registration will open at 11 a.m. in the hotel lobby on Tuesday prior to the pre-conference workshop, “Preserving the Past,” a disaster preparedness workshop sponsored by the National Park Service and Lower Mississippi Delta Region Initiative.

Like the conference, the pre-conference workshop is free and open to all.

Kathleen Jenkins, superintendent of the Natchez National Historical Park, said the idea for the pre-conference workshop emanated from post-Katrina shock.

She worked with personnel from Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve when artifacts had to be removed from south Louisiana for safe keeping in Natchez following the storm.

Jenkins found funding for the conference and lined up the speakers. “It’s geared toward museums and libraries but I believe the information will help people with their homes as well as assist architects,” she said.

“We all need to know how to make sure our homes are protected, what to do in advance, especially how to create an emergency plan in case of a natural disaster,” Jenkins said.

As park superintendent, Jenkins also has been involved in conference planning.

“The history conference is unique in what it offers,” she said. “It is the cutting edge in what is going on in scholarly research in Natchez.”

On Wednesday and each day following, registration will open again at 9 a.m. at the hotel.

Coy said the theme of the conference allows for lecture topics that cover centuries of Natchez history.

“The topic is history and memory, but the topic is not limited to any one aspect of history,” Coy said. “The lectures go all the way from prehistoric Natchez to the 1900s.”

The schedule of events is posted on the Web site, natchez.org, where registrants may find all the pertinent information and also may register for the conference.

In addition to the approximately 50 scholars from universities, the conference has encouraged local researchers in their scholarship, Coy said.

“Mimi (Miller) had the courage to ask amateur historians to speak, and that has encouraged local scholarship,” Coy said.

“It has encouraged speakers such as Teri Tillman, who will speak at this conference,” Coy said.

Tillman will present “‘A rare unity of interest’: the Jewish Community in Nineteenth-Century Natchez” at 6 p.m. Thursday at Temple B’nai Israel on South Commerce Street.

Miller, preservation director of the Historic Natchez Foundation, organizes the conference each year along with colleagues from the other sponsors.

Other sponsors are California State at Northridge, University of Texas, Louisiana State University, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Natchez National Historical Park, University of North Carolina and University of Southern Mississippi.

“There is a lot of coordination among these institutions,” Coy said. “All have large Natchez collections. This conference makes us aware of where the resources are about Natchez history.”

Some of the tours offered during the conference are a cemetery tour Friday, 2 to 5 p.m., that includes the City Cemetery, the Routh Cemetery on Homochitto Street and the Longwood Cemetery.

Other tours are a camellia tour in historic gardens on Saturday, 2 to 4:30 p.m., and an archaeological discovery tour, 2 to 5 p.m.

Name badges received at registration for the conference are admission to any of the three tours as well as to tours of Melrose, the William Johnson House, House on Ellicott Hill, Rosalie and Magnolia Hall during the conference.

A conference exhibit, “A Gentleman of Fine Talents and Extensive Experience: Thomas Affleck of Washington, Mississippi,” provided by Louisiana State University, will be on display at the hotel.

Coy said the conference is evidence of the widespread research on Natchez history taking place nationwide.

“It’s amazing the amount of research that is going on all over the country about Natchez and the Natchez District,” Coy said.

“And in this one week, we have all of this scholarship available for us to hear.”