NATCHEZ — The public is invited to take a journey through time Thursday, when the 2009 Historic Natchez Conference kicks off at the Natchez Eola Hotel at 9 a.m.

The conference, titled “Journey Stories,” is named for the traveling Smithsonian Institute exhibit on display at the Historic Natchez Foundation through Oct. 20, said Historic Natchez Foundation Director Mimi Miller.

“The most important thing we want the community to know is all the lectures and programs are free,” Miller said.

Graduate students from the University of Alabama, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and California State University, Northridge will present research topics ranging from antebellum Natchez to historic mounds in Jefferson and Warren counties.

The conference on Thursday will feature a session on the southern Jewish experience at 3 p.m. at Temple B’Nai Israel on South Commerce Street, Miller said.

Julia Young of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History will play moderator as University of South Florida Special Collections Department Director Dr. Mark Greenberg and Stuart Rockoff of the Goldring Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson make presentations.

At 2:30 p.m. Friday, the Rt. Rev. Alfred E. Marble of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina will moderate a session on slavery and the Episcopal Church at Trinity Episcopal Church on South Commerce Street, Miller said.

Dr. Edward Bond of Alabama A&M University will make a presentation titled “The Episcopal Church and Slavery in the Natchez District: Racism, Paternalism and Civil Disobedience in a Southern Diocese.”

Bond will be joined by Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina historiographer the Rev. Brooks Graebner, who will talk about the efforts of Mississippi Bishop William Mercer Green to accommodate slaves within the North Carolina Episcopal Church.

In addition, First Presbyterian Church on South Pearl Street will host a session titled “Civil War Detours” at 6 p.m. Friday. Dr. Joyce Broussard of California State University, Northridge will make a presentation titled “Occupied Natchez, Elite Women and the Feminization of the Civil War.”

Following Broussard’s presentation, Michael B. Ballard, associate editor of the Ulysses S. Grant Papers Project at Mississippi State University, will speak about Grant’s peaceful return to Mississippi.

“(Grant’s) papers are now at MSU,” Miller said. “I think people will enjoy the new relationship between Grant and Mississippi.”

The conference will begin wrapping up Saturday with a showing of “Black Natchez,” a 1965 documentary film about early attempts to organize and register black voters in the city.

The film’s director, Ed Pincus, will present the film and field questions afterwards, Miller said.

For a full schedule of conference events, call 601-442-2500 or visit the Web site www.natchez.org.