While we are happy to do obituary searches here at the Arkansas State Library, we only have access to one newspaper - the Arkansas Gazette (now the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) here at the library. For many years, the paper really only covered deaths in Little Rock, so if your relative died in Fayetteville, Fort Smith, or Helena, they are probably not listed. This is especially true if they lived in a very small town in the country.
All is not necessarily lost, however. Many of the towns and counties in Arkansas had their own papers, and the Arkansas History Commission has a large collection of those papers available on microfilm. Using their online newspaper database, you can search for a specific city or county, and see what papers they have available for what dates. According to their website, the History Commission does not do research for patrons, so you will probably need to visit yourself to search the microfilm. If you live out of state and that is not possible, you will need to contact them directly to see if they can find the obituary for you, or if you will need to hire a proxy researcher. Their phone number is 501-682-6900.
