Melissa Barker is a Certified Archives Manager and Public Historian currently working at the Houston County, Tennessee Archives. She is affectionally known as The Archive Lady to the genealogy community. She lectures, teaches and writes about the genealogy research process, researching in archives and records preservation. She conducts virtual presentations across the United States and other countries for any historical or genealogical group. She writes a popular blog entitled A Genealogist in the Archives and is a well-known published book reviewer. She writes a bi-weekly advice column entitled The Archive Lady published at Genealogy Bargains. She writes history pieces for her local newspaper, The Houston County Herald, called From the Archives. She has been a Professional Genealogist for the past 16 years with expertise in Tennessee records and she is currently taking research clients. She has been researching her own family history for the past 30 years.