Kansas Historical Society

United States Kansas  Shawnee  Archives and Libraries  

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:reference@kshs.org reference@kshs.org]

Address:


 * 6425 SW 6th Avenue
 * Topeka KS 66615-1099

Telephone: 785-272-8681 ; Fax 785-272-8682 ; TTY 785-272-8681

Hours and holidays: Tuesday - Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.


 * Closed state holidays, please check our calendar. No entrance fee.

Directions, maps, and public transportation:


 * Take exit 356/Wanamaker Road on I-70 in western Topeka (map at right). Turn north, enter the roundabout, and follow the signs directing you west for about 1 mile. We are surrounded by prairie and woodlands on 80 acres.
 * Printable Map to the Kansas Historical Society.
 * Public transportation is available through Topeka Transit via the #5 West 6th or #7 Huntoon purple routes, Social Security stop. NOTE: Requires walking and service is limited.

Internet sites and databases:


 * Kansas Historical Society Internet site: State archives, research and genealogy, online collections, publications, Kansapedia, popular collections, State Historic Preservation Office, Grants, Register of Historic places.
 * KHS Archives Catalog online has primary sources such as government records, personal papers, records of organizations and businesses, and other unpublished materials. Search by keywords, title, creator, availability, material type, or date.
 * KHS ATLAS catalog online has records for books, pamphlets, and other materials cataloged after 1994 at KHS. Search by keyword, title, author, subject, journal title, ISBN/ISSN. Also available in WorldCat.
 * Databases and Indexes KHS collections, catalogs, genealogy, and newspapers.
 * Kansas Memory primary sources organized by agriculture, built environment, business and industry, collections, community life, date, education, environment, government and politics, home and family, military, objects and artifacts, people, places, thematic time period, transportation, or type of material.
 * Territorial Kansas Online 1854-1861 about territorial politics and government, border warfare, immigration and early settlement, personalities, and the national debate about Kansas.
 * Western Trails digitized photographs, printed materials, and maps that document several facets of transportation across Kansas.
 * Kansas Newspaper Database (Microfilm and Electronic). Search by city, title, county, state, or date. Many newspapers dating from 1854-1922 are also online.

Collection Description
Includes the State Archives specializing in family history, community history, and history of the West. Statewide births and deaths prior to 1894; City of Topeka births and deaths 1885-1912. Photographs; letters, diaries, and other personal papers; Kansas newspapers; video, film, and sound recordings; books and periodicals; maps and architectural drawings; state government records such as governor's papers, federal, state, and Indian censuses; Kansas vital records; family history resources; and land survey records. Tract books, plats, and maps for the Dodge City land office, Santa Fe Railway, and Rock Island Railroad land sales in Kansas are at the KHS. The KHS also has a name index, military index, and place index, county records on microfilm inventory, and place information such as counties, post offices, ghost towns, city and farm directories.

Tips

 * Browse the Using the research room page before visiting.

Guides

 * Indexes and Guides with guides at bottom; guides to indexes, government records, retention schedules, and publications.
 * State Archives and Library: Guide to Using the Research Room when you arrive, using the collections, our catalogs, books and magazines, manuscripts, photos, maps, microfilm, census, Kansas newspapers, open reference, State Archives resources, and staff assistance.

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * National Archives I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, bounty land, homesteads, ethnic sources, prisons, fed employees.
 * National Archives at Kansas City federal censuses 1790–1930; military service indexes, pension indexes, passenger lists, naturalizations, photos, vital records, land, and Indian records.

Similar Collections


 * Kansas State Library, Topeka, largest book library in Kansas with county histories, ethnic sources, guides, inventories, and family genealogies. This is a main depository of historical documents about Kansas residents.

Neighboring Collections


 * Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Topeka, since 1911 births, stillbirths, deaths; since 1913 marriages; and since 1951 divorce records issued for a fee only to immediate family members or representatives.
 * Shawnee County Clerk, Topeka, births and deaths 1894-1911; marriages 1856-1906.
 * Shawnee County Court Clerk, Topeka, marriages 1856-1906; probate records since 1859; court records since 1858.
 * Shawnee County Register of Deeds, Topeka, land records since 1855.
 * Shawnee County Coroner, Topeka, suspicious deaths.
 * Shawnee County Historical Society, Topeka, meetings, talks, socials, publications.
 * Topeka Genealogical Society Library, 12,000 books, 700 periodicals strong on Shawnee County and northeast Kansas. Also includes almost every U.S. state, and many foreign nations.
 * Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, obituary index 1800s-1934, genealogy room, local history room, city directories, and yearbooks.
 * Topeka Kansas Family History Center has premium online services for free and can offer research suggestions.
 * U.S. District Court District of Kansas, Topeka, recent civil, criminal, and bankruptcy cases.
 * Repositories in surrounding counties: Douglas, Jackson, Jefferson, Osage, Pottawatomie, and Wabaunsee.
 * Fort Hays State University Forsyth Library, Hays, western Kansas history, oral histories, genealogical and historical societies, Hutterites, Mennonites, Catholics, and Lutherans.
 * Iola Public Library, for all Kansas including family folders, special indexes, and published records for many counties of Kansas.
 * Johnson County Library, Overland Park, both a Kansas and a genealogy collection, mostly books, and periodicals with family folders. Also covers Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
 * Kansas Heritage Center, Dodge City, cowboys, oral history, Fort Dodge history, the Old West.
 * Riley County Genealogical Society Library, Manhattan, pre-Civil War records are excellent for Kansas. Early settlers are documented by obituaries, family folders, and some good indexes.
 * Wichita Public Library Genealogy Center, has many genealogies with an emphasis mostly on books, periodicals, and special publications for southeast KS, and corners of MO, AR, and OK.
 * Kansas Genealogical Society, Dodge City, has the best set of family folders and genealogical periodicals in Kansas. . Also, clippings, obituaries, and an online catalog.
 * National Orphan Train Complex, Concordia, museum, history, rider registry, research, and events. 66 v. (20,000 records) of orphan train riders, photos, 9,700 name computer database.
 * University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library, Lawrence, manuscripts, photographs, maps, histories, newspapers, periodicals, film and videotapes that document the "Kansas Experience" of pioneers, railroads, and American Indians. A depository for publications of Kansas and Douglas County.
 * Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas Archives baptism, confirmations, marriages, deaths, parish records.
 * Kansas United Methodist Archives, Baker University, Baldwin City, church records, newspapers, manuscripts, memoirs, obituaries, archives, reports.
 * Mennonite Library and Archives, Bethel College, Newton, Mennonite-related books, periodicals, and genealogical materials.
 * Repositories in surrounding states: Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.
 * American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln NE, AHSGR ancestor lists, cemeteries, homesteads, an AHSGR German hometowns list, passenger lists, obituaries, surname charts, and Russian village files.
 * Family History Library, Salt Lake City, 450 computers, 3,400 databases, 2.5 million microforms, 4,500 periodicals, 310,000 books of worldwide family and local histories, censuses, civil, church, immigration, ethnic, military, and Mormon records.
 * Kansas City Public Library Missouri Valley Special Collections, The Missouri Valley Room has a great genealogy collection for Missouri and Kansas with biographies, periodicals, genealogies, diaries, photos, scrapbooks, and newspapers of the Kansas City area.
 * Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence MO, one of America's best genealogical centers: censuses and indexes, 80,000 family histories, 100,000 local histories, 565,000 microfilms, 7,000 maps, and newspapers. Surrounding states are well represented.