Correspondence Files

Restrictions: Per KSA 75-104, as of 1991, records of former governors who are still alive are closed until their deaths, unless the governor orders that the records be opened. Certain records may still remain closed due to falling under KSA 45-221, the Open Records Act, or under other such statutes that generally or specifically affect the openness of public records. For more information regarding access to these records, contact reference staff.

Scope and content: The Alphabetical Subseries contains routine correspondence from either the common, concerned citizen about routine subject matter; or from important correspondents, arranged by name.

The Appointments Subseries contains letters of endorsement from private individuals recommending others for government appointments, as well as the governor's letters of appointments to fill a wide variety of state offices. In this record group, the governor's appointment file is arranged chronologically.

The State Agencies Subseries contains routine correspondence to and from nearly all of the bureaus of the state government. This is the appropriate subseries for research of state agency activities and history. Variations in arrangement of these files typically takes place from one administration to another--as the structure of the state government changes.

The Subject Subseries contains a wide array of files on any and every important subject matter at the time. Researchers investigating important issues of any given era in Kansas' history (or national history) should examine the Subject Subseries of the Governors' Correspondence.

The Legislature, being the largest entity in the law-making process, occupied a large segment of this series. The bills passed into laws deal with a wide variety of subject matter--subject matter which may also be inventoried in the Subject Subseries. The papers in the Legislature files are located there because they are identified by their bill number (e.g. Legislature 1963. House Bill 233). Papers dealing with the same subject matter, but are identified by subject title are located in the Subject Subseries (e.g. School District Unification).

Restrictions: Per KSA 75-104, as of 1991, records of former governors who are still alive are closed until their deaths, unless the governor orders that the records be opened. Certain records may still remain closed due to falling under KSA 45-221, the Open Records Act, or under other such statutes that generally or specifically affect the openness of public records. For more information regarding access to these records, contact reference staff.