Records of the Auditor of State

Administrative History:

The State auditor was a constitutional office established in 1861. Between 1861 and 1870, the auditor also served as librarian of the State Library. During the late 19th century, a series of commissions were established to investigate, audit, and compensate Kansas residents filing claims for lost property resulting from Price's Missouri Expedition of 1864. These included the 1867 Board to Audit and Allow Claims, the 1873 Commission to Audit and Allow Claims, the 1879 Price Raid Auditing Commission, and the 1903 Commissioner to Investigate Outstanding Scrip. The auditor of State was directly involved in all these commissions. From 1876 until the office was abolished, the auditor also served as the register of the State Land Office. In this role, the Auditor kept books and records to show title from the general government to the purchaser of each subdivision of land, and recorded all transactions involving state lands.

The Legislature of 1953 repealed sections 75-503 to 75-515 of the General Statutes and created the Department of Post-Audit, which consisted of the Auditor of State and the Director of Post-Audit. The Auditor of State was officially abolished in 1975, with Clay E. Hedrick serving as the final auditor from 1961 to 1975.

Scope and content:

This record group contains the records of the auditor of State, documenting the auditor's work overseeing the financial aspects of the State of Kansas. Because the auditor of State was also the head of the State Land Office, many of these records relate to the selling of school lands, property assessment for taxation purposes, and mapping the property of railroad rights of way. Records include correspondence; warrant registers; treasurers' receipts; minutes and various tax assessment records of the Board of Equalization and the Board of Railroad Assessors; state accountant and Department of Post-Audit reports; insurance company reports and correspondence; records of financial claims against the state from Civil War raids; and material concerning the State Land Office, school lands, and the State Permanent School Fund.

The school land records contain several volumes and oversize documents listing school land purchases with purchaser names, land descriptions, and payment information. A large portion contains military scrip and claim forms filed by Kansas residents and soldiers for either services performed or property lost during Civil War guerrilla raids, particularly Price's Missouri Expedition and Quantrill's Raid. The military claims can also be found registered in volumes. Several volumes of bond registers, state fund activity, and property valuation of telephone, telegraph, and railroad companies are included. The correspondence files discuss land sales, military claims and scrip, land surveys, bonds and payments received, and general business activities of the Auditor. The bulk of the collection consists of oversize railroad plat maps, documenting the relationship between railroad track property of various railroads and property lots of various Kansas towns and counties. Other plat maps concern navigable rivers and new land created within or along the banks of the rivers.

Related materials: Records of the Price Raid Claim Commissioners

Related materials: Records of the Office of the State Treasurer

Finding Aid Bibliography: Wilder, Bessie E. Governmental Agencies of the State of Kansas, 1861-1956. Governmental research series, no. 4, rev. [Lawrence]: Governmental Research Center, University of Kansas, 1957.