Kansas Genealogical Society

United States Kansas Ford Archives and Libraries Kansas Genealogical Society

Kansas Genealogical Society Contact Information E-mail:  kgslibrary@gmail.com Address: Mail: PO Box 103 Street: Village Square Mall, 2601 Central Avenue Dodge City, KS 67801 Telephone:  620-225-1951 Hours and holidays:  Wednesday-Friday 1:30 to 5:00; 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month 10:45 to 4:00; Closed: New Year's, Memorial, Independence, Labor, Thanksgiving days, and 2 weeks for Christmas. Map and public transportation: Google map:  Kansas Genealogical Society Public transportation:  Dodge City Public Transit D-Tran fixed route Green Route stops at the Village Square Mall each hour Monday-Friday between 6am and 6pm. Internet sites and databases: Kansas Genealogical Society visit, membership, Treesearcher (publication), meetings, projects, queries, research policy, area resources, contact us, events. KGS Online Catalog. Search by location, surname, subject, or accession date. Obituary Index 1870-1999 for about 300,000 individuals. Ford County School Records annual school censuses of children ages 5-20 from 1899-1969. KGS member pedigree charts since 1958. Collection Description They have the best set of family folders and genealogical periodicals in Kansas.. KGS subscribes to many periodicals and exchanges periodicals with over fifty societies. Also, clippings, obituaries, and an online catalog. Mission:  KGS has established and maintains an extensive library holding more than 15,000 books and manuscripts; family genealogies, thousands of vital records, cemetery records and census records on hard copy, military, immigration, and Bible records, as well as microfilm, microfiche and computer databases. Our primary focus is on records of the State of Kansas, however, records, books and manuscripts of national and international interest are included. History:  The Kansas Genealogical Society, Inc. was formed as a nonprofit corporation in 1958, for the purpose of: Creating and fostering an interest in genealogy; preserving genealogical, biographical, historical and educational data relating to the ancestry of members and the founders of our country. Tips The Kansas Genealogical Society Library (KGS) is co-located with the Kansas Society Daughters of the American Revolution Library (KSDAR), and KGS members are welcome to use KSDAR material. Non-KGS-member library visitors, please donate $3.00 per day. Alternate Repositories If you cannot visit or find a source at the Kansas Genealogical Society, 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. 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. 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. 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. Similar Collections Kansas Heritage Center, Dodge City, cowboys, oral history, Fort Dodge history, & the Old West.</ref> Kansas Historical Society, Topeka, clearly the best place to start researching Kansas ancestors including newspapers, county records, biographies, genealogies, land records, and railroads. Statewide births and deaths prior to 1894; City of Topeka births and deaths 1885-1912. 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. Neighboring Collections Dodge City Clerk, incomplete births and deaths 1892-1904 (births and deaths 1905-1911 at Kansas Historical Society). Ford County Clerk of the District Court, Dodge City, marriages since 1874; divorces, probate, and court records since 1873.</ref> Ford County Register of Deeds land records since 1873.</ref> Ford County County Coroner, Dodge City, suspicious deaths U.S. District Court, Dodge City Division, recent civil, criminal and bankruptcy cases. Ford County Historical Society, Dodge City, online history articles. Repositories in surrounding counties: Clark, Edwards, Gray, Hodgeman, Kiowa, and Meade. Fort Hays State University Forsyth Library, Hays, western Kansas history, oral histories, genealogical and historical societies, Hutterites, Mennonites, Catholics, and Lutherans.</ref> Iola Public Library, for all Kansas including family folders, special indexes, and published records for many counties of Kansas.</ref> 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.</ref> 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.</ref> 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.</ref> Kansas State Library, Topeka, largest book library in Kansas with county histories, ethnic sources, guides, inventories, and family genealogies.</ref> This is a main depository of historical documents about Kansas residents. 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. 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.</ref> 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. 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.</ref> 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. Sources