Ask a Research Question

Staff research fee: $15.00 payable at time of request.

If you have a request for staff research at the library and archives we require payment of our $15 research fee in advance. This should be sent by U.S. mail following the guidelines below. If you would like to charge your research request to a Mastercard or Visa Card please contact our reference staff by phone at 785-272-8681, ext. 117, during the hours we are open. Please do not submit credit card information in an email request, since we cannot ensure the security or privacy of the information.

There is no charge to request that our reference staff check our card catalogs, indexes and finding aids to determine if we have resources available for your topic. You may submit your request using our e-mail reference form and we will respond either by e-mail or U.S. mail in the order the requests are received. Please do not keep re-sending the message. Please see our frequently asked questions page also.

Submitting a research request by mail

Requests should be sent by U.S. mail along with payment to:

Kansas Historical Society
Reference Department
6425 SW Sixth Avenue
Topeka, KS 66615-1099

Reference staff will do up to 30 minutes of research on a specific question, for example:

• Searching for a maximum of two names or events in Kansas newspapers when the patron can provide the following information:
• name of person and type of event
• exact date of the event
• location
• One census index search. We are unable to search unindexed censuses.
• One company's articles of incorporation or 2 corporate annual reports. Larger requests will be billed at the rate of $15 per half hour, plus postage, handling and tax. We cannot handle these requests on a rush basis. For more details on these records, see our corporation filings and annual reports page.

Patrons will receive a written reply to their inquiry. Our $15 reference fee covers up to five photocopies and postage if we are able to find anything. We can't guarantee that the information the patron is seeking will be found, but we must still charge for the search time involved. Because we receive a large volume of requests, it may be several weeks or more before we can respond to letters, emails and faxes.

For prices for additional photocopies or special format copies, plus postage and handling, please see our photocopy services page. All copy work will meet current copyright law and preservation standards.

If Kansas schoolchildren request research the $15.00 fee includes up to 20 photocopies. Any child who requests general information on Kansas history will receive a free packet that includes a map, brochures and information on Kansas historic sites.

When requesting information:

Please do:

• Include your name and address in the letter. It must be legible.
• Use only standard abbreviations and those recognized by the U.S. Postal Service.
• Ask a specific question in a clear and succinct manner. Do not provide unnecessary information.
• Ask for information on specific individuals, not entire families.
• Enclose a legal size (#10), self-addressed stamped envelope.
• If writing to a specific individual on the staff, include this person's name in the address on the envelope.

Please don't:

• Send pedigree or family group sheets and ask the reference staff to fill in 'all' the blanks.
• Ask for 'everything' we can find.
• Send a blank check for payment.
• Send the same letter to all departments at the same agency or to every research library in a single community. You will be referred if necessary.
• Send multiple requests.

An alternative to requesting that our staff perform research for you is to ask your local library to borrow our Kansas newspapers, state censuses and some federal censuses on microfilm on interlibrary loan. We do not charge for this service, though your local library might have a charge. For requests that require more research than our staff can provide, we will direct you to a private researcher in this area, or you may contact them directly.