Records of the Kansas Governor’s Office

John A. Martin administration
Jan. 12, 1885 – Jan. 14, 1889

• Overview of the Records
• History and Biography
• Scope and Contents of the Records
• Arrangement of the Records
• Related Records
• Other Finding Aid
• Bibliography
• Index Terms
• Restrictions on Access
• Restrictions on Use
• Preferred Citation
• Acquisition Information
• Processing Information
• Accruals
• Detailed Description of the Records

Overview of the Records

Repository

Kansas Historical Society (Topeka)

Creator

Kansas.Governor (1885-1889 : Martin)

Title

Kansas Governor John A. Martin records

Portion of title: Records

Other titles

• Correspondence files
• Records of the Kansas Governor’s Office: administration of Governor John A. Martin (1885-1889)

Records of the Office of the Governor of Kansas: John A. Martin administration (1885-1889)

Dates

1884-1889

Quantity

14 ft. (33 boxes + 5 v.)

Abstract

Tenth governor of the State of Kansas, 1885 – 1889 (Republican); from Atchison.

Correspondence & other items received as well as an associated subject index and proclamations & messages from the administration of John A. Martin, governor of the State of Kansas from 12 Jan. 1885 to 14 Jan. 1889. Correspondence files, 1884-1889, include general letters, official response letters from & letters concerning State departments, applications & endorsements for jobs, subject files, and “private” or “personal” letterpress books. Major subjects are cities; claims; county affairs; expositions, centennials, and conventions; Ulysses S. Grant; justices of the peace; the Legislature; notaries public; relief; requests; Missouri Pacific Railway strikes; military relations; counties; criminals & criminal justice; Prohibition; and public institutions, lands, & welfare. The Subject index, ca. 1885-ca. 1889, provides information on topics of correspondence. The proclamations & messages include a Proclamation received volume, 1885, pertaining to the death of President Ulysses S. Grant and Proclamations received, 1886-1888, relating to Arbor Day. There is also an Officers of state institutions register, 1887-1889, containing listings for the Board of Regents of the State University (now the University of Kansas) (Lawrence) and State Penitentiary wardens. Additional records of Governor Martin are in separate series common to several governors including Miscellaneous volumes, 1885-ca. 1929; Executive proclamations, 1861-1980; Applications for requisitions, ca. 1870-1953; a Letter register, 1871-1895; a Record of death sentences, 1872-1906; Death sentence warrants, 1872-1908; Requisitions on governor from governors of other states for persons accused of crimes, 1873-1960; County organizational censuses, ca. 1873-ca. 1886; Prisoners in Kansas State Penitentiary, ca. 1875-ca. 1897; Citizenship pardons, 1876-1960; a Record of pardons, 1877-1888; Executive messages and proclamations, 1877-1914; Extraditions, 1877-1960; Final discharge of paroled prisoners, 1879-1913; an Appointments register, 1883-1885; Letter press books, 1865-1904; and a Record of pardons and commutations, 1887-1911.

Identification

Record group 252.

Consult the Detailed Description of the Records section below for locations of individual series and folders.

Language

Text is in English.

Notes

This finding aid describes materials held by the Kansas Historical Society. Materials may be used in the Library in the society’s Center for Historical Research during regular research hours. Support for telephone, mail, and online reference and research is limited.

In a continuing effort to improve the completeness and accuracy of finding aids, revisions are made as more or new information becomes available. Consequently finding aids in paper format and on the society’s web site may differ slightly.

History and Biography

History of the Office of the Governor

The Wyandotte Constitution of 1859 established the office of the governor of the State of Kansas. Some of the more important duties, functions, and responsibilities of the governor are to see that the laws are faithfully executed, to require written explanations from other executive officers — at that time the lieutenant governor, secretary of State, auditor, treasurer, attorney general, and superintendent of public instruction — upon any subject relating to their respective duties, convene the Legislature by proclamation on extraordinary occasions, communicate in writing such information as the governor may possess in reference to the condition of the State at the commencement of every legislative session, recommend such measures as he may deem expedient, and commission officers of the State.

No formal qualifications for the governor have been legislated, aside from the provision that no member of Congress or officer of the State or United States can serve. The governor is elected by a plurality, not necessarily a majority of votes cast. The governor takes office the second Monday in January following election. He was authorized to hire a private secretary, pardon attorney, and other staff as appropriations permitted.

At the beginning of John Martin’s term, the governor had the power to appoint Militia officers; members of part - time boards of directors, trustees, or regents of the State Penitentiary (now Lansing Correctional Facility), schools of higher education, State insane asylums (now State hospitals), and schools for deaf and blind students; a Board of Visitors for the State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University); the Bureau of Immigration; the Commission for Care of Destitute Orphans and Children of State Soldiers; the State librarian; the superintendent of insurance; and a number of minor commissions. He was also an ex officio member of the State Board of Canvassers, boards of directors of the Agricultural College and Normal School, the Bureau of Immigration, the Board of Treasury Examiners, and other committees.

In 1885 several new agencies were created. The governor was given power to appoint nine members to the Board of Health with the consent of the Senate, four members to the Board of Dental Examiners, and five members to the Board of Pharmacy.

Following the end of the Civil War and Indian skirmishes in Kansas, the Kansas National Guard and the Kansas Reserve Militia were created.  The governor can order the National Guard into active service in cases of breach of power, tumult, riot or resistance to process in the State, public disaster, or imminent danger. 

Biography of John A. Martin

John Alexander Martin, tenth governor of the State of Kansas, was born 10 July 1839 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania. John’s maternal grandfather, Thomas Brown, was the founder of Brownsville circa 1785. He was the son of James Martin, a boardinghouse keeper, justice of the peace, and postmaster, and Jane Montgomery Crawford Martin; he had two sisters and two brothers. John was educated in Pennsylvania common schools and entered the printer’s trade at age fifteen. At age nineteen in 1857, he moved to the Kansas Territory and settled in Atchison.

In 1858, drawing on his printer skills and being of the entrepreneurial kind, he bought the Squatter Sovereign, a pro-slavery newspaper and changed its name to the Freedom’s Champion in support of abolition. He later changed its name again to the Daily Champion. The publication of this paper was a lifetime hobby for John Martin, and it was the perfect medium to publish his political agenda and personal philosophy on how the affairs of state should be executed.

Martin’s political life largely revolved around Kansas’ affairs and the publishing of his newspaper. Eager to be involved in local politics, he served as the mayor of Atchison in 1865, and again in 1878 to 1880. His deep - rooted Republican values congealed at an early age and worked his way up to the chairmanship of the Atchison County Republican Central Committee. He held that position from 1859 to 1884. He regularly attended Republican National Conventions throughout the 1860s and 1870s.

In October 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he was mustered into the Union Army and commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the 8 th Kansas Infantry. He achieved the rank of colonel (brevetted brigadier general) before he was mustered out of service in October of 1864. In 1862, he was appointed provost marshal of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and held that position until his regiment was ordered to Corinth, Mississippi, where the 8 th Kansas became part of General William (“Bull”) Nelson’s army; that unit remained in the Army of the Cumberland until the end of the war. In November 1863, Colonel Martin found himself present at the siege of Chattanooga and was involved in the storming of Missionary Ridge. In 1864, he marched with General Sherman’s Army to Atlanta, and after the fall of Atlanta, Colonel Martin’s regiment joined in the pursuit of the fleeing Confederate General John Hood who headed northward into the backwoods of Tennessee. It was at this time and place where Colonel Martin was cited and decorated for “gallant and meritorious service.”

After the war John Martin was appointed commander in chief of the Kansas state encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic. He married Ida Challis on 1 June 1871. They had eight children; one died in infancy. He also became an incorporator and president of the Kansas State Historical Society and incorporator of The Kansas Magazine. Martin was also a Kansas representative on the United States Centennial Commission. Above all, John’s heart was always sympathetic to the well being of the war veteran. The psychological and physical rehabilitation of soldiers from the Union Army, and their families, became his perpetual top priority.

John Martin was recognized by many as an intellectual shinning star, and his political ambitions began at an early age when he narrowly missed the Republican nomination for governor in 1878. However, in 1884, the convention rules for age restriction were suspended and John Martin was nominated by acclamation. He won the fall election beating the incumbent governor, George Washington Click. In 1887, he was renominated for a second term by a large margin, and he beat the Democratic candidate, Thomas Moonlight.

Governor Martin was fortunate to have acquired upon his inauguration in 1885 a state of affairs that was persistent in prosperous economic growth, and city and town expansion. But all that boom and extravagance changed in his last year of office when conditions gave way to severe drought and an economic recession. That forced his decision not to run for a third term, as public confidence in his leadership ability waned. However, the State Board of Health, a School for the Feeble Minded, and a soldiers’ orphan home were all departments born of the Martin administration; and during his tenure women won the right to vote in local and city elections. The state militia became the Kansas National Guard, and a Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics was also created under his watch.

On the political front, a state of turmoil engulfed Kansas during the Martin administration when real estate speculation ran wild, ugly community rivalries arose over securing county seats (these became known as the county seat wars), and these offensive episodes often became so violent that the governor had to send in troops to restore order.

Also, John Martin’s exact position on Prohibition was somewhat convoluted, always in question from the very beginning because of his persistent waffling on the issue. Unlike John St. John, who sternly believed in temperance and adopted the Prohibition measure through legislative action, and George Click, who thought the prohibition order wasn’t at all effective and too extreme, Governor Martin swayed back and forth on the issue. In his years as an “aspiring governor,” he championed opposition to Prohibition and wrote several editorials on the issue in his Atchison Champion newspaper. But in 1884, John Martin had one goal in mind, and that was to become governor of the State of Kansas. Politically speaking, one might conclude that it was his turn in 1884; he certainly did. The problem, however, was that he was not understood to have fully supported public opinion on the subject of a constitutional amendment supporting the consumption and sale of intoxicating liquors. In September 1884, just as the meeting of the nominating convention came to a close, Martin fully endorsed the Prohibition law. Many political factions in favor of Prohibition, however, saw this act as a mere political maneuver to secure his election and rendered Martin’s decision insincere. To complicate matters, many of its members threatened to join the Prohibition Party if he was nominated by the Republicans. In the end, Martin was nominated and his support for the Prohibition movement only strengthened. In 1886, Martin played a key role in the negotiations for a settlement in the Missouri Pacific Railway strike of that year. It is also worth noting that his experience as a journalist and public administrator developed in him remarkable political skills and a keen judge of character that enabled him to govern with a wide - angle view of the political culture that surely enabled him to make the wise decisions noted in his administration.

Governor John Martin became increasingly frustrated with the rapid downturn of the state of economic affairs, particularly in the real estate market, in his last year of office when it appeared so promising just a few years prior. He tried to reverse the trend but all to no avail. Martin did not wish to seek a third term but only to return to the tranquility of his beloved newspaper; he died less than a year after leaving office. John Martin passed away at the young age of fifty years on 2 October 1889 of pleura - pneumonia at his home in Atchison. So popular was he that more then five thousand people attended his funeral. He is buried at Mount Vernon Cemetery in Atchison.

Scope and Contents of the Records

Governor Martin’s records consist of five series: Correspondence Files, 1884 – 1889 (no. 03415); a Proclamation Received, 1885, volume (no. 05970); Proclamations Received, 1886 – 1888 (no. 05969); a Subject Index, ca. 1885 – ca. 1888 (no. 03465); and an Officers of State Institutions Register, 1887-1889 (no. 03461).

Items in the series Correspondence Files, 1885 – 1889 (no. 03415), are primarily letters received by Governor Martin; however there may also be proclamations and some petitions, reports, copies of letters sent, and other types of documents. The letters and proclamations are organized into five subseries: (1) General Files, 1884 – 1889; (2) State Departments, 1885 – 1889; (3) Applications and Endorsements for Jobs; (4) a Subject File; and (5) “Private” or “Personal” Letter Press Books, 1885 – 1889. Some proclamations may have also been interfiled with other items received relating to the subjects of the proclamations. Documents that may have been addressed to Governor John Martin but dated or pertaining to the time period after his term expired in 1889 may be filed with the records of his successor, Governor Lyman U. Humphrey.

The General File, 1884 – 1889, subseries 1, consists of 42 folders filed by year and month containing letters received that were filed (not necessarily by alphabetical order) by the author on a wide range of subjects. Contained therein are, letters relating to budget, accounting and audits, State positions, labor statistics, recommendations and vacancies, Governor Martin’s addresses, State contracts, the state militia (renamed the Kansas National Guard during his term), the extension of State jurisdiction to former Indian reservations, real estate, litigation, the judiciary and judicial procedure, legislation, requests for information, publications, action papers, politics, services and goods offered for sale, taxation, transportation, the State Board of Railroad Commissioners, public policy (the issue of prohibition), private and public land issues, interstate co-operation, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, disabled Civil War veterans’ rehabilitation efforts, the Republican State Central Committee, and correspondence pertaining to the county seat wars. Letters may have been filed here because there was not an appropriate place for them in the State Departments, subseries 2, or Subject Files, subseries 4.

Letters from or relating to State offices are in subseries 2, the State Departments File. Some letters relate to State departmentental personnel, vacancies, resignations and appointments, but most pertain to the operation of individual State agencies. The letters request the Governor to take specific actions, ask his approval, send him information, ask him questions, tell of events, provide legal opinions, forward other letters and petitions, confirm or acknowledge gubernatorial actions, and request the Governor’s presence. Major agencies represented include the attorney general, insane asylums, and boards of police commissioners. A more complete list of contents by folder is in the Detailed Description of the Records section, below.

Applications and Endorsements for Jobs, subseries 3, contains documents pertaining to vacancies in various State departments. Major agencies represented include insane asylums and judicial districts. A complete list of contents by folder is in the Detailed Description of the Records section, below.

The Subject Files, subseries 4, include correspondence on a wide variety of topics. Major subjects are cities; claims; county affairs; expositions, centennials, and conventions; Ulysses S. Grant; justices of the peace; the Legislature; notaries public; relief; requests; Missouri Pacific Railway strikes; military relations; counties; criminals & criminal justice; Prohibition; and public institutions, lands, & welfare. For additional subjects, see the Detailed Description of the Records section, below.

“Private” or “Personal” Letter Press Books, 1885 – 1889, subseries 5, consist of thirteen volumes of copies of letters from the Governor himself. The words private and personal refer to the fact that these letters were personally composed or sent by Governor Anderson rather than a staff member. Most of them relate to official business, but others pertain to *personal, political, and Republican Party affairs.

The second series, a Proclamation Received volume, 1885 (no. 05970), contains proclamations sent by governors of other States about the death of President Ulysses S. Grant in 1885. The proclamations are arranged alphabetically by State.

The third, Proclamations Received, 1886 – 1888 (series 05969), consists of proclamations sent by governors of other States announcing Arbor Day. Entries are arranged alphabetically by State and then chronologically.

A Subject Index, ca. 1885 – ca. 1888 (series 03465), contains one volume, F, and page one of Volume H, listing topics with page numbers?*. It indexes *. Volumes are arranged chronologically. The entries in Volume H may not be Governor Martin’s letters.

The final series, no. 03461, is an Officers of State Institutions Register, 1887 – 1889. It has an index in the front of the volume and contains names and dates appointed. Arranged by type of appointment, it includes members of the Board of Regents of the State University (now the University of Kansas) (Lawrence) and the warden of the State penitientiary in Lansing.

Additional files that record activities of the Martin administration may be found in the series Executive Proclamations, 1861 – 1980, no. 03450; Letter Press Books, 1865 – 1904, no. 03403; Applications for Requisitions, ca. 1870 – 1953, no. 04090; Letter Register, 1871 – 1895, no. 03463; Record of Death Sentences, 1872 – 1906, no. 03782; Death Sentence Warrants, 1872 – 1908, no. 03781; Requisitions on Governor from Governors of Other States for Persons Accused of Crimes, 1873 – 1960, no. 03814; County Organizational Censuses, ca. 1873 – ca. 1886, no. 03451; Prisoners in Kansas State Penitentiary, ca. 1875 – ca. 1897, no. 03784; Citizenship Pardons, 1876 – 1960, no. 03802; Record of Pardons, 1877 – 1888, no. 03791; Executive Messages and Proclamations, 1877 – 1914, no. 05959; Extraditions, 1877 – 1960, no. 03811; Final Discharge of Paroled Prisoners, 1879 – 1913, no. 03772; Appointments Register, 1883 – 1885, no. 03462; Miscellaneous Volumes, 1885 – ca. 1929, no. 03470; Officers of State Institutions Register, 1887 – 1889, no. 03461; Record of Pardons and Commutations, 1887 – 1911, no. 03793. These series — described more completely in the Detailed Description of the Records section, below — contain records of a number of governors.

Records of other offices of Kansas’ government — particularly the secretary of State, record group 622, and attorney general, record group 82 — will give additional information about State activities during this period. Papers of other prominent political figures of the time, most of which are held by the Kansas Historical Society, may also offer insights about Kansas politics and government during the Martin administration.

The Kansas Historical Society has a collection of John A. Martin’s personal papers, no. 432, consisting of one box and one microfilm roll; the collection includes a biographical sketch of his wife, Ida Challiss Martin, 1887; a scrapbook from the Kansas exhibit at the Centennial Exhibition (Philadelphia, Pa., 1876) containing invitations & notices of meetings of exhibit commissioners; letters from the Kansas territorial and Civil War periods (on microfilm, Kansas Historical Society roll MS 221), 1857, 1861-64, mostly written while Martin was a lieutenant colonel & colonel in the 8th Kansas Infantry Regiment; a roster of the 8th Kansas; speeches; later letters, primarily relating to State positions & John A. Martin's newspaper business, 1885-89; and a tribute to Martin written by his daughter Faith M. Settle.. For additional information, please consult the manuscripts card catalog in the Library’s reference room; the on – line catalog, ATLAS; or ask the reference staff to assist you.

Arrangement of the Records

Subgroup. Organized into 5 series by type of material.

Contents:Ser. 03415. Correspondence file, 1884-1889 — ser. 05970. Proclamation received, 1885 — ser. 05969.Proclamations received, 1886-1888 — ser. 03465. Subject index, ca, 1885-ca. 1888 — ser. 03461. Officers of state institutions register, 1887-1889.

Related Records

Records of the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, record group 82
Records of the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office, record group 622

Other Finding Aid

Copies of this finding aid are available in the Kansas Historical Society’s Library and on its web site, http://kshs.org .

Bibliography

Connelley, William Elsey. A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans. Chicago: Lewis, 1918. Available in the Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) Library: reference shelves; also available on the Internet: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1918ks/toc.html .

Drury, James W. The Government of Kansas. 3d ed. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, ©1980. Available in the KSHS Library: call no. K 350.7 D845 1980.

Harder, Marvin A. The Governor of Kansas: An Analysis of Decision-Making Opportunities, Constraints, and Resources. Topeka, Kans.: Capitol Complex Center, University of Kansas, 1981, ©1982. Available in the KSHS Library: call no. SP 378 Z C172 pam.v.1 no. 1.

Socolofsky, Homer E. Kansas Governors. Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, ©1990. Available in the KSHS Library: call no. K BB So13.

Index Terms

Persons

Grant, Ulysses S (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1889–Death and burial.
Martin, John A., 1839-1889. ( subject and co-creator)

Corporate Names

Kansas. Governor (1885-1889: Martin)–Archives.
Kansas. Governor (1885-1889: Martin)–Records and correspondence.
Kansas. Legislature.
Missouri Pacific Railway Company.

Geographic Names

Kansas–Claims.
Kansas–Military policy.
Kansas–Officials and employees–Selection and appointment.
Kansas–Politics and government–1865-1950.
United States.
United States–Centennial celebrations, etc.

Subjects

Civil-military relations–Kansas.
Congresses and conventions–United States.
County government–Kansas.
Criminal justice, Administration of–Kansas.
Criminals–Kansas.
Expositions–United States
Justices of the peace–Kansas.
Notaries–Kansas.
Prohibition–Kansas.
Public institutions–Kansas.
Public lands–Kansas.
Public welfare–Kansas.
State-local relations–Kansas.

Document Types

Government correspondence– Kansas.
Public records–Kansas.

Occupations

Governors–Kansas–Archives.

Restrictions on Access

None

Restrictions on Use

Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). Most documents created by governmental entities, including the State of Kansas, are considered in the public domain, although copyright to documents found in public records that were written by individuals or organizations and sent to government agencies may be owned by the writers or their heirs.

Preferred Citation

Note: [ document, folder, subseries, or series description], Martin administration (1885– 1889), records of the Kansas Governor’s Office, State archives record group 252, State Archives and Library, Kansas Historical Society.

Bibliography: Kansas, Governor’s Office, Martin administration (1885– 1889). Records, 1884– 1889. State archives record group 252, State Archives and Library, Kansas Historical Society.

Acquisition Information

Transfer: Office of the Governor, date unknown

Processing Information

Inventory written by David F. Manning, volunteer , 2008.

Accruals

No additional records are expected.

Detailed Description of the Records

Series 03415. Correspondence Received, 1883– 1885. 5 ft. (10 boxes).

Primarily letters received by Governor Martin, however there are also proclamations and a few petitions, reports, copies of letters sent, and other types of documents. Some proclamations may have also been interfiled with other items received relating to the subjects of the proclamations. State department files include the attorney general, insane asylums, boards of police commissioners, and other agencies. Subject files include material on cities; claims; county affairs; criminal records; expositions, centennials, & conventions; the death of President Ulysses S. Grant; justices of the peace; lands; legislation; notaries; relief; requests; Missouri Pacific Railway strikes; and other topics. Copies of letters sent are described below in the Martin portion of the series Letter Press Books, 1865– 1904 (no. 03397).

Organized into 4 subseries: (1) General File, 1884 – 1889 ; (2) State Departments, 1884 – 1889 ; (3) Applications and Endorsements for Jobs, 1885 – 1889 ; (4) Subject Files, 1884 – 1889 ; and (5) “Private” or “Personal” Letter Press Books, 1885 – 1889

Subseries 1. General File, 1884 – 1889. 2 ft. (27 folders). 027-04-05-06 – 027-04-06-04

Subseries 2. State Departments, 1885 – 1889. 0.5 ft. (36 folders). 027-04-06-04 – 027-04-06-06.

Subseries 3. Applications and Endorsements for Jobs, 1885 –1889. 2 ft. (25 folders). 027-04-07-02 thru 027-04-07-03

Subseries 4. Subject File s, 1884 –1889. 7 ft. (245 folders). 027-04-07-04 thru 027-04-08-07.

Subseries 5. “Private” or “Personal” Letter Press Books, 1885 – 1889. 1 ft. (13 v. in 3 boxes). 027-05-01-07 thru 027-05-02-03

Series 05970. PROCLAMATION RECEIVED, 1885. 1 v.

Proclamations sent by Governors of other states about the death of President Ulysses S. Grant in 1885.

Arranged alphabetically by state.

Series 05969. PROCLAMATIONS RECEIVED, 1886-1888. 1 v.

Proclamations sent by Governors of other states announcing Arbor Day for the years 1886-1888.

Arranged alphabetically by state and then chronologically.

Series 03465. SUBJECT INDEX, ca. 1885-ca. 1888. 2 v.

Index to subjects contained in Governors Martin’s correspondence.

Entries arranged alphabetically.

Series 03461. OFFICERS OF STATE INSTITUTIONS REGISTER, 1887-1889. 1 v.

Contains name and date appointed. Includes Board of Regents and the warden of the State Penitientiary.

Arranged by type of appointment.

Indexed by the first letter of the surname.

Other records series of multiple governors containing documents relating to the Martin administration:

Series 03660. PARDON AND PAROLE FILES: WOMEN’S INDUSTRIAL FARM, 1863 – 1919. 63 ft. (151 boxes). ACCESS RESTRICTED. 032-01-02-01 thru 032-03-07-04

Contains letters requesting opinions on parole, Parole Board verdict or certificate, and a prisoner history. Interfiled with Pardon and Parole Files for the Kansas State Industrial Reformatory, 1927-1945 (series 03659) and Parole Certificates Issued by the Coffeyville City Court, 1932-1936 (series 03661), as part of Subseries I, 63 ft. (151 boxes), 1863-1919, arranged alphabetically. Women are only contained in Subseries I; after 1919 women’s files are arranged separately as series 06304, Pardon and Parole of Female Inmates.

Arranged alphabetically by inmates’ names.

Series 03397. LETTER PRESS BOOKS, 1865 – 1904. [143] v. 027-02-08-04 thru 027-03-06-02

Exact copies of texts of letters sent by Governors S. J. Crawford and James Madison Harvey through Willis Joshua Bailey; there are no letters for Nehemiah Green. Most of the letters sent respond to concerns expressed to the governor. Subjects are generally similar to those in letters received by governors, including State institutions, departments, & programs; appointments; events; counties; investigations; the cattle trade; land; claims; the military; State funds; immigration; Native American issues; laws & legislation; pardons; and other topics mirroring letters received by governors. Recipients included citizens of Kansas & other States, other elected officials, heads of State institutions & departments, the adjutant general, members of the Kansas congressional delegation, other governors, members of the Legislature, railroad officials, newspaper editors, military officers, local officials, and the president & vice president.

Volumes arranged chronologically.

Some volumes indexed alphabetically by recipient and subject.

Martin administration: v. *46 – 55 (boxes 16 – 24), 027-03-03-01 thru 027-03-04-02)

Series 03463. LETTER REGISTER, 1871 – 1895. 2 v. 024-13-10-02 thru 024-14-01-01.

Contains date written and received, writer name, city, and abstract of letter contents.

Volumes arranged chronologically.

Volumes indexed alphabetically by sender’s name.

Martin administration: v. F and H

Series 03781. DEATH SENTENCE WARRANTS, 1872 – 1908. 1 v. (unpaged). 26-15-08-01

Handwritten and typescript warrants that were sent to the Governor’s Office after the convicted person’s sentencing for the governor to approve when the date and time of execution had been set. Also included are related documents that were written by the sentencing judge, county sheriff or attorney, clerk of the District court, or jury foreman.

Arranged generally chronologically.

Series 03814. REQUISITIONS ON GOVERNOR FROM GOVERNORS OF OTHER STATES FOR PERSONS ACCUSED OF CRIMES, 1873 – 1960. [2] v. + 1 bundle. 025-12-04-01

The bundle covers years 1886-1898 and does not have any type of arrangement. This bundle contains requisitions and supporting documents that were sent to the Governor's office from other States. Volumes cover the year 1873-1932 and have an alphabetical indexes in the front. Entries are arranged chronologically and list the case number, the date of request, fugitive name, the requesting State, name of agent, crime charged, and county suspect is believed to located in.

Volumes arranged chronologically.

Martin administration: v. A, pp. 57 – 106, and bundle

Series 03451. COUNTY ORGANIZATION CENSUSES, ca. 1873 – ca. 1886. 0.8 ft. in 2 boxes. 028-03-01-01 thru 028-03-01-02

Census rolls for enumerations conducted 1873 1886. Entries contain number of householders, ages, and number of acres under cultivation. Some also contain gender, number of voters, number of schoolchildren and location.

Arranged alphabetically by county.

Series 04090. APPLICATIONS FOR EXTRADITION REQUISITIONS: SUBSERIES I AND II, 1874 – 1953. 37 ft. 060-03-03-03 thru 060-03-04-20

Applications to other States to extradite criminals for prosecution in Kansas. They show the State applied to, name, crime, and date issued; most also contain court papers or similar documents explaining the case. The application itself was an envelope into which all the related documents were placed. Collection is missing the years 1886-1892; years 1937-1953 have not been re-foldered and remain in their original application envelopes. Subseries I: #65-A-1 to 594-A-62 (1874-1885); Subseries II: #1871-B-6 to 6300 (1893-1953).

Arranged by file number.

Martin administration: box 5 (060-03-03-07)

Series 03784. PRISONERS IN KANSAS STATE PENITENTIARY, ca. 1875 – ca. 1897. 1 v. 026-15-08-01

Contains information furnished to the governor about each prisoner in the Kansas State Penitentiary (Lansing) (KSP) such as name, county, date of sentences, crime, term of sentence and remarks. Other records of prisoners for this period may be found in the records of the KSP, record group 525, and on an alphabetical, card Index to the Inmate Records at the Kansas State Penitentiary, 1861 1952, on Kansas State Historical Society microfilm rolls AR 7458 AR 7469.

Arranged alphabetically by the first letter of the prisoner’s surname, thereunder roughly chronologically by date of entry.

Series 05959. EXECUTIVE MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS, 1877 – 1921. 6 v. 024-14-02-01 thru 024-14-03-01

Handwritten copies of messages and proclamations that were probably used as rough drafts for the printed and signed copies made public. They do not contain exact dates for each, but the volumes do have date spans noted. They also contain an alphabetical index.

Martin administration: vol. B (024-14-02-01), pp. 3 – 513

Series 03811. EXTRADITIONS, 1877 – 1960. 1 ft. (3 v.) 020-10-06-01 thru 020-10-06-02

Contains name, demanding state, crime & where it was committed, agent name, and information about the return of the warrant.

Arranged by application number and date.

Each volume contains an alphabetical index.

Martin administration: v. 1 (020-10-06-01), pp. 55 – 88

Series 03470. MISCELLANEOUS VOLUMES, 1885 – ca. 1929. 11 v. (1 cu. ft.) 028-03-08-02

These volumes cover numerous subjects and are divided into folders that mark the year(s) and subject of the volume.

Contents: v. 1. Endorsements for John W. Radford for state grain inspector, 1905 — v. 2. Records of executive accounts, 1885-1892 — v. 3. Engagements calendar, 1899 (Accession no. 1228) — v. 4. Vouchers register, ca. 1915-1921— v. 5. Vouchers register, ca. 1923-1929 — v. 6. Superintendent of insurance ouster proceedings record, 1899 (Accession no. 1228a) — v. 7. Report of examination of state Treasury Department, 1906 (covers 1898-1905) (Accession no. 1331) — v. 8. Transcript of hearing of Bipartisan Committee Investigating State Treasurer, 1923 — v. 9. McKinley Memorial Fund donors record, 1901 (Accession no. 1231 & 1231a) — v. 10. Liquor abstinence pledge book, ca. 1923 — v. 11. Commutations proclamations and proceedings (letterpress book), 1891-1895 (Accession no. 1185b).

Indexes in front of v. 1 and 2.

Martin administration: v. 2, pp. 1 – 29

Records of the governor’s pardon attorney

Series 03802. CITIZENSHIP PARDONS, 1876 – 1960. 8 ft. (22 v.) 020-13-10-01 thru 020-04-01-02, 026-15-08-02 thru 026-15-10-02, 35-08-05-02

Copies of declarations of pardon, which contain information about the crime committed, date of pardon, and the governor’s signature on a preprinted declaration form. The first subseries covers 1879 1933 and the second subseries covers 1933 – 1960. Also contained in this collection are citizenship pardon stubs, which cover 1876 – 1883. The stubs are arranged chronologically in three smaller volumes and do not contain an index or signatures.

Entries arranged chronologically.

Alphabetical index in each volume.

Martin administration: v. 1, p. 136 – v. 2, p. 184 (026-15-09-01)

Series 03791. RECORD OF PARDONS, 1877 – 1888. 0.7 ft. (2 v.) 026-15-07-01

Contains name, county, crime, sentence, reason for pardon, and executive action & reasons. Does not usually list dates for each application.

Arranged chronologically by application number.

Alphabetical index.

Martin administration: vol. B1, leaves 80 – 220

Series 03768. CITIZENSHIP PARDON ORDERS, 1878 – 1884. 0.8 ft. (2 boxes). 031-13-03-02 thru 031-13-03-03

Issued by the governor to the secretary of State.

Arranged alphabetically by the surname of the pardon recipient.

Contents: Box 1. A-L — box 2. M-Z.