Free access to selected Kansas archives on ancestry.com

The Kansas Historical Society has announced a partnership with Ancestry.com that will allow individuals with a valid Kansas driver’s license free access to more than 8 million Kansas records on the popular family history website.

Users can access Kansas State Census Records from 1865-1925 (years ending in “5”), Civil War Enlistment Papers of Kansas Volunteer Regiments (1862, 1863, 1868), Russell County Vital and Probate Records, selected World War I manuscripts, and the United Spanish-American War Veterans certificates collections.

Users visit kshs.org/ancestry and enter their name, date of birth, and Kansas driver’s license number. The number is authenticated, and the user is directed to ancestry.com.

“This partnership allows genealogists, historians, and other researchers access to records with genealogical information otherwise only available when visiting the State Archives in Topeka,” said Pat Michaelis, State Archives director. “Our thanks to the Kansas Department of Revenue for its assistance with the driver’s license validation process that makes this partnership possible.”

“Ancestry.com is thrilled to partner with the Kansas Historical Society in order to make these records available online to Kansas residents,” said Quinton Atkinson, director of Content Acquisition for Ancestry.com. “These records contain a wealth of information for anyone interested in researching their heritage in the state of Kansas.”

Ancestry.com Inc. is the world’s largest online family history resource, with more than 1.7 million paying subscribers. Over 8 billion records have been added to the site in the past 15 years. Ancestry users have created more than 30 million family trees containing 3 billion profiles. In addition to its flagship site www.ancestry.com, Ancestry.com offers localized websites designed for nine countries that empower people to discover, preserve and share their family history.

Researchers can access the full version of Ancestry.com at the State Archives Reading Room at the Kansas Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Avenue, Topeka. The Historical Society’s digital portal, Kansas Memory (kansasmemory.org), provides digital access to almost 200,000 images of photographs, artifacts, diaries, letters, maps, and other printed materials. A portion of the Historical Society’s Kansas newspaper collection can also be found online at chroniclingamerica.loc.gov. Additional research collections are available at the State Archives Reading Room.

The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency that also operates the Kansas Museum of History, Kansas State Capitol Tour Center, and 16 state historic sites across Kansas.