The Johnson County Archives and Records Management Program was established in 1990 under a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. In 1992 it achieved permanent status as a department of the Johnson County government. It is now a division of Financial Management and Administration (FMA) department. 

The program, which combines both records management and archival functions, is ideally situated to assess the historical significance of documents created by the county government and insure the permanent preservation of those of historic importance. At the same time, the program also fulfills an operational need by providing systematic and cost-efficient storage, retention, and disposition of documents having only limited value.

The Johnson County Archives maintains a Research Room where the historic documents in the collection are available to the public. All reasonable requests for access to the collection will be accommodated, provided that access does not endanger the records and if that access is allowed in accordance with the Kansas Open Record Act, K.S.A. 45-215/225.

The Archives staff provides assistance to researchers in using the collections. Reference services are available on-site by appointment or by phone, mail, and email. 

Indexes for the following records are available:

• Non-Certified Marriage Records of Johnson County (1858-7/1/1911)
• Divorce Records of Johnson County (1892-1940)
• Civil Court Records (1892-1940)
• Delinquent Tax List of Johnson County (1858-1861)
• Tax Rolls (1862-2007)
• Records of Inventory and Appraisement (1906-1970)

Additional Resources

• Office of Vital Statistics for birth, death, divorce, and marriage certifications
• Johnson County District Court Records for civil court cases including divorce, historical criminal cases, probate journals, wills, settlement records, and naturalization records
• Johnson County Treasury, Taxation and Vehicles for land records such as deeds, release of mortgages, and military discharges

Archives staff can provide its patrons with copying services for most of the items in its collection. Staff will do copying of materials from the collection. Services are provided on a first in, first out basis.

Copy fees must be paid in advance. Physical copies are $0.25 per page. The Archives will provide the best photocopy available. We cannot guarantee image quality (due to the condition of the originals and the fact that some copying must be done from microfilm), and we cannot refund photocopy fees. 

Patrons unable to visit the Archives to conduct their own research may contact the Archives to request the Archives staff to conduct limited research for specific information. Archives staff will search indexed records and books for a maximum of thirty minutes per request. After this initial thirty minutes, a fee of $25 per hour is due before research material is provided to the patron. 

Due to the limited number of staff, the Archives cannot: search records that are readily available from other sources (such as census records); conduct detailed genealogical searches; summarize, interpret, or transcribe documents; or provide a list of records for all persons bearing a particular surname. If such research is needed, researchers should plan to visit the Archives in person or make arrangements with a private researcher.