Record Atlas
5 eras · 1762–2026 · 85 places

Kansas

Topeka, Wichita, Kansas City, Lawrence, Leavenworth, Lecompton. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1762–1803 Spanish Louisiana (France again from 1800) no registers survive

France ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762, Spain returned it to France in 1800, and the United States bought it in 1803.
1803–1854 Louisiana Purchase lands - Missouri Territory, then unorganised FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

The area was part of Missouri Territory and then unorganised land.
1854–1861 Kansas Territory FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

Created by the Kansas-Nebraska Act on 30 May 1854, it ran from the Missouri line to the Rocky Mountains, so its western part became Colorado Territory in 1861. The capital moved among Pawnee, Fort Leavenworth, Lecompton and, de facto, Lawrence, and the territory had two rival legislatures and two constitutions.
1861–1911 State of Kansas FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Kansas was admitted as a free state on 29 January 1861 under the Wyandotte Constitution.
1911–2026 Kansas - statewide registration FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Statewide death recording is dated 1 July 1911 in one source and 1908 in another.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1762–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

85 places on this ground

1742 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1682 more.

All record regions · The map