DIGITAL MAP and other images
The Historical Downtown Kinsley Digital Map contains a map with linked timeline of business sites in the main 4 block area of downtown Kinsley. Images and detailed card catalog descriptions of the images are linked to the business sites. Historical Kinsley and Edwards County Photos are images organized by location within the city or county. They are linked to detailed descriptions in the card catalog. Program software developed by Don Benish.
LOCAL NEWSPAPERS
The Kinsley Mercury and Graphic are being indexed by volunteers and is on-line News Highlights and Businesses. To date, the index includes: 1901, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1915, 1916, 1918 thru 1935 (1925 is incomplete), 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1944, and 1948. Click for additional links to published Births, Marriages, and Deaths. Ed Carlson, the unofficial Edwards County historian, has also done some excerpting and name-indexing of the local newspapers which is a wonderful resource for finding people. Indexed years include: 1876-1885, 1887, 1888, 1890, 1898-1902, 1904-1908, 1910, 1911, 1921, 1923, 1948, 1950, 1957, and 1958. Contact the library for searches.
Kansas State Historical Society
Kansas residents with a valid driver’s license or state ID may freely access Newspapers.com The Edwards County newspapers from the 1883-1923 are included on this site. It is easily searchable and printed from.
MICROFILM NEWSPAPERS: Existing copies of most Edwards County Newspapers since 1883
CENSUS: On Microfilm
Kansas State Census, Edwards County: 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925
U.S. Census for Edwards County: 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930
NOTE: The Kansas State Library offers the genealogy database Heritage Quest to Kansan residents. (The link works by verifying your Kansas internet provider address.) It includes SEARCH CENSUS (U.S. Census, 1790-1940).
ORAL HISTORIES
Kansas Humanities Council awarded the Kinsley Public Library two Kansans Tell Their Stories Community Heritage grants in 2009, 2011, and 2012 to record & preserve Edwards County oral histories. Visit the following links:
Patchwork of Dependency: The Effects of World War II on Edwards County
Patterns of Change: Edwards County, 1950-1970
Tractorcade to D.C.: Edwards County and the American Agriculture Movement, 1979
Dust Bowl in Edwards County
Kansas Mosaic -Immigrant Stories
Community Recollections on 1965 Flood
Rodeo Recollections
Veterans and Additional Oral Histories
DIGITIZED RECORDS
City of Kinsley Tax Roles – 1879-1901
Kinsley Fire Department Fires 1930-1948
1928 Rural Edwards County Directory
Ed Carlson has compiled several notebooks of interest:
- U.S. Passport Applications with Edwards County connections up to1923. View index.
- Kinsley and Edwards County Residents Before the Supreme Courts of the States and the Federal Supreme Court, 1884-1946. View index.
- United States Patents from Belpre, Garfield, Kinsley, and Lewis Kansas, 1883 to 1929. View index.
- Edwards County, Kansas Related Burials, Index to 4 Volumes of early residents of the county who moved on and are buried elsewhere compiled by Ed Carlson from the Find A Grave website. View index.
BOOKS
- From Prairie to People: The Edwards County Centennial Book, 1873-1973
Online Index of people’s names by the Eldorado Correctional Facility.
Online Index of businesses, events, places, etc. was generated by Darlene Carlson.
NOTE: The Kansas State Library offers free access to the genealogy database Heritage Quest to Kansan residents with an Kansas State Library Card. Kansas residents can be issued this card by calling their local library. Its resources include SEARCH BOOKS. In the latter, searches can be conducted by PEOPLE, PUBLICATIONS, and CITY DIRECTORIES. Within PUBLICATIONS the book “Kinsley-Edwards County Centennial: 1873-1973” has been reproduced. An online copy of this book is also available to subscribers of ancestry.com
- Myrtle Richardson’s books on Edwards County (4 volumes, hard copy only)
Oft’ Told Tales (to 1900) Online Index
The Great Next Year Country (1901-1925) Online Index
Changes Rode the Winds (1926-1940) Online Index
Whirlwind ( 1941-1950) Online Index - Lewis Centennial, 1886-1986 “Milestones of Memories” Online Index
- Offerle History 1976-1976 by Julie Riisoe Ackerman Online Index
- Belpre Kansas: The Story of a Small Town by David M. Kearney Online Index
- The Crescent Communities of Kiowa and Edwards Counties
- The Standard Atlas of Edwards County, Kansas – 1906 (online digital (Index)
- What Makes a Good Life by Joyce Herrmann
VERTICAL FILE
Rosetta Graff with the research help of Ed Carlson have put together an extensive vertical file on the people, businesses, places and events in Edwards county. These have been entered into the Kinsley Library Card Catalog . We are able to do quick searchers (as our time permits) for out-of-town people seeking specific information. Unfortunately, time does not permit us to do extensive research. Microfilm searches are $1.00 each whether emailed or mailed USPO. Photocopied print documents are 25 cents per page plus postage with a minimum fee of $1.