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The Salina Public Library will be closed Sunday, March 31 for Easter

Local History


The Campbell Room’s special Kansas collection contains a concentration of material pertaining to state and local history.

The collection includes information on the Plains Indians, the territorial period, the Civil War years in Kansas, pioneer history and ethnic settlement. It contains such valuable sources as emigrant guides, published journals, family genealogies, local histories, geological surveys, and historical maps.

Local researchers will find:

  • Salina-Saline County directories
  • Biographical files on Saline County residents
  • Card files on births, deaths, and marriages before 1900 (extracted from local papers)
  • Oral history tapes
  • Large photographic collection
  • Salina and Saline County newspapers on microfilm
  • Kansas Census on microfilm (1855-1925)
  • Federal Census online
  • Access to Newspaper Archives
  • Microfilm from other counties in Kansas and from other states for in-house use may be requested through Interlibrary Loan.

The Campbell Room of Kansas Research is open to any interested person. Materials must be used on the premises or in the library; however, many duplicate volumes are available for circulation. School children may use the collection under the supervision of their instructors, parents or librarians.

Limited research for out-of-town patrons can be done by a staff person if exact names and dates are supplied. Mail (301 W. Elm, Salina, KS 67401), email (ask4info@salinapublic.org) and telephone (785-833-9213) requests concerning the Kansas collection are welcome.

Salina Public Library has recorded and archived nontraditional, personal, oral histories from residents of Saline County.

“StoryCatchers: Recording the Stories of Our Community” is inspired by StoryCorps, a national oral history project. Equipment for StoryCatchers was purchased with a grant from the Earl Bane Foundation. Interviews were recorded using digital audio equipment. Interviews were conducted as a conversation in which the interviewee is asked questions by someone they already know.

Smoky Hill Museum was a partner on this project.