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Digitization of Territorial Incorporation Records

OHS Research Division

Oklahoma History Center

Oklahoma City, OK

by Jennifer Day, Manuscript Archivist

The Incorporation Records for the Oklahoma and Indian Territories have been digitized in a joint project with the Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division and the Oklahoma Secretary of State's Office. The ledger books were generated by the Territorial secretary as new companies and municipalities began conducting business. There are 27 volumes of Oklahoma Territory Incorporation Records and 15 volumes for Indian Territory. Some examples of the entries found in the ledgers include: Agreement & Incorporation, Incorporation Amendment, Appointment of Agent, Dissolution, as well as lease and mortgage transactions. The entries begin in 1890 and continue until statehood is established in 1907.  You can search the database on the website.

The first step in the digitizing process was to microfilm the 42 volumes of ledger books. The pages are 16"x20" some are handwritten, some are typed and others are completed by a form printed on the page. After the microfilming was completed, the rolls of film were scanned and each frame shot by the microfilm camera became a digital image file. The image files were then indexed by staff  brought in for the project from the University of Oklahoma School of Library & Information Studies, Rumela Bose & Diane Wasser and Lauren Riepl from the University of Central Oklahoma School of Museum Studies. The indexing entailed reading every entry and typing in the entry number, the name of the company or entity, the type of action, the location of business, and the date filed. In some instances the entries were incomplete or difficult to read. Including the time it took for double checking for errors, this process took over 9 months to complete. Once the indexing was complete the files were then made into Adobe PDFs for easy navigation and the data generated from indexing was tied to each entry.

The end product allows you to search for records by Territory, year, entity name or entry number. Your search results will contain a link that takes you directly to the image of the page containing the entry. Incorporation records are useful for towns and cities seeking a charter date, railroad and real estate company land transactions, or tracing the history of a business. Entries filed after statehood was established in late 1907 will be held by the Secretary of State's Office in the State Capitol building. They also have a database for searching entries which is available on the Secretary of State's Office website and is updated by their staff.