The original item was published from August 30, 2018 9:35 AM to August 30, 2018 9:41 AM
Did you Dad or Mom work within the state government of Kansas years ago? How about an old high school buddy? Do you remember which agency they worked in and where their workplace was located?
The State Library's KGI Online Library now has a "semi-complete" run of state employee telephone directories online from the mid 1970s to the early 2000s. The directories are not limited to Topeka but include agency locations and employees around the state.
The directories are generally split into three major sections. The first part is a guide to using the state phone system, a list of agencies and agency ID numbers and other information. The second part is a list of state employees arranged alphabetically by surname, first name, city, agency number and phone number. The third part is a list of towns with agencies found there.
The directories do not include most employees at the Regents' institutions but, other than that are all encompassing.
Other than using these old directories to find friends and family who worked in state government the directories are helpful in locating where state department offices were located years ago in Kansas towns. I've actually used them to answer those questions a few times.
You can view these directories next to the time traveler phone booth in the virtual reference area of the KGI Online Library here:
KANS-A-N Telephone Directories (1976-1986)
and
State of Kansas Communication Services Directories (1988-2002)