The history of Douglas County is well documented through this extensive collection of local Douglas County, Kansas records held at the Spencer Research Library. This collection includes the records of 14 county government offices and the City of Lawrence spanning the Territorial Kansas period (1854-1861) through the late 1980s. The record types found in each office vary significantly, both as a result of the offices' diverse functions, and as a result of the degree of involvement of each office in the transfer of records to the archives. Date ranges can also be expansive but not necessarily inclusive; there are typically gaps in dates of records for any individual office.

Particular strengths of the collection include property appraisal files from the County Appraiser; property assessment rolls, assessment field books, property transfer records, and delinquent real estate tax sales records from the office of the County Clerk; records from the County Court, District Court, Lawrence Municipal Court, and Probate Courts, including civil and criminal case files, court journals, and trial dockets; tax sale records and tax rolls for the county, the city of Lawrence, and various townships from the office of the County Treasurer; and deed and mortgage records from the Register of Deeds. Also of particular interest to genealogical researchers are marriage records from 1863-1913, naturalization records from 1867-1929, and will records from 1873-1973, all originating in the Probate Court.

The records are primarily in the form of volumes and boxed materials, with some additional microfilmed copies, particularly for records from the District Court and Register of Deeds.