Between 1969 and 1979, notary public lists contain social security
numbers; and between 1980 and 1993, notary public lists contain identification
numbers derived from social security numbers. Texas law excepts from disclosure
the social security numbers of applicants for or holders of a license,
certificate of registration, or other legal authorization issued by a licensing
agency to practice in a specific occupation or profession that is provided to a
licensing agency (House Bill 692, 76th Texas Legislature, Regular Session,
1999). In addition, the Texas Public Information Act states the following:
Because of the possibility that portions of these records fall under Public Information Act exceptions including social security numbers (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.101 (information confidential by law, Section 405(c)(2)(C) of title 42 of the United States Code)); an archivist must review notary public lists dating 1969-1993 before they can be accessed for research.
The lists between 1969 and 1993 are for State Archives staff use only. Archives staff will either (a) confirm the registration of a particular notary public, or (b) if requested, provide a copy of the page requested with the identification numbers redacted (masked).
Materials do not circulate, but may be used in the State Archives search room. Materials will be retrieved from and returned to storage areas by staff members.
Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted and may be freely used in any way. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).
None.
The Texas Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836, and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution.
The Secretary of State has an enormous number of duties and responsibilities, including the following: authenticating the publication of all laws passed by the state legislature; approving comptroller's accounts against the state prior to payment; maintaining a register of all official acts and proceedings of the governor, and all appointments to state boards and commissions; interpreting and enforcing the Texas Election Code, as the state's chief election officer; keeping the Seal of the State of Texas; and maintaining many business-related filings, including corporation and Uniform Commercial Code filings.
The office of the Secretary of State is divided into five divisions: Executive, Elections, Business and Public Filings (previously called Statutory Filings), Administrative Services, and Information Services.
The Business and Public Filings Division, composed of four sections (Corporations, Statutory Documents, Texas Register, and Uniform Commercial Code Sections), assists the secretary in most of his other duties.
The Statutory Documents Section appoints, reappoints, and commissions all notaries public for the state (since 1940); records the charters of home rule cities; files amendments of charters of incorporated towns and villages; files bonds or copies of bonds for state officers and state employees, members of governing bodies of certain constitutionally authorized political subdivisions, and general law districts; files the constitutional statement of bribery; issues cards to all labor organizers in the state; files labor union annual reports; registers business opportunity sellers in Texas; registers health spas, athlete agents, and credit service organizations; files rosters of chiropractors, hearing aid fitters and dispensers, optometrists, physical therapists, professional engineers, psychologists, state land surveyors, tax assessor examiners; licenses and regulates automobile clubs; files deeds of cession; etc.
The Constitution of 1845, Article V, Section 19, along with an act of the 1st Texas Legislature "defining the office and duties of Notaries Public" (approved May 13, 1846) provided for the Governor of Texas to appoint notaries public for specific counties, for terms of four years. As amended on March 5, 1863, the law required the Secretary of State to forward notary public commissions to the county clerk of the county in which the notary was commissioned. The Constitution of 1869 simply provided for justices of the peace to be "commissioned to act as notaries public." To implement Article IV, Section 26 of the 1876 Constitution, the 15th Legislature revoked all previous notary public commissions and rewrote the law regulating notaries (approved June 24, 1876). Among other changes, the new law required the Secretary of State to furnish to each county clerk a printed list of all notaries public in the state. In 1881 the term of a notary public was reduced to two years; in 1923, it was increased to six years; but in 1963 it was once again set at four years. The 46th Legislature, Regular Session (1939), by Senate Bill 262, transferred the power of appointing notaries from the Governor to the Secretary of State. The Notary Public Act of 1943 (Senate Bill 335, 48th Legislature, Regular Session) stated that "neither the county clerk nor the secretary of state shall be required to furnish lists of names of persons appointed before their qualification nor lists of unreasonable numbers of qualified notaries public." This provision was repealed in 1987 (House Bill 1512, 70th Legislature, Regular Session), but the following was added: "All records concerning the appointment and qualification of notaries public shall be kept in the office of the secretary of state. The records are public information." (Texas Constitution, Article IV, Section 26; and V.T.C.A., Government Code, Chapter 406.)
(Sources include: the
The Statutory Documents Section of the Office of Texas Secretary of State appoints, reappoints, and commissions all notaries public for the state. This series contains various records of notaries public in Texas, mostly official lists compiled by the Secretary of State, but also including some certificates of qualification and related correspondence. The records date 1849-2002, and undated, bulk 1870-2002.
Those notary public lists covering the years 1919-1921, 1925-1927, and 1929-1941 consist exclusively of softbound published or (beginning in 1933) typescript lists of notaries organized by county; they are alphabetical lists with names of notaries, post office addresses (town or city), and dates of qualification. The remainder of the lists consist of bound, typescript volumes constituting official lists of notaries, dating 1941-2000. The information in these lists includes the names of notaries commissioned in each county (1941-1979), with the dates of their commissions, social security numbers (beginning in 1969), and on rare occasions addresses (especially 1959-1961 and 1965-1967). Beginning in 1980, the lists are strictly alphabetical by name of notary, and give city and state, dates of qualification and expiration, plus two identification numbers.
The earlier records, dating 1849-1933, contain the most variety (but are unprocessed). These consist mainly of official lists of notaries, usually with post office addresses and dates of qualification, mostly provided by the Secretary of State to the county clerks. There are also some certificates of qualification, lists of applicants desiring to be made notaries public (e.g. 1925 and 1931), and a card index organized by county (1901). Some of the files contain related correspondence, particularly in the earlier years before standard forms were developed.
A notary public is a person legally empowered to witness and certify the validity of documents and to take affidavits and depositions. Notary public lists are created to serve as the official record of the commissioning of notaries public in Texas. The Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission receives frequent requests (most commonly from the Secretary of State's office) for confirmation of a specific notary's commission for a specific time period.
These records are organized by State Archives staff into two series.
The terms listed here were used to catalog the records. The terms can be used to find similar or related records.
(Identify the item and cite the series), Texas Secretary of State notary public records. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Texas State Archives staff completed an appraisal of the Texas
Secretary of State holdings already in the custody of the Texas State Archives
in December 1998. Fifty-seven series of these holdings were determined to be
archival, including notary public records. The complete appraisal report (in
two parts: Republic of Texas records, and non-Republic records) is available
for consultation online at
Initial finding aid created by Tony Black, April 1990
New accession added, and finding aid encoded by Tony Black in EAD Version 1.0 as part of the TARO project, November 2000
Finding aid converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by TARO using the conversion stylesheet v1to02.xsl, July 22, 2003
New accession added, and corrections and further encoding to DACS standards by Tony Black, February 2009
New accession added by Tony Black, September 2010
Accession numbers: 1941/005, 1965/100, 1971/166, 1990/031, 2000/162, 2009/098, 2011/003
These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the Texas Secretary of State on March 28, 1942; and February 25, 1966; by the Administrative Division of the Secretary of State on August 23, 1971; and by the Statutory Documents Section of the Secretary of State on November 8, 1989; June 13, 2000; February 18, 2009; and September 10, 2010.
The Notary Public Unit of the Office of the Secretary of State can provide an electronic copy of a notary public's registration, with the social security numbers filtered out. For any notary registered since 2000, the researcher should apply directly to the Secretary of State's Notary Public Unit, at telephone 512/463-5705.
The Statutory Documents Section of the Secretary of State regularly transfers official lists of notaries to the Texas State Archives every few years.
The Statutory Documents Section of the Office of Texas Secretary of State appoints, reappoints, and commissions all notaries public for the state. These records consist of official lists of notaries public registered with the Texas Secretary of State, 1919-1921, 1925-1927, 1929-2002, and undated. Those boxes covering the years 1919-1921, 1925-1927, and 1929-1941 contain softbound published or (beginning in 1933) typescript lists of notaries, county by county, giving the name of each notary, post office address (i.e., town or city), and date of qualification. Although in 1943 the Legislature removed the requirement that the Secretary of State provide printed lists of all notaries in the state to county clerks, the Secretary of State continued to compile such lists, which constitute the rest of this series. The hardbound, typescript or (later) computer printout volumes dating 1941-1979 are arranged chronologically by biennium or by calendar year, and then alphabetically by county. Under each county is an alphabetical list of notaries commissioned in that county, with the dates of their commissions. Social security numbers are given beginning in 1969. On rare occasions (1959-1961 and especially 1965-1967) addresses themselves (street addresses and town, or just town) are given.
Beginning in 1980, the information provided is the following: name
of notary, identification number (derived from social security numbers
1980-1993, but independent of social security numbers beginning in 1994), city
and state, qualification date, expiration date, and
These records are arranged by State Archives staff chronologically, by biennium or by calendar year. From 1919-1979, the lists are then alphabetical by county; within each county's listing, notaries are listed alphabetically by name. Beginning in 1980, the listings for each year are alphabetical by name of the notary regardless of county; data processing errors are responsible for some misfilings in this group, especially at the beginning of each year's listing.
(Identify the item), Notary public lists, Texas Secretary of State notary public records. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Accession numbers: 1965/100, 1971/166, 1990/031, 2000/162, 2009/098, 2011/003
These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the Texas Secretary of State on February 25, 1966; by the Administrative Division of the Secretary of State on August 23, 1971; and by the Statutory Documents Section of the Statutory Filings Division of the Secretary of State on November 8, 1989; June 13, 2000; February 18, 2009; and September 10, 2010.
Between 1969 and 1979, notary public lists contain social security
numbers; and between 1980 and 1993, notary public lists contain identification
numbers derived from social security numbers. Texas law excepts from disclosure
the social security numbers of applicants for or holders of a license,
certificate of registration, or other legal authorization issued by a licensing
agency to practice in a specific occupation or profession that is provided to a
licensing agency (House Bill 692, 76th Texas Legislature, Regular Session,
1999). In addition, the Texas Public Information Act states the following:
Because of the possibility that portions of these records fall under Public Information Act exceptions including social security numbers (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.101 (information confidential by law, Section 405(c)(2)(C) of title 42 of the United States Code)); an archivist must review notary public lists dating 1969-1993 before they can be accessed for research.
The lists between 1969 and 1993 are for State Archives staff use only. Archives staff will either (a) confirm the registration of a particular notary public, or (b) if requested, provide a copy of the page requested with the identification numbers redacted (masked).
Materials do not circulate, but may be used in the State Archives search room. Materials will be retrieved from and returned to storage areas by staff members.
Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted and may be freely used in any way. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).
Tony Black, April 1990, November 2000, February 2009, September 2010
The Statutory Documents Section of the Office of Texas Secretary of State appoints, reappoints, and commissions all notaries public for the state. These records contain official lists of notaries, some certificates of qualification, lists of applicants/persons desiring to be made notaries public (e.g. 1925 and 1931), related correspondence, and a card index organized by county (1901). They comprise notary public records dating 1849-1933, bulk 1870-1933. The majority of the records are the official lists of notaries, usually with post office addresses and dates of qualification, mostly provided by the secretary of state to the county clerks. Some of the files contain related correspondence, particularly in the earlier years before standard forms were developed.
These records are arranged by State Archives staff roughly chronologically (with occasional overlap), and therein sometimes roughly alphabetically.
(Identify the item), Unprocessed notary public records, Texas Secretary of State notary public records. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Accession number: 1941/005
These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the Texas Secretary of State on March 28, 1942.
Materials do not circulate, but may be used in the State Archives search room. Materials will be retrieved from and returned to storage areas by staff members.
Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted and may be freely used in any way. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).
Initial listing created by Tony Black, April 1990
The records are unprocessed. The contents of the following boxes have not been verified by archival staff, but the list has nevertheless been included to provide the researcher with some basic guidance.