Records Retention Schedules for the Register of Deeds and County Treasurers were compiled by staff of the Wisconsin Historical Society and advisory committees of the Register of Deeds Association and the Wisconsin County Treasurer's Association. You may confidently follow the retention periods listed in the schedules because they have been reviewed by each of the Association's Executive Board's and approved by the Public Records Board.

We believe the schedules accurately reflects the primary records of each office, defines an appropriate retention period for each record, and provides clear guidance on notifying the Wisconsin Historical Society of destruction. The schedules attempt to provide a comprehensive listing of each office's records, although we may have missed a few obscure records. We hope the schedules will simplify the process of notifying the Wisconsin Historical Society about disposition of historical records and will enable you to dispose of non-historical records in a timely fashion.

Notification of Adoption

The Register of Deeds Association, the Wisconsin County Treasurers Association, and the Wisconsin Historical Society encourages each county to adopt the General Records Schedules as a tool to more easily manage its records.

To adopt the schedule as your records policy, download the appropriate Notification of Adoption form(s) from the Public Records Board website (Instructions & Adoption Forms for County Government General Schedules). Complete the Notification of Adoption form and send the original and two copies to:

Abbie Norderhaug, State Archivist
Wisconsin Historical Society 
816 State Street 
Madison, WI  53706-1482

See the Schedules

The State of Wisconsin Public Records Board maintains current versions of General Schedules for County Governments. Download the General Schedules for County Governments from the Public Records Board website.

Have Questions?

If you have any questions about the schedule contact Andrew Baraniak, Local Government Records Archivist at 608-264-6469, or email govarc@wisconsinhistory.org.