Washington County (Utah). County Clerk Incorporation case files, 1891-1961.

Incorporation Case Files contain at a minimum the original articles of incorporation and any subsequent amendments to corporations. Some files also contain notices to pay licensing fees and taxes, oaths of office for corporate officers, annual reports, correspondence, or other miscellaneous documents. Case files are created during the length of a corporation's duration. The case file is generated when companies incorporate within Washington County and serve as evidence of"due incorporation of the corporation" [UCA 16-2].

Articles of incorporation constitute a contract between the state and corporation, between corporation and stockholders, and between the stockholders and state. The articles of incorporation record the following: names of the incorporators and their places of residence, the length of the corporation's duration, the pursuit of business agreed upon, amount of stock each shareholder receives, description of stock classes, number of kind of corporate officers, and the number of directors necessary to transact corporate business. The series ended in 1961 when registration of corporations was transferred to the State government and the Division of Corporations was created. Even though the series officially ended in 1961, several case files and documents were added to the series after that date.