This series was acquired by the State Historical Society in four parts: files from 1853-1917 (now on reels 1-152 and in boxes 1-15), files from 1917-1920 (now on reels 154-179), files from 1919-1923 (boxes 16-36), and files from circa 1920-1931 (boxes 37-111). Guardianship of incompetents files and insanity files are treated differently in each part. In the 1853-1917 portion, guardianships of incompetents and any insanity files are available only in the paper format. In the 1917-1920 portion, guardianships of incompetents and insanity files are interspersed with non-restricted cases and available only in microfilm. These types of cases are identified by an asterisk (*) following the case number and the name. Similarly, in the 1919-1923 portion, guardianship and insanity files are identified by an asterisk, and in addition have been pulled out and boxed separately. There are no guardianship or insanity files in the circa 1920-1931 portion.
Included in this series is the probate file of prominent Appleton citizen George F. Peabody. Since the case file is voluminous, a finding aid to it was created (see Appendix A).
